You may know that eagles mate for life, Canada Geese mate for life and others… but did you know Carolina Wrens mate for life (monogamous)?

European Starlings are an invasive species to North America. Do you know the story of how they came to North America? - In 1890 Eugene Schieffelin decided it would be nice to have all the birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare live in Central Park. So, he released 60 (the number varies) starlings in Central Park, New York. He followed that with multiple other releases and they flourished. - Is the story true? Depends on who you ask.

99.9% of the time you will find at least one white feather in the nest of a Tree Swallow. It is not their own feather, but one lost from another bird.

House finches were originally a bird you would only see in Western United States and Mexico. They were also sold in pet stores under the name of Hollywood Finches. This was illegal under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. In 1940, to avoid prosecution pet store owners released their inventory. Over the next 50 years they expanded their territory across the eastern United States and southern Canada.

Most birds migrate at night. Some reasons for this - fewer predators, navigation by moon and stars, calmer weather.

The Common Swift holds the record for continuous time in flight - 10 months. [1]

The African Superb Starling shares parental duties with friends (non family members). It will take turns - one year it will help a fellow Superb Starling (non family) raise its’ family (rather than having its’ own young); the following year the friend will not mate and will instead help that same starling raise its’ young. A study was conducted using data collected over two decades. [2]

The Great-crested Flycatcher will sometimes bring a snake skin to its’ nest. They do this to scare off predators. Other passerines are known to do this as well.