2. FOOD HABITS OF BIRDS.
Birds like other living things need food. But they do
not have teeth to eat their food.
They have beaks.
A bird uses its beak to catch and eat food.
Different kinds of birds have different types of
beaks.
The shape of the beaks tells us about the kind of
food they eat.
Some birds also use their beaks to protect
themselves from their enemies.
3. Sparrows
beak
Pigeon’s beak
Birds like Sparrow and
Pigeon eat nuts and seeds.
These birds have STRONG,
SHORT, AND HARD BEAKS
that help them to crack open
their food.
4. An Eagle’s beak
A Vulture’s beak
Flesh-eating Birds like Eagle,
Vulture and Hawk feed on small
birds and animals.
They have a STRONG , SHARP,
AND HOOKED BEAKS for tearing
flesh.
5. A woodpecker’s
beak
A hoopoe’s
beak
Birds like woodpecker and
hoopoe have STRONG,
POINTED BEAKS.
Such beaks help them to poke
holes into hard tree trunks and
pull out insects from holes.
6. A DUCK’S BEAK
A GOOSE’S
BEAK
Water birds like duck and goose have
BROAD AND FLAT BEAKS, with holes on
either sides.
These birds take in muddy water with
insects, worms, and plants.
The muddy water flows out through
these holes.
7. A hummingbird’s
beak
A sunbird’s
beak
Birds like the hummingbird and
the sunbird drink nectar from
flowers.
They have LONG, THIN AND
POINTED BEAKS to suck nectar.
8. FEET AND CLAWS
Birds have two feet with four toes on each. They use
their feet to walk and hop around, as well as to catch
and hold food.
Flesh-eating birds eagle and vulture
Perching birds like crows, sparrows, pigeons, and
parrots
Scratching birds like hens, peacock etc.
Climbing birds like woodpecker.
Water birds like duck and goose have webbed feet.
Wading birds like crane and heron can walk through
water.
9. An Eagle’s
talons
A
Vulture’s
talons
Flesh-eating Birds like Eagle, Vulture have very sharp
claws, called talons.
Using these talons, they pick up small animals like
toads, mice, and rats.
10. Perching Birds like crow, parrot etc. use their feet to
hold on to tree branches and sit on them. This is called
perching.
11. Scratching Birds like hen have sharp claws to dig the
ground.
These hens are using their toes to scratch the mud and to
bring out small insects.
A peacock also digs out food using its toes.
12. Climbing birds like woodpecker holds on to a
tree.
It has two toes pointing in the upward direction
and two toes in the downwards direction.
This helps these birds to climb up and hold on to
trees.
13. The Water Birds like duck and goose have webbed feet.
The Webbed Feet of duck which help them to swim in
water.
The front toes of these birds are joined by skin, giving them a
flat appearance.
This helps them to push water while swimming.
14. Wading Birds have long legs with spread-out toes
that help them walk in water .
Water birds like the heron and the crane can walk
through water. this is called wading.
The long legs of the cranes are shown here.
15. WHAT MAKES A BIRD FLY?
A bird has a very light body.
A bird’s body consists of head, trunk, wings, legs and tail. All
these parts are very light.
The body of a bird is made of a strong framework of bones.
These bones are hollow and filled with air. This makes them light
but strong.
A bird has a boat shaped body. This shape helps it to float in the
air easily.
A bird has wings in place of arms. These wings have feathers
which help it to fly.
A bird also has strong muscles which move the wings up and
down. These muscles attach the wings to the breast bone. These
are called flight muscles.
The tail of a bird acts like the rudder of a boat. It helps the bird to
change its direction during flight.
16. HOW BIRDS FLY?
Birds fly with the help of their wings.
The wings are joined to the body with strong muscles.
Some birds do not fly at all. They move on the earth with the
help of their legs. These birds are also called Flightless birds.
Examples: Ostritch, Kiwi and Penguin
These muscles help the birds to move their wings.
To fly, a bird flaps its wings both in the upward and
downward directions.
These strokes are called upstroke and down stroke,
respectively.
A hummingbird can flap its wings 90 times in a second!
17. A bird flies with Upstrok upstroke and down stroke of its wings.
e
Down
stroke
18. FEATHERS
A bird’s body and wings are covered with many feathers.
There are three kinds of feathers.
Body feathers
Down feathers
Flight feathers.
22. BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS
Birds build their nests to live.
They build their nests to lay eggs, to hatch
their eggs and reproduce their young ones.
Birds build their nests to protect and feed
their young ones until they are ready to fly on
their own.
They build nests to protect themselves and
their young ones from heat, cold, rain and
wind.
23. BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS
Penguins live in very cold places.
Since it is difficult to find twigs,
grass, or straws in such places,
penguins collect stones and pebbles
and make their nests on the ground.
A cuckoo(koyal) does not make a nest.
It lays its eggs in a crow’s nest and
lets the mother crow look after the
baby cuckoos.
24. A Tailor bird’s nest
The tailor bird uses its beak like needle to sew leaves together to build a
nest.
It also uses materials like thread and wool to sew the leaves.
25. A weaver bird’s nest
The weaver bird uses its beak to weave pieces of leaves, grass, or
twigs to build a nest.
The nest has an opening through which the bird enters.
26. A woodpecker’s nest
The woodpecker uses its beak to peck into tree trunks
and make a hole for a nest.
