why birds are awesome
I recently started reading the Handbook of Bird Biology, 3rd edition. It's quite expensive to purchase, but check your local library--mine had it as an e-book.
Chapter 1 does a beautiful job explaining why birds are so awesome. I'm still in my first year of birding, but I haven't read anything else that portrays the incredible significance of birds and why they're so captivating to so many of us, birders and non-birders alike.
I'll summarize that chapter here, quoting excerpts from the book.
regardless of climate or conditions, birds probably live there
Given that these outwardly delicate creatures must maintain an internal body temperature even higher than our own, their capacity to live in almost every environment on earth is staggering. Birds occupy windswept arctic tundra and harsh antarctic ice, fog-shrouded mountaintops and tropical rainforest understories, the world's driest deserts, and storm-swept high seas. They live amongst us in the most urbanized cities, in suburban backyards, and in the most remote wildernesses.
extreme biodiversity
There are about ~10,000 species of birds alive today and there's a wide variety of survival and feeding strategies, ecological roles, communication methods, breeding patterns, and behaviors.
All birds have beaks, lay eggs, and breathe via a system of one-way airflow, which permits more efficient capture of oxygen than the in-and-out breathing pattern of mammals. Yet despite these similarities, birds have a wondrous variety of physical forms--from the smallest of hummingbirds to the towering ostriches--that are adapted to different ways of life.
feathers are unique in the animal kingdom
Birds are descendants of feathered-dinos. Today, they're the only animals with feathers on Earth.
Feathers provide birds with thermal insulation, waterproofing, and in many cases, facilitate their flight. Feathers come in bold or cryptic patterns, ornamental shapes, incredible shades of color, pure tones, impressive lengths, or, in just the right light, brilliant iridescence. Many birds offer a combination of these features that play a large role in both mate choice and camouflage.
birds teach us a lot about evolution
Birds have been around for a long time--their common ancestor probably lived around ~130 million years ago (give or take a few million years). But in just the last few hundred years, we've been able to watch evolution play out in real time, improving our understanding of the process.
Birds have provided some of the best examples of how evolutionary forces play out in time. [We've observed] how natural selection can change bird populations in just a few generations, and how intense sexual selection can drive the evolution of gaudy plumage and elaborate displays. Birds have therefore played a central role in our general understanding of these most basic processes by which species arise and change through time.
birds also teach us about the environment, informing our conservation efforts
The famous canary in the coal mine was a warning system to human miners--these little birds could detect environmental hazards before humans, notifying them of danger and giving them the opportunity to flee to safety. Birds in general are very sensitive to environmental changes, and when we pay attention, they can notify us of danger on much larger scales.
Birds serve as flagships for imperiled habitats and ecosystems, and as early warning systems for environmental toxins or other destructive forces. Conservation efforts focused on birds often help preserve many other, less conspicuous, organisms.
the study of birds has contributed to many scientific fields of knowledge
Dozens of principles in evolution, ecology, biogeography, behavior, neurobiology, life history theory, natural resource management, and conservation biology have been--and continue to be--discovered and refined through studies of birds.
humans are naturally intrigued by birds
Birds are all around us, regardless of where we are. We could live in rural Alaska or downtown Manhattan--you'll find birds there. Not only are they all around us, their method of transportation is fascinating to us (flying is cool), and there are so many different kinds of birds. Also, they're adorable. It's natural to be going about your day, see a cool bird, and be captivated by it.
Nearly everyone on earth has seen and wondered about a bird, and this familiarity helps give birds their special inspirational power--birds capture our imagination and curiosity by simply being in our presence.
next time you see a bird, take a moment to think about awesome that bird is!