About Birds Birds are vertebrate animals adapted for flight. Many can also run, jump, swim, and dive. Some, like penguins, have lost the ability to fly but retained their wings.

Birds are warm-blooded vertebrates (vertebrates have backbones) and are the only animals with feathers. Although all birds have wings, a few species can't fly.

Learn about the dozens of species called birds of paradise. Discover the dramatic, brightly colored plumage that sets them apart from their peers.

Atlantic puffins are birds that live at sea most of their lives. They fly through the air like most birds, but they also "fly" through the water, using their wings as paddles.

Nine years ago, two men began an extraordinary quest: to be the first to find and document all 39 species of the legendary birds of paradise.

The ostrich is the tallest and the heaviest of all birds. While the huge ostrich is a bird, it does not fly. Instead it runs. One stride can cover up to 16 feet (4.9 meters)—about the length of a mid-size family …

Prized as game birds and reared for their meat and eggs, these stout-bodied birds often have short, rounded wings because they spend most of their time on the ground.

These noisy birds are often recognizable by their distinctive, loud cry, called a caw. They are often mistaken for the common raven, but ravens are larger, have differently shaped bills, pointed wings …

California condors remain critically endangered. Though numbers have risen to around 300 animals, populations are still low, and many birds continue to fall victim to accidental death.

These graceful birds have been the national symbol of the United States since 1782. Bald eagles were on the brink of extinction because of hunting and pollution.