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12 Strange Birds That Look Made Up (But Are Real)
A bird that smells like manure, a parrot that can't fly and a stork that stares like a dinosaur. Meet 12 of the strangest birds in the world.
Birds are living dinosaurs, and some of them make it very obvious. Others look like they were designed by a committee that couldn’t agree on anything. Here are 12 strange birds from around the world, each one stranger than the last.
Shoebill
Five feet tall, with a bill shaped like a giant wooden clog and a stare that feels personal. The shoebill of African swamps stands still for hours, then lunges to grab lungfish and even baby crocodiles.
Hoatzin
Also called the stinkbird. The hoatzin of the Amazon ferments leaves in its gut like a cow, which makes it smell like manure. Its chicks have claws on their wings for climbing.
Kakapo
The heaviest parrot in the world can’t fly, comes out at night and smells of honey. Only about 325 kakapo are alive, and every one of them has a name.
Superb bird-of-paradise
To win a female, the male superb bird-of-paradise fans out his feathers into a black oval with a glowing blue smiley face, then hops around her in circles. She usually flies away.
Potoo
By day, the potoo of Central and South America pretends to be a broken branch, sitting bolt upright with its eyes almost closed. At night, it opens an enormous mouth to catch insects in flight.
Kiwi
A bird with hair-like feathers, whiskers and nostrils at the tip of its bill. The female kiwi lays an egg about a fifth of her own body weight, one of the biggest eggs for body size of any bird.
Strange but trueThe potoo can see with its eyes closed. Small notches in its eyelids let it watch for danger while it pretends to be a sleepy piece of wood.
Southern cassowary
A bright blue head, a bony helmet and a dagger-like claw about 4 in (10 cm) long on each foot. The cassowary of Australia and New Guinea is often called the world’s most dangerous bird, though attacks are rare.
Secretary bird
An eagle on stilts. The secretary bird of Africa hunts on foot and kills snakes by stamping on them. Its kick hits with about five times its own body weight and lands in a fraction of a second.
Oilbird
The only bird in the world that eats fruit at night. Oilbirds live in caves in South America and find their way in the dark with clicking calls, a kind of echolocation used by very few birds.
Long-wattled umbrellabird
A black bird with a quiff of feathers on its head and a feathered “tie” hanging from its throat that can be as long as its body. It lives in the rainforests of Colombia and Ecuador.
Vampire ground finch
On two remote Galápagos islands, this little finch pecks at the skin of seabirds called boobies and drinks their blood. It also rolls their eggs into rocks to crack them open.
Harpy eagle
Talons as long as a grizzly bear’s claws and legs as thick as a child’s wrist. The harpy eagle plucks sloths and monkeys right out of the rainforest canopy.
Every one of these birds is the end result of millions of years of evolution. Evolution clearly has a sense of humour.
Why are some birds so strange?
Many of the strangest birds live on islands or in isolated habitats, such as New Zealand, New Guinea or the Galápagos. With fewer competitors and, sometimes, no ground predators, birds could try strange lifestyles: giving up flight, eating blood or leaves, or putting on wild displays for mates. Read more in Kakapo vs. Kiwi and our Flightless Birds collection.
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