Lily

Lily was the first duck who came here. She came with Leonard. They are very much in love. There are other Ducks too. You can see Thor in the Duck Pond. Ducks like to eat salad everyday. So do The Chickens and Geese. They get fresh salad and grapes. They also eat lots of Insects and Slugs and Snails and Mice. They are Omnivores, which means they eat Vegetables and Meat. When the Rabbits heard this they said, "Yuck!" "Stay away from us!" the Mice say.

There are other Birds here who did not get their picture taken. It's hard to get all the Birds together with so much to do around here. Someday we'll get pictures of all of them.

The Classification of Birds

Birds belong to the biological class Aves and live virtually everywhere on Earth. Birds are amniotes, animals whose eggs are protected from drying out (a group that includes the mammals, birds, dinosaurs, and reptiles). There are about 9,000 different species of birds, divided into 24 orders and 146 Families. Most birds alive today are Neognathae (a group distinguished by common palate structure). Another, much smaller group, is the Palaeognathae (again grouped by palate structure), which includes the ostrich, kiwi, emu, rhea, and others.

The Evolution of Birds:
Birds probably evolved from meat-eating (theropod) dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era, roughly 150 million years ago. Early birds, like Archaeopteryx, had teeth in their mouth and claws on their wings.

Bird Songs:
Birds sing beautiful and diversified songs. Many songbirds are becoming scarcer every year.

Songbirds have a vocal organ called the syrinx located in the throat. The muscular syrinx has two halves that each vibrate to produce songs, so the bird can sing two notes at a time. To sing, a bird blows air from the lungs through the syrinx.

Birds are warm-blooded vertebrate animals that have wings, feathers, a beak, no teeth a skeleton in which many bones are fused together or are absent, and an extremely efficient,, one-way breathing system. Flying birds have strong, hollow bones and powerful flight muscles.
Most birds can fly. Birds have a very strong heart and an efficient way of breathing - these are necessary for birds to fly. Birds also use a lot of energy while flying and need to eat a lot of food to power their flight.
Not all flying animals are birds; and not all birds can fly. The ability to fly has developed independently many times throughout the history of the Earth. Bats (flying mammals), pterosaurs (flying reptiles from the time of the dinosaurs), and flying insects are not birds.
What is the "bird flu"?
Bird flu is an infection caused by avian (bird) influenza (flu) viruses. These flu viruses occur naturally among birds. Wild birds worldwide carry the viruses in their intestines, but usually do not get sick from them. However, bird flu is very contagious among birds and can make some domesticated birds, including chickens, ducks, and turkeys, very sick and kill them Wild waterfowl can also be responsible for the primary introduction of infection into domestic poultry.
What are the signs and symptoms of avian influenza?
The symptoms of avian influenza in humans range from typical influenza-like symptoms (e.g., fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches) to eye infections, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, viral pneumonia, and other severe and life-threatening complications.