The smallest bird in the world is the Bee Hummingbird. This bird is only known to be found in 2 areas of the world, Cuba, where it is called zunzuncito, and Isle of Youth. It is so small, that it weighs less then a dime and is at most 2 inches in length. Amazingly it’s wings will flap up to 200 times per second. This is incredible and amounts to over 720,000 times in an hour.

Male bee hummingbirds (mellisuga helenae), which live in Cuba, weigh 0.056 ounces and are 2.75 inches in length. The bill and tail account for half of this length.

Smallest Bird of Prey

The black-legged falconet ( Micrphierax fringlius ) of southeast Asia and the white-fronted or Bornean falconet ( M. latifrons ) of northwestern Borneo both have an average length of 5.5-6 inches, including a 2 inch tail, and weigh approximately 1.25 ounces.

Smallest BirdSmallest Parrot
[contributed by Harold Armitage, Wild Macaws Wild Macaws]

The Pygmy parrots of Papua and nearby islands. Genus Micropsitta. There’s six different sorts - Yellow-capped, Buff-faced, Finsch’s, Geelvink, Meek’s, Red-breasted - all around 3″ long (8cm). Thought to eat lichens and mosses but not much is known about their lifestyles.

Gentoo PenguinFastest Swimming Bird

Gentoo Penguin found on the Antarctic Islands can swim 40 km per hour. Large populations are found at South Georgia, Falkland Islands, and Iles Kerguelen although their breeding distribution is circumpolar. An orange bill and a white stroke behind its eye distinguish the black and white gentoos from the smaller adelie and chinstrap species. Long stiff tail feathers stick out behind as they walk, often cocked up in the water, no other penguin has such a prominent tail. They breed in winter at the more northerly sub-Antarctic islands, laying two eggs as early as July. Can dive over 300’ though most prey dives are shallower. Most dives last only half a minute.

TitanisLargest Carnivorous Bird
(contribution by Christoph Kulmann)

Titanis Walleri. This bird is known from the early Pleistocene (Ice Age) of Florida. It is the last known member of the family Phorusrhacidae, a group of large, flightless birds which evolved in South America. This creature had an estimated body height of 3 meters (if it stood fully erect, and 2.5 meters in more normal situations). Titanis really had arms instead of wings.

Crane BirdTallest Flying Birdscrane

The largest cranes (family Gruidae) can be almost 6 ft. 6 in. tall.

Heaviest Flying Birds

The Kori Bustard or paauw (Ardeotis Kori) of northeast and southern Africa and the great bustard (Otis tarda) of Europe and Asia weigh about 40-42 pounds. There is a report of a 46 lb. 4 oz. male great bustard shot in northeastern China. It was too heavy to fly.

Heaviest Birds of Prey

Andean condors (Vultur gryphus) are the heaviest species of bird of prey. Males weigh 20-27 pounds and have a wingspan of at least 10 feet. A male California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) preserved in the California Academy of Sciences is reported to weigh 31 pounds. It is rare for the species to exceed 23 pounds in weight.

Heaviest Parrot

Flightless Kakapo around 7lbs in weight; New Zealand [contributed by Harold Armitage, Wild Macaws Wild Macaws]

SinbadA flightless nocturnal bird, which was described by early European settlers as ” the most wonderful bird on Earth, ” the Kakapo parrot was once endemic throughout New Zealand. Today only 50 birds remain, some of which live on Little Barrier Island (Hauturu) as part of a Department of Conservation endangered species recovery programme.

The name “Kakapo” is Polynesian (Maori) for “parrot of the night.” Moss green, like Kakapo “Suzanne’s” foster brood, Codfish Island, 2002. Photo by Don Merton/DOC.the foliage of the native trees and grasses in which it evolved, funny and cuddly, with a wonderful spicy fragrance, this unique bird has small wings, useless for flight but handy to steer with when you’re jumping down a bank, and a rudimentary keel in its sternum. It browses forest trees, ferns, herbs, moss and lichen and grinds its food between a powerful lower mandible and a grooved pad in the upper mandible, a method of mastication which is thought to be unique.

Longest Feathers

The phoenix fowl or Yokohama chicken (a strain of the red junglefowl Gallus is bred in Japan for ornamental purposes. A rooster with a 34 ft. 9.5 in. Tail covert was reported in 1972.

Longest Bills

The bill of the Australian pelican (Pelicanus conspicillatus) is 13-18.5 inches long.
The longest beak in relation to body length is that of the sword- billed hummingbird ( Ensifera ) of the Andes. At 4 inches, the beak is longer than the bird’s body (excluding the tail).

Kiwi Bird with EggOnly Nostrils on tip of Beak

The Kiwi is the only bird with nostrils at the tip of its beak. Whereas other birds hunt by sight or by hearing, the national bird of New Zealand uses its beaky nostrils to sniff out food at night. Although the Kiwi is roughly the same size as a chicken, it lays an egg which is 10 times larger than a hen’s. It also has wings but cannot fly.

Biggest Eyes

The ostrich has the largest eyes of any land animal. Each eye can be up to 2 inches in diameter.

Largest Field of Vision

The eyes of the woodcock are set so far back in its head that it has a 360 degree field of vision, enabling it see all round and even over the top of its head

Best Talker

The African Grey Parrot has been called “the perfect mix of brains and beauty” (Bird Talk, Aug. 92) and the “cadillac of parrots” (Bird Talk Sept. 93). Much of the notoriety of this species stems from the phenomenal gift of speech members exhibit. While many parrots learn some words or phrases, many cases have been documented of African Greys learning multiple lines of songs, prayers, or plays. The Guinness Book of World Records lists the best talking parrot or parrot like bird as a African Grey named Prudle. Prudle was captured near Jinja, Uganda in 1958 and when “he” retired from public life in 1977 had a vocabulary of nearly 1000 words. Many owners have been surprised (and sometimes shocked) when their Grey learned a new word or phrase after hearing it only a few times. One of our favorite stories in this respect was one related by a priest that had a pet Grey. While hanging some pictures in his office, the priest hit his hand with a hammer. He let out a stream of obscenities that his Grey learned (from this one occurrence according to the priest). The priest’s embarrassment was compounded by the other aspect of greys gift for mimicking, that is they often sound exactly like the person that spoke the words or phrase. [contributed by Harold Armitage, Wild Macaws Wild Macaws]

Most Airborne Bird

The sooty tern (Sterna fuscata) leaves its nesting grounds as a youngster and remains aloft for 3-10 years, settling on water from time to time. It returns to land to breed as an adult.

Longest Flight

A common tern (Sterna hirundo) that was banded in June 1996 in Finland was recaptured alive 16,250 miles away at Rotamah Island, Victoria, Australia in January 1997. It had traveled at a rate of 125 miles a day.

Slowest-Flying Birds

The American woodcock (Scolopax minor) and the Eurasian woodcock (S. Rusticola) have both been timed lying at 5 mph with out stalling during courtship displays.

Slowest Wing beat

The slowest wing beats recorded during true level flight averaged one per second. They were by several species of the New World vulture ( family Cathartidea)

Largest Wingspan

The wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) has the largest wingspan of any living bird. As a result, it is an expert glider and it is capable of remaining in the air without beating its wings for several hours at a time. The largest known specimen was an extremely old male with and 11 ft. 11 in. wingspan. It was caught in the Tasman Sea in September 1965. It has also been known to sleep while it flies!

Largest Ever Wingspan

The South American teratoron ( Argentavis magnificens), which existed 6-8 million years ago, had an estimated wingspan of 25 feet.

Baby BirdsParrot with largest Wingspan

Hyacinth Macaw, around 1100 mm - Brazil [contributed by Harold Armitage, Wild Macaws Wild Macaws] The Hyacinth macaw is the most majestic of all parrots. Although the Hyacinth Macaw and Green Wing Macaw are both commonly referred to as the “gentle giant” of the macaw species. The Hyacinths are truly the “dream bird” of all bird lovers. The Hyacinth macaw can attain the total length of up to 42 inches and have a beak pressure that can easily disassemble a welded wrought iron cage bar by bar in a very short time. In spite of their tremendous strength, this is one of the most laid back and easy-going of all of the macaws.

Fastest Flying Bird

The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) is the fastest living creature, reaching speeds of at least 124 mph and possibly as much as 168 mph when swooping from great heights during territorial displays or while catching pry birds in midair.

Fastest Wing beat

The horned sungem (Heliactin cornuta), a hummingbird from South America, beats its wings up and down 90 times a second.

Flying Backwards

While hummingbirds are probably the champions of backwards flight they are by no means the only birds that can fly in this way. When two herons or egrets fight, periodically one of them caught at a disadvantage in the dispute will flutter backward. Occasionally warblers fluttering at the tip of a branch as they pick off insects will flutter backward when they overshoot some flying insect. It is probable that any bird which uses fluttering flight can move backward when pressed to do so.

OstrichFastest Land Bird

Despite its bulk, the ostrich can run at speeds of up to 45 mph if necessary.

Highest-Flying Birds

A Ruppell’s vulture (gyps rueppellii) collided with a commercial aircraft over Abidjan, Ivory Coast, at an altitude of 37,000 feet in November 1973. The impact damaged one of the aircraft’s engines, but the plane landed safely. The species is rarely seen above 20,000 feet.

In 1967, about 30 whooper swans (Cygnus were spotted at an altitude of just over 27,000 feet by an airline pilot over the Western Isles, UK. They were flying from Iceland to Loch Foyle on the Northern Ireland/republic Ireland border. Their altitude was confirmed by air traffic control.

Longest Stride

The stride of an ostrich may exceed 23 feet in length when the bird is sprinting.

Highest G-Force Borne

The beak of the red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) hits the bark of a tree with an impact of velocity of 13 mph, subjection the bird’s brain to a deceleration of approximately 10 g when its head snaps back. Other woodpeckers may experience and even higher g-force.

Most Food Consumed

Hummingbirds (family Trochilidon) requires at least half their own body weight in food (mainly nectar and tiny insects) every single day. With the possible exception of shrews, they have the highest metabolic rate of any known animal.

Strangest Diet

An ostrich living at the London Zoo, England was found to have swallowed an alarm clock, a roll of film, a handkerchief, a 3-foot long piece of rope, a cycle valve , a pencil, three gloves, a collar stud, a Belgian franc, four halfpennies and two farthings.

Longest Fast

The male emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) spends several months without feeding on the frozen wastes of the Antarctic sea ice. It travels overland from the sea to the breeding colony, courts the female, incubates the egg for 62-67 days, waits for the female to return and travels back to the open sea, going without food for up to 134 days.

Largest Prey

* The wild animal known to have been killed and carried away by a bird was a 15 pound male red howler monkey killed by a harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) in Manu National Park, Peru in 1990. The harpy eagle is considered the world’s most powerful bird of prey, although it weighs only 20 pounds.
* An incredible video of a Golden Eagle taking a small Mountain sheep or goat and carrying it off to it’s nest. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4irYqe5yjcE
* The largest documented prey taken by a Philippine eagle is a 14 kg (30.8 lbs) Philippine deer Cervus at a nest studied by Kennedy in 1985. also on records; a mature female monkey taken and carrying it in one foot in Cagayan; and a large python.
* The African crowned eagle is Africa’s most powerful and ferocious eagle in terms of the weight and nature of prey taken. Mammalian prey, especially duikers, may weigh up to 34 kg (75 lbs) and still be preyed on by these eagles.

Sharpest Vision

The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) is believed to be able to spot a pigeon from a distance of more than 5 miles under ideal conditions.

Biggest Nest

The incubation mounds built by the mallee fowl (Leipoa ocellata) of Australia are up to 15 feet tall and 35 feet wide. A nest site is estimated to weigh 330 tons.

A 9 ft. 6 in. Wide 20 foot deep nest was built by a pair of bald eagles ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus), and possibly by their successors, close to St Petersburg, Florida. When examined in 1963, the nest was estimated to weigh in excess of 2.2 tons.

Smallest Nests

The vervian hummingbird ( Mellisuga minima) builds a nest about half the size of a walnut shell. The deeper but narrower nest of the bee hummingbird (M. Helenae) is thimble sized.

Smallest Egg

The smallest known bird’s egg were tow vervain hummingbird (Mellisuga minima) eggs less than 39/100 inch long. They weighed 0.365 g. (0.0128 oz.) And 0.375 g (0.0132 oz.)

Biggest Eggs
(contribution by Christoph Kulmann)

The extinct giant elephant bird (Aephornis maximus) - picture below under heaviest birds - laid 1 foot long eggs with a lElephant Bird egg compared to chicken eggliquid capacity of 2.25 gallons- the equivalent of seven ostrich eggs and more than 12,000 humming bird eggs. When early Arabian and Indian explorers started returning from their journeys along the coast of Africa with stories of gigantic birds many times the size of a man, they brought evidence…huge eggs, up to three feet in circumference. They were the eggs of a bird that would later come to be known as the Elephant Bird, or Vouron Patra (Aepyornis maximus). The eggs that the Elephant Bird laid were larger than the largest dinosaur eggs, and, in fact, they were as large as a structurally functional egg could possibly be…the largest single cells to have ever existed on Earth.

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This is a comprehensive listing of the world’s seventeen independent smallest countries, from smallest to largest. They each contain less than 200 square miles in area. If we combined the land area of these 17 countries, we would have a country just a bit larger than the state Rhode Island. Even tiny Singapore is too big for this list (it’s 246 square miles)!

1. Vatican City - 0.2 square miles - The world’s smallest state, the Vatican has a population of 770, none of whom are permanent residents. The tiny country which surrounds St. Peter’s Basilica is the spiritual center for the world’s Roman Catholics (over 1 billion strong). Also known as the Holy See, Vatican City is surrounded by Rome, Italy.

2. Monaco - 0.7 square miles - The tiny state of Monaco lies along the French Riviera on the French Mediterranean coast near Nice. An impressive 32,000 people live in this state known for its Monte Carlo casinos and Princess Grace. It has been independent off-and-on since the 13th century.

3. Nauru - 8.5 square miles - The 13,000 residents of the Pacific island Nauru rely on diminishing phosphate deposits. The state became independent in 1968 and was formerly known as Pleasant Island.

4. Tuvalu - 9 square miles - Tuvalu is composed of 9 coral atolls along a 360 mile chain in Polynesia. They gained independence in 1978. The former Ellice Islands are home to 12,000.

5. San Marino - 24 square miles - Located on Mt. Titano in north central Italy, San Marino has 29,000 residents. The country claims to be the oldest state in Europe, having been founded in the fourth century.

6. Liechtenstein - 62 square miles - This microstate of 34,000 is located on the Rhine River between Switzerland and Austria in the Alps.

7. Marshall Islands - 70 square miles - The atolls (including the world’s largest, Kwajalein), reefs, and 34 islands (population 58,000) gained independence in 1986; they were formerly part of the Trust Territory of Pacific Islands (and administered by the United States).

8. Saint Kitts and Nevis - 104 square miles - This Caribbean country of 39,000 gained independence in 1983. Nevis is the smaller island of the two and is guaranteed the right to secede.

9. Seychelles - 107 square miles - The 81,000 residents of this Indian Ocean island group have been independent of the United Kingdom since 1976.

10. Maldives - 115 square miles - Only 200 of the 2000 Indian Ocean islands which make up this country are occupied by 340,000 residents. The islands gained independence from the U.K. in 1965.

11. Malta - 122 square miles - This island is just south of the Italian island of Sicily. It became independent from the United Kingdom in 1964 and the British military were completely gone by 1979. The population is 400,000.

12. Grenada - 133 square miles - This Caribbean country (population 90,000) became independent of the U.K. in 1974. It’s located quite close to Venezuela.

13. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - 150 square miles - 117,000 people live on these Windward Caribbean islands which gained independence from Britain in 1979.

14. Barbados - 166 square miles - About 280,000 people live on this Caribbean island, the farthest east of the Lesser Antilles. Barbados obtained independence from the U.K. in 1966.

15. Antigua and Barbuda - 171 square miles - This Caribbean nation of 69,000 has been independent from the United Kingdom since 1981. The three islands which compose this country rely on tourism (as do many of the Caribbean countries and territories).

16. Andorra - 180 square miles - The independent Principality of Andorra is co-governed by the President of France and the Spain’s Bishop of Urgel. With just over 70,000 people, this mountainous tourist destination tucked in the Pyrenees between France and Spain has been independent since 1278.

17. Palau - 191 square miles - Palau (also known as Belau) was a Trust Territory of Pacific Islands. It was formerly known as the Carolines and is composed of more than 200 islands in the Pacific; the population is about 20,000. It became independent in 1994.

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Smallest Car in the World - The Peel P50

The Peel P50 was a three-wheeled microcar manufactured in 1963 and 1964 by the Manx Peel Engineering Company. It retailed for £199 when new and currently holds the record for the smallest-ever automobile to go into production. It was designed as a city car and was advertised as capable of seating “one adult and a shopping bag.” The vehicle’s only door was on its left side, and equipment included a single windscreen wiper, and only one headlight. Standard colours were Daytona White, Dragon Red, and Capri Blue. The prototype for this model was referred to as the Peel P55 Saloon Scooter having one front wheel and 2 rear wheels - the opposite way round from the production Peel P50.

Statistics

At just 134 cm (52.8 in) long and 99 cm (39.0 in) wide, with a weight of only 59 kg (130 lb), the car holds the record as the smallest ever automobile to go into production. The P50 used a 49 cc (3.0 cu in) DKW engine which gave it a top speed of approximately 61 km/h (38 mph), and was equipped with a three-speed manual transmission that had no reverse gear. Consequently, turning in a confined area could only be achieved by pushing, or lifting the car using the handle on the rear and physically pulling it round. The makers claimed it was capable of an impressive 100 UK MPG (2.8L/100km, 83 US MPG). Despite its diminutive stature, the Peel P50 is street-legal in the UK. Some of the cars have been exported to other countries outside the UK, although it might not be street-legal in these countries.

Peel P50

Availability

The original production run of about 50 cars were sold at retail for just under £200.[1] As only about twenty Peel P50s survive, originals now command prices in the region of £35,000 to £50,000. However, reproductions produced by Andy Carter, Nottingham, UK sell for about £10,000.

Top Gear feature

On October 28, 2007, the car was featured in a humorous segment on the popular BBC motoring programme Top Gear on BBC Two, during which the 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) presenter Jeremy Clarkson was seen shoehorning himself into the car and driving through central London to work and through hallways of the BBC’s offices. During the segment, Clarkson incorrectly stated that the tiny P50 was subject to the London congestion charge, unlike the much larger Lexus RX vehicle used as a camera platform, which qualifies for exemption from the charge on the grounds of its petrol-electric hybrid powerplant. In fact the P50 also qualifies for exemption, under a provision allowing three-wheeled vehicles of less than 100 cm (39.4 in) width and 200 cm (78.7 in) length to enter the Congestion Charge Zone without charge. He also mentioned that the car would have been the best car ever made, had it only had a reverse gear.

Nanotechnology

In the world of nanotechnology, which is measured in molecules, engineers crafted some nifty miniature machinery this year. Different teams created the world’s smallest car, motor, robot, refrigerator and fountain pen. One hope is that these tiny machines, invisible to the human eye, will one day be used to deliver drugs into cells, perhaps to destroy cancer or cure other ills. Technology tasks are envisioned too. In one nifty breakthrough, researchers merged microbe and machine for the first time, creating gold-plated bacteria that sense humidity.

Using the parts inside a single molecule, scientists have constructed the world’s smallest car. It has a chassis, axles and a pivoting suspension. The wheels are buckyballs, spheres of pure carbon containing 60 atoms apiece. It’d be a real squeeze to take it for a spin, however. The whole car is no more than 4 nanometers across. That’s slightly wider than a strand of DNA. A human hair is about 80,000 nanometers thick. Other groups have made car-shaped nanoscale objects. But this is the first one that rolls “on four wheels in a direction perpendicular to its axles,” the researchers reported Thursday.

What’s the point? Nanotrucks, of course. Eventually the researchers want to build tiny trucks that could carry atoms and molecules around in miniature factories. “We’d eventually like to move objects and do work in a controlled fashion on the molecular scale, and these vehicles are great test beds for that,” said James Tour, a Rice University research who co-led the work. “They’re helping us learn the ground rules.” The setup will be detailed in an upcoming issue of the journal Nano Letters. The scientists had to use “scanning tunneling microscopy” to see the thing and prove that it rolls like a car. “It’s fairly easy to build nanoscale objects that slide around on a surface,” said Tour’s colleague Kevin Kelly. “Proving that we were rolling – not slipping and sliding – was one of the most difficult parts of this project.”

So just how do you make a nanocar go? At room temperature, strong electrical bonds hold the buckyball wheels tightly against the gold, but heating to about 200 degrees Celsius frees them to roll.