Curious Facts about Birds

The Magellan penguin is the only bird in the world that migrates by swimming. Its annual swim from its breeding ground in Tierra del Fuego to the coast of Brazil and back is appoximately 5000 miles.
Aristotle is credited as being one of the first people to observe the migration of birds when he noted the annual journey of cranes from the steppe of Scythia to the marshes of the Nile. However, in attempting to explain the winter disappearance of other birds he also propegated the myth that some birds changed from one species to another. For example, he claimed that the European Robin transmuted into a European redstart for the summer. ¹
A 1703 an anonymous pamphlet, written by a "person of learning and piety", attempted to explain the disappearance of certain species of birds in winter by claiming that they flew the moon. ¹
The kiwi of New Zealand is the only wingless bird in the world.
A distinctive charactistic of parrots is that they use their feet like hands to pick up food and put it in their mouths.
Just as humans are either left or right handed, parrots have a preference for using either their left foot or right foot.
Pigeons are the only birds which have the ability to suck up liquids. They use their beaks as a human uses a dinrking staw. Other birds scoop liquids up with their beaks and tilt their heads backwards in order to swallow.

1. 1001 Questions Answered About Birds By Allan D. Cruickshank, Helen Gere.