The Wonderful World of Birds - How to Make Friends With Our Feathered Friends Table of Contents Introduction Knowing More about the Birds around You - Fun Facts of the More Common Bird Species Blackbirds Sparrows Hawks Cranes Goldfinch Ducks Blue Jays Chickadees Egrets Vultures Falcons Gulls Finches Owls The Territorial Rights of Birds How to Make Bird Houses Different Styles of Bird Houses Special Birdhouse Plans for Different Bird Species Taking Care of Your Bird Pets Feeding Your Feathered Friends Starting A Bird Watching Club Conclusion Introduction Did you know that some of the birds which people believed would never ever be extinct because they were so numerous have disappeared in the 20th and the 21st century? The last passenger pigeon, which once covered the skies of North America, died in captivity in 1904. In the same manner, it took just five years to kill off all the vultures, the Kites, the Eagles and the house sparrow (Passer Domesticus) and many other birds once common in cities, in parts of the Indian subcontinent. Blame it all on pesticides and also humans encroaching the natural habitats of birds. So why should you be interested in the wonderful world of birds, you may ask? Well, it is a well-known fact that a number of bird species are disappearing from the face of the earth, just like the Great Auk and the dodo at the rate of 10- 25 per year. So what, you may say, after all, there are so many other birds to choose from. Just calculate. 25 species going extinct per year, never to make their appearance on earth again. At this rate, we are not going to see a living bird in the next 50 to 75 years. That is reality. There may come a generation, which may ask its grandparents, "what were those silly little creatures, you called birds? We can just hear their songs on audio. What were they like to look at?" And the grandparents trying desperately to describe the magic world of birds. Imagine a world without nightingales singing in Berkeley Square, bluebirds flying over the white cliffs of Dover, peacocks in purple adorning and other such songbirds disappearing from your windowsill, garden and lives. Imagine no bird nesting in your garden or waking you up to birdsong, bright and early in the morning. So if you begin to take an interest in birds, there is a chance that you may want to help save them and your children might grow up to be keen ornithologists.