National Bird Day is a
holiday which has been celebrated on January 5th.
The purpose of this holiday is to bring attention to the plight of our
feathered friends, particularly birds that are not native to the United States
and are captive. This holiday is also a good day to take a few moments out of
your day to appreciate the beauty and the diversity of these animals.
However, National Bird
Day shouldn’t be confused with Bird Day—one of the oldest bird holidays in
existence. Bird Day is a holiday that is celebrated annually in the United
States on May 4th and has been since the late 19th century. It is a day where
people can not only take the time to enjoy the many beautiful species that
exist all around them, but also a day to remember how important birds are to
the environment.
National Bird Day is a
holiday which has been celebrated for over a decade now. It was set up to fall
on January 5th to coincide with the annual Christmas Bird Count. This bird
count is one of the longest running citizen science survey’s in the world and
helps to keep an eye on the health of the United States’ birds. The Christmas
Bird Counts lasts 3 weeks and focuses on native bird populations. On January
5th, the well being of captive birds is honored as well.
Bird Day, on the other
hand, goes back a lot further. According to the U.S. Library of Congress, Bird
Day was established by Charles Babcock in 1894. At the time, Mr. Babcock was
superintendent of the Oil City, Pennsylvania school district. He started the
observation of this holiday throughout the school district as a way to not only
celebrate birds but to help educate his students about the importance of birds.
While this holiday was meant only for the students of his district, it spread
nationwide and by the early 20th century was a well established observational
holiday. This is in part due to the book that Mr. Babcock published in 1901
entitled, “Bird Day: How To Prepare For It.”
According to the
International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are almost 10,000
different species of birds. Out of these species, almost 900 of them are on the
verge of extinction and 4 have been ruled as extinct in the wild.
Archaeopteryx lithographica is believed by
scientist to be the earliest known bird. It was a transitional animal that
spanned the gap between reptiles and birds, and as such had features of both.
The largest species of
birds on the planet is the ostrich. These birds can reach a height of nine feet
tall and weigh up to 350 pounds. While these birds cannot fly, they can run up
to 45 miles per hour.
Birds
are symbolic and are far more intelligent than they seem. The Second Online
Travel Varanasi wishes you all Happy National Bird Day.
Ramesh Verma CMD- the
Second Online Travel,Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
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