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List of Wild Birds

Wild birds live everywhere on earth. They're found in the Antarctic and the Arctic, in the tundra, deserts, grassland, wetland, tropical rain forests, temperate forests, savannas, in cities and suburbs. Some visit land so seldom that they can be said to be found on the oceans. Wild birds are crucial for keeping down levels of insect pests, disposing of carrion and pollinating plants. Bird guano is sought after as a fertilizer.

White
- The snowy egret is a 26-inch long bird with striking white plumage. Fine plumes that hang from its head, neck and back nearly caused it to be hunted to extinction, as some designers sought the plumes for women's hats. Now it breeds in the United States and through the Americas down to Chile. The snowy egret gathers in flocks to roost and nest in trees.
Black and White
- The Adelie penguin is a 28-inch tall bird who lives on the coast of Antarctica and on nearby islands. It spends its winters at sea. Like other penguins,it can't fly but soars beautifully and balletically under water. It has the typical white front and black back of penguins, and its feathers are so dense they're more like fur. It hunts mostly for shrimplike animals called krill, and small fish. It nests in crowded, noisy colonies during the Antarctic summer. Each year the penguin returns to the same nest site and the same mate.
Red
- The scarlet ibis is the reddest bird on earth.
  
  The scarlet ibis is the most brilliantly red bird on earth. It is scarlet from its bill to its long legs to its feet to its feathers. They have only a touch of black on the tip of the wings, and they have a black eye. The scarlet ibis is about two feet long and lives in flocks on mudflats, in lagoons, mango swamps and regular swamps on the coast and marshes of South America from Venezuela to Brazil. It uses its long, curved bill to poke in the mud for small crustaceans, small fish, frogs and insects. The scarlet ibis nests in colonies. The nest is a platform of sticks in the treetops over water.
Blue
- The male mountain bluebird is seven inches long and blue all over. The female has a dun breast and a gray back. The mountain bluebird lives in western North America from Canada down to Mexico in open mountain meadows, and it eats insects.
The peacock
- The peacock's spectacular fan of feathers isn't his tail, but coverlets.
  
  The peacock lives in deciduous temperate forests of India. It's about 84 inches long and eats seeds, other parts of plants and any small animals it can catch. The male, the female and even juveniles have little crowns atop their heads. The males also have a spectacular train. It's not part of the tail but 150 long feathers that grow out from his lower back and hide his tail. To display, the male fans out these back feathers until he's attracted a harem of peahens. After mating, the peahen then goes to lay her eggs and incubate them alone.

Animals & Science