I learned of a new bird yesterday and decided that I wanted to do this week’s creature feature about our flying feathered friends. I reserve the right to do a whole future blog about the equally fascinating birds that don’t fly (and, of course, future blogs about birds in general), but today is about the ones who do fly.

First off, a few stats. There are about 10,000 bird species in the world. Only one person that I’m aware of has ever come close to seeing them all, and that was Pheobe Snetsinger whose own book is entitled Birding on Borrowed Time. Another book written about her is Life List by Olivia Gentile. Snetsinger’s story is one of courage and persistence, but it’s also one of Captain-Ahab-style obsession which ultimately caused friction in her personal life.

Because birds are relatively large, terrestrial, easily visible creatures (compared to, say, worms or deep-sea oddities, of which new species are being discovered all the time), and because people have been studying them… well, since there have been people…. it’s unusual that we come across unknown species.

It’s even more unusual if the unknown species is found in a museum collection rather than in the wild. But that’s what happened last year when a new species of shearwater was recognized in the United States.

New birds do get discovered, however, especially in the forests of Central and South America. Like this Antipitta. And this Oilbird.

Fenwick's Antipitta (borrowed from the DailyGreen.com)

If you want to know about the biggest/smallest, fastest/slowest, and more extremes in the bird world, I found this interesting list.

However, nowhere in the wild world are you going to find a bird like this next one that I just learned about yesterday. You have to see it to believe it, so click on the link watch the video, and be amazed. (I should mention that this is where the robots come in.)

Watch it here.