Interesting Facts

I bet they recognise this one! According to a poll commissioned by Wilko, 25% of primary school children cannot identify a robin redbreast or a blackbird. (The survey also revealed that nearly 50% do not recognise a sparrow, with 42% unable to name the common bird from a photo. It's not surprising, when you remember most of kids in the UK think beef comes from McDonald's.) I guess I'd better add blackbird to our list: http://www.learnenglish.de/basics/animals.html

The robin has been named Britain's national bird. By Lukas Esser (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons (The short list of 10 birds included:- The robin  The barn owl The kingfisher The wren The blue tit The mute swan The blackbird The puffin The red kite The hen harrier It's strange that the starling, the pigeon and the sparrow didn't make the short list.  Ornithologist David Lindo - who launched the campaign - said the robin was "entwined into our national psyche" as a "Christmas card pin-up". I wonder if it ever got centre-fold status.)

Lots of countries like the US, Sweden, France, Latvia, Bhutan, Jamaica, Mexico etc. have a national bird, but the UK doesn't. What about the chicken? (This might be about to change as a  famous ornithologist in the UK is asking the British public to vote for an official national  bird . There are 10 contenders:- The Mute Swan The Wren The Blue Tit The Puffin The Kingfisher The Red Kite The Barn Owl The Blackbird The Hen Harrier The Robin There are a couple of missing contenders - What about the sparrow, the pigeon, the chicken, or the seagull?)

Scientists from the Royal Veterinary College may have solved the mystery of why so many birds fly in a V formation. (Flocks of birds flying in this peculiar formation is a common sight In autumn and spring in the UK as birds fly from, or return to their nesting grounds. The scientists fitted data loggers to a flock of rare birds that were being trained to migrate by following a microlight. Analysis of the data revealed that the birds flew in the optimal position - gaining lift from the bird in front by remaining close to its wingtip, thus saving energy. Basically, they are tailgating each other.) Source

According to Dr Charles Brown, of the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, swallows are evolving to avoid getting hit by cars. (A study carried out over several years  in Keith County, Nebraska, has shown a  sharp reduction in the number of swallows killed on the roads, and the results seem to show that n atural selection has favoured birds that are better able to get out of the way of oncoming cars and trucks.  Now if only hedgehogs would evolve too.)

According to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds the two icons of the Christmas song,  the 12 days of  Christmas ;  the grey partridge and the turtle dove, are in alarming decline.  (The society says the number of partridges has dropped 30 percent. Turtle doves are even worse off — with a 60 percent decline in numbers. The society warns, at this rate, the dove will face extinction by the middle of the next decade. No partridge in a pear tree.) The 12 days of Christmas

The robin is one of the birds that starts the dawn chorus and one of the last to stop singing at night. (Scientists from the University of Sheffield think that robins in urban areas are now singing during the night because it is just too noisy during the day. When the red, red robin comes bob bob bobbin' along.)