The common characteristics of birds is that they have feathers, wings, lays an egg, and they are warm-blooded. According to scientists, modern birds came from theropods which is a group of two-legged dinosaurs composed of its members that include the huge Tyrannosaurus Rex and the smaller velociraptors.
For years, scientists have been studying the birds' origin and their characteristics. There are over 10,000 species of birds worldwide and although most of them can fly, there are some species also that are unable to fly such as the Ostrich.
It is the largest bird in the world and also lays the largest eggs. These birds have the fastest maximum running speed of 97kph.
Birds vary from each other and no bird is the same from another bird and that makes them unique. Some of them look so adorable that they get the attention of people and become viral on social media because of their cuteness and unique talent or characteristics.
Adorable round Bearded Reedling
Recently, photos of the bearded reedling have been circulating the web. Social media users find the bird very adorable because of its cuteness and its ability to perform a perfect split while in between the twigs.
Also called the bearded parrotbill or the bearded tit, this bird is usually found in large reedbeds, where it feeds on insects and reed seeds, in Southern, Eastern North West England. The bearded reedling is a small bird with a long cinnamon-brown tail. It has a gray head with a black "mustache" (rather than beards) and a yellow bill and eyes.
Female bearded reedlings are less colorful than males, and do not have mustaches. This bird is the only British songbird that stays in the reedbeds all year round. But due to expanded reedbeds, they can now be seen in some parts of the eastern and southern parts of England.
Currently, there are only 630 breeding pairs of them in Britain, most likely because of their habitat that they build low down in the reeds, often piles of dead reed stems. But not to worry, because bearded reedlings are prolific breeders that can have up to four broods in a year and with four to eight per brood.
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Alterations and vulnerability
Since bearded reedlings survive all year round in reedbeds, they also change their diet to cope up with the changing seasons. During spring and summer, this bird eats insects, while during autumn and winter they eat seeds.
They can cope with the change in their diet through altering their gut morphology, and by eating large amounts of grit particles to help grind down tough seed fibers.
However, due to their restriction, the bearded reedling populations can be vulnerable to harsh winters, flooding, and saltwater inundation into the reedbeds which could lead to their extinction.
One time in the cold winter of 1947, the East Anglian population of the bird decreased to only 4 or 5 pairs in Suffolk, and only one adult male in Norfolk. Experts believe that the snow cover prevented the birds from accessing the seeds that they needed to survive.
As of now, their population is considered the least concern since there are approximately 3 to 6 million of them. But just like any animal, if we neglect them we might not see more of them in the future.
