Awesome Birds

We don’t know too much about the upcoming game The Falconeer, but it’s clear from the teaser trailer that the open-world fantasy RPG looks gorgeous – and involves dogfighting between giant birds – and that sounds pretty awesome to us.

(PG-13: Language) The Van Vuuren Bros. present a little song about our fine-feathered friends, most of whom they really like, except maybe one. If you thought pigeons were rats with wings, wait until you meet a flock of Ibises down under.

This lighthearted game puts you in control of a little bird who’s learning to fly – on a skateboard. The tiny skatepark is made up of office supplies like staplers, scissors, and sticky notes, offering a fun place for our avian friends to take flight. Grab the Alpha demo version of the game here.

Netflix shares a wonderful bit of footage from the David Attenborough-narrated series Our Planet, introducing us to a few species of exotic birds residing in New Guinea, highlighted by the western parotia, a fastidious little fellow who must put on quite the show to attract a mate.

The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America is the perfect reference book for identifying our flying friends (and enemies). It features 50 snarky descriptions of annoying, dumb, and stupid looking avians you might find in your backyard.

These small wooden birdhouses from OneManOne Garage are inspired by the look of classic Scotty campers. Each one comes flat-packed and ready to assemble without glue. Available fully-painted or unpainted if you want to do your own decodrating.

To further demonstrate the HyperSmooth stabilization tech in the GoPro HERO7 Black, the company dropped this video, featuring a trained eagle fitted with a special harness and one of their latest action cams, providing a literal bird’s-eye view of a soccer stadium.

We always thought the whole gobble gobble sound that turkeys made was gibberish, but as naturalist and author Joe Hutto explained on the BBC series Natural World, these big birds actually have a whole lot to say, and are much smarter than you might think.

(PG-13: Language) There’s a whole lot of screeching and squawking going on in heavy metal music. Two Minutes to Late Night sat down with bird expert Tom Stevenson of BirdGenie to see if he could identify which birds various metal vocalists sound like.

Le Corbeau voulant imiter l’Aigle, or The Raven Who Wished to Imitate the Eagle, is an amusing animated tale of envy set in the world of ornithology from YouTube member Fou Dubulbe. Because jealousy and irony aren’t just limited to the human world.

Birds can make some crazy noises, from mimicking sounds of their environment to singing repetitive patterns unique to their species. TED-Ed looks at the ways in which our fine feathered friends pick up their songs, and carry them on generation after generation.

The laughing kookaburra bird lives up to its name with one of the most charming calls around. But Connor Margetts figured out that if he slows down the sound of his bird, Dacelo, that lighthearted call takes on a decidedly more evil tone.

A yellow-billed stork was enjoying a calm and peaceful day dipping its beak into the water in South Africa’s Kruger National Park when a vicious croc came out of nowhere and tried to attack. Fortunately, the bird kept its wits, and all is right with the world.

For most of us, it’s rare to see even a single hummingbird. But check out this fun footage of a whole mess of the speedy little birds splashing about in a fountain. The sound of these little guys buzzing about never gets old.

Pelicans grab fish by swooping into shallow water at speeds up to 40 mph. Deep Look explains how these birds have evolved to help them survive and excel in their otherwise lethal hunting technique.

Each day, hundreds of Indian Runner ducks make their way to their day jobs – eating snails that might otherwise damage crops at South Africa’s Vergenoegd vineyard. Benny Hill version here. Original footage via Reuters.

We’re just going to file this one under the “WTF” category. What this guy captured while driving through an office parking lot is strange indeed, as a group of three turkeys decided to endlessly chase each other around a tree trunk. We can’t wait for the turkey tilt-a-whirl to open.

While drones can be used for good, they can also be used for nefarious purposes. A police program in The Netherlands has been training eagles to snatch threatening drones right out of the air. Apparently, they’re working on armor to protect the birds from more powerful rotors.

Bald eagles are incredibly beautiful and majestic, but we’d still be afraid they’d peck our eyeballs out (or worse) if we got too close. Not so for Alaskan fisherman Jessie Peck, as he tosses out some scraps of fish to a flock of the big birds.

(PG-13: Language) While on hiatus, John Oliver stopped by the Last Week Tonight set to record a brief public service announcement about our fine feathered friends. We’re guessing a pigeon pooped on his freshly pressed suit on his way to the studio.

Einstein the parrot is a bird of many words and many sounds. But when it comes to his impression of Matthew McConaughey, he has just one thing to say. We’ll give you a clue: it’s not “time is a flat circle.” (Thanks Jeff!)

While the proper way to play a record is with a needle, it turns out that other sharp objects will do the trick, if not quite as well. Michael Ridge puts some bird songs on his turntable, then played them with the beak from a seagull’s skull. The bird is the word.

BBC Earth enlisted the help of audio technicians and and their fancy recording equipment to capture the sound of birds in flight, and demonstrate just how insanely quiet owls are when they fly. They pull it off thanks to their efficient, glider-like wing design.