Top 10 or­ni­tol­o­gy facts

Black. Owl's eye colour depends on the time of day in which they hunt. The ones that hunt during daylight have yellow eyes. The ones that hunt at night but also at the evenings and mornings have orange eyes. Black eyes are typical to owls that hunt only at night.

Keratin. There are two main types of keratin proteins. The e α-keratins are the main structural components of hair, nails, horns and claws of mammals. The harder β-keratins are found the scales and claws of reptiles, tortoise shells, and in the feathers, beaks, claws of birds.

Philippines. The Philippine eagle also known as the monkey-eating eagle is endemic to the Philippines and can be found on four major islands: eastern Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao. The largest numbers of eagles reside on Mindanao, with between 82 and 233 breeding pairs.

95 years. Kakapos live, on average, about 60 years, but some individuals can live up to 95 or more years. They are endemic to New Zealand and critically endangered as the total known adult population is around 150.

European bee-eater. The European bee-eater is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It has brown and yellow upper parts, whilst the wings are green and the beak is black.

Red-backed shrike hunts for its food on the ground. It eats smaller prey right away, but bigger ones like rodents and insects are kept for later, impaled on trees and bushes.

Owls don't build nest . Owls don't build their nests, they just find a nesting place and adjust it to their needs. Some of them use abandoned nests after other species.

Shelduck. The common shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) is widespread and common in Eurasia, mainly breeding in temperate and wintering in subtropical regions; in winter, it can also be found in the Maghreb. This species is mainly associated with lakes and rivers in open country, breeding in rabbit burrows, tree holes, haystacks or similar. In winter it is common on suitable estuaries and tidal mudflats as well.

New Zealand. The Haast's eagle is an extinct species of eagle that once lived in the South Island of New Zealand. Its massive size is explained as an evolutionary response to the size of its prey, the flightless moa, the largest of which could weigh 230 kg. Haast's eagle became extinct around 1400, after the moa were hunted to extinction by the first Māori.

European bee-eater. As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps, and hornets. They catch insects in flight, in sorties from an open perch. Before eating a bee, the European bee-eater removes the sting by repeatedly hitting the insect on a hard surface.