Children's Little Encyclopedia Fun Story Selection

Author: Hu Weiping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-10-01
Features: Hummingbirds are the smallest birds in the world. They are extremely tiny, and their nests are as big as cups used for taking medicine. Their eggs are like small white beans. Hummingbirds in the air are like sparkling gems that make a buzzing sound. Their wings move so fast that you can hardly see them moving. They can fly forward or straight up and down, and they can even fly backward! Under the sunlight, their wings show different colors. The sound they make while flying is like the soft buzzing sound of a spinning top. Long ago, someone heard this soft buzzing sound and named this bird the hummingbird. Compared to most birds, hummingbirds are less afraid of humans. When you approach them, they don’t fly away. It seems you never see these brightly colored birds resting on the ground. Their legs are too weak and thin to jump. However, their feet are quite strong, allowing them to grasp the leaves on branches, so it’s easier to see hummingbird nests there. This nest, which looks like a small protrusion on a branch, is a good place for hummingbirds to hide from enemies and protect their babies. A hummingbird soaring in the air is as graceful as a flower with a broken stem. When it inserts its long, sharp beak deeply into a flower, it can hover almost motionlessly in the air. Its thin, curved-tipped tongue sips the sweet nectar of the flower—just like you use a straw to taste a drink in a glass bottle.
Woodpeckers Among all birds, woodpeckers are the best carpenters. Woodpeckers love to eat insects hidden in tree bark. They protect trees by driving away insects that feed inside the bark. Their beaks are long and hard, without cracks, and they can peck through wood with a tapping sound. Their tongues are especially long and can, as spears to catch the insects and eggs inside the pecked bark for food. Each foot of a woodpecker has four long and strong toes—two in front and two behind—each with long, sharp claws. These claws prevent the bird from slipping off the branch while pecking. Its stiff, sharp tail feathers also serve a purpose. Woodpeckers use them to lean firmly against trees and prevent themselves from falling. Woodpeckers also use their long, hard beaks to build their own homes. They usually peck large round holes in dead trees and nest inside them. These nests are very comfortable and well-hidden. After woodpeckers move out, other birds often move in. Woodpeckers build new nests every year. Except for New Guinea in Australia, woodpeckers are found almost everywhere in the world, but they are most abundant in South America and Southeast Asia. A few temperate species are migratory, while most spend their entire lives in forests, climbing tree trunks in a spiral motion to search for insects. Only a few ground-foraging species can perch on horizontal branches like passerine birds.
Cormorants Cormorants are large birds, with a body length of up to 2 meters. Most of their feathers are white, and their wings are large and wide. The four toes between their feet are fully webbed. Their huge beaks hang down long...