Most Shocking Bird Behaviors

Everybody knows the behaviors of birds like migration and lifestyles, and nesting. However birds are some of the most mysterious and highly evolved life forms on the planet earth. Some of their behaviors and abilities are so bizarre, shocking, horrible and sometimes human like that it is astounding or disturbing as we realize how little we know about the birds

10. Chickadees - Bat Killers

Chickadees are smaller than a sparrow but very intelligent songbirds that have a cheerful, innocent appearance. However, one should reconsider these tiny birds have been known to enter hollow trees and bludgeon roosting bats to death before dragging them out to eat.
The bats had their heads pecked open, and were mostly targeted during the winter.

9. Whale Hunting Gulls

What people normally think about seagulls is that they are coastal birds that eat fish, and may be a minor nuisance at times, and a fascination to birders trying to sort out obscure gull species. Off Argentina, gulls are living up to their scary depiction in Alfred Hitchcock’s Movie “The Birds.” They target prey much larger than the usual herring. Giant Whales that measure over 50 feet in length are the repeated targets of these increasing number of Kelp Gull. As the whales surface, the gulls have learned to swoop down and sheer large pieces of flesh and blubber out of the whales, like a scene from a horror movie.

8. Running Away from Home

In a carefully researched study, scientists in Spain discovered that around 40 percent of European White Stork nestling leave their parents after a while through development and sneak into a neighboring stork family’s nest. What is their motivation? Chicks that were not fully satisfied with their parents hunting skills were found to be running away from home hoping to finding a better meal with the neighborhoods.

7. Locking up the Wife and Kids

Indian Hornbills resemble a cross between a woodpecker and the previously mentioned stork. Many females contribute substantially to the building of a nest. These large forest birds receive a little help from the male. After locating a suitable nest the male seals the cavity, who then builds a barrier of mud, bird droppings and sticks. The bill of the female and the young ones is the only thing that can reach through the gap to receive the food in the form of frogs, mice and fruit that are brought by the male. This imprisonment lasts till the brood is ready to fly, and provides protection against nest predators. It is also use to prevent the female from mating with other males.

6. Punk Rocker

The Palm Cockatoo is a resident of the Australian and New Guinean rain forest with its striking plumage and outrageous “Mohawk” head feathers. This large parrot is not just playing the part of a "punk rocker", but it is the king of rock music. When a male Palm Cockatoo seeks a mate, he breaks off a sizable branch with his large hooked bill that could shatter a broom handle, and then flies to a hollow nest tree. With his manufactured drumstick in his foot, the avian rock star beats the stick against the tree trunk, giving off a percussion performance and looking like he is auditioning for a position with The Misfits. The female shortly arrives if she likes what she hears.

5. Bird Crashes

In the village, Jatinga, on an Indian plateau, near the large cliffs, it has become notorious among travel sources due to the mass accidents where numbers of Asian birds including Tiger Herons, Pittas, Hawks and Egrets crash into the ground in a dramatically confused state. The cause of the strange phenomenon has never been fully determined. Conservationists and ornithologists started an expedition that resulted in many villagers being taught to help the birds.

4. House Wrens Sabotage

House Wrens are the little brown birds in appearance. These 4 inch long denizens of North American woodlots and gardens are in saboteurs with industrial capacity. House Wrens feed mostly on insects. House Wrens are constantly hunting and defending territory. They are also destroying other birds’ nests. Many male birds chase away males of their species, but during the nesting season, the male House Wrens not only chase away, but eradicate the entire families of other birds. They sneak up to a bluebird, finch or swallow nest, and the male pierces the eggs, and then moves to trash the nest site. The male will do this to any nest and establish several of his own nests, each with its own female.

3. Mile High Club

Reproduction of birds is both defined by egg laying. Most birds do the job in a hollowed out tree, on a branch, or out in the open in public or on a sandbar. Hummingbirds known as Swifts are dedicated members of the Mile High Club. Lacking effective perching skills, Swifts have mastered the air to the point where they can fly across a continent in 3 days, sleep on the wing, and yes, copulate. Swifts merely do not stop for sex, and after a spectacular, 200 mile per hour display flight, the male and female swift rush together and complete the act belly to belly at associate altitude of over a pair of,000 feet and quicker than many small aircraft.

2. Red-breasted Nuthatch Traps

To begin, Red-breasted Nuthatches are weird birds. They are native to Canada’s Boreal woodlands and Pacific Rain forests. These strange birds have hooked claws and bent necks which allow them to walk headfirst a tree trunk, poking for insects and centipedes. The red-breasted nuthatch nets in a tree and don't want any of these potentially venomous creatures invading its nest; so it painstakingly builds a ring of thick, toxic conifer resin around the edge of its nest, which traps and kills any predator or pest that comes near. To avoid being caught in its own trap, nuthatches are known to fly straight into their nests without halting as they apparently prefer risking a crash than getting captured in their trap.

1. Venus Flytrap Bird

The Tawny Frogmouths are a strange and bizarre Australian birds that inhabit the eucalyptus woodlands where the prey is plenty. They resemble owls, but are in fact big, and rather creepy relatives of the Swifts. They don't hunt actively; they stand upright in a tree, resembling an old branch perfectly. When a frog, lizard dragonfly, or small birds, approach, the enormous gaping mouth expands open, quickly drawing in the helpless animal. Within a fraction of a second, the massive bill snaps shut with a loud click that can be heard 100 meters away. The prey is then forced back and swallowed whole. Tawny Frogmouths don't do anything other than remaining invisible and snap shut just like a Venus Flytrap, making them among the creepiest birds on Earth.