We've just added another owl to Birdorable. This time it's the Great Grey Owl, also known as Lapland Owl. It is America's tallest owl with the largest wingspan, although the Great Horned Owl and Snowy Owl are heavier. The bird lives across the Northern Hemisphere, in the taiga, boreal and mountainous forests of North America and Eurasia. Great Grey Owls can locate prey underneath two feet of snow and will plunge right in to catch a rodent they didn't even see. Pretty cool, he? Here's a nice video of a this amazing bird in action:

Have you ever heard a Barred Owl hoot its distinctive call: "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you, all? ...? This is our Birdorable version of the Barred Owl, our newest bird. This beautiful owl, with its dark eyes, pale face and yellow beak, can be found across Canada, the eastern United States and into Central America. We had the pleasure of seeing a couple of these birds at raptor rehabilitation demonstrations this year. These two pictures are from the Barred Owl of the Northern Illinois Raptor Center. Isn't this the cutest thing?

Two weeks ago we saw the following Barred Owl at Great Swamp Sanctuary in South Carolina. It was a gorgeous sight to see one of these magnificent birds in the wild.

This cute owl is now available in Birdorable style on t-shirts and gifts in our shop, both in regular and Santa-version. For more cute birds see Meet the Birds.

The Yellow-eyed Penguin is native to New Zealand, where it is also called Hoiho. There are only about 4,000 of these cute penguins left and it is considered one of the world's rarest penguins. Threats include habitat degradation and the introducion of predators, like wild cats and ferrets. In spring 2004, a disease killed off 60% of yellow-eyed Penguins on the Otago peninsula and in North Otago. The disease was described as diphtheritic stomatitis, but that is just a secondary infection while the primary pathegen remains unknown. A similar problem has affected another population on Stewart Island, where in six years about 70% of the penguin chicks died from a mystery illness. A reserve protecting more than 10% of the mainland population was established in 2007 in the Catlins by the Department of Conservation and the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust. A 12km coastal reserve in the Catlins in the south of New Zealand's South Island was established in 2007 for the protection of the Yellow-eyed Penguin by the Department of Conservation.

Two days ago we blogged about our new Birdorable Kiwi and today it's the turn of another flightless bird in the ratites family: the Ostrich is the largest living species of bird and it lays the largest egg of any living bird. Five different subspecies are recognized: Southern, North African (most common), Masai, Arabian (extinct) and Somali. Ostriches used to live in most of Africa and much of Asia Minor. Today they are native to the open savannas and Sahel of Africa. The Arabian subspecies used to be very common in the Arabian Peninsula, Syria and Iraq, but became extinct around 1966. They have excellent vision and hearing that helps them sense lions and other predators from far away. When being chased by a predator, Ostriches are known to reach speeds in excess of 45mph (70km/h) and they can maintain a steady speed of 30mph (50km/h), making them the world's fastest two-legged animal.

Photo by Eric Thomson (from Flickr)

Today we've added the Brown Kiwi to Birdorable. Don't you just love this cutiepie? Here are some facts about this amazing bird:

1. Kiwi are flightless birds. After New Zealand split off from Pangaea the Kiwi birds were isolated and no longer had any land predators. As a result they began to evolve smaller and smaller wings because they didn't need to fly.
2. They are the world's only wingless birds
3. The Kiwi is the only bird with nostrils at the end of its bill
4. Kiwi have an excellent sense of smell but weak eyesight
5. It can smell insects underground without seeing or feeling them
6. Kiwi have no tail
7. They are a member of the Ratite family, together with Cassowary, Emu and Ostrich
8. The beak of the Kiwi is one-third the length of its body
9. The genus name of the bird, Apteryx, is Greek for 'without wing'
10. Kiwi are about the size of a domestic chicken (18 to 22 inches or 45 to 55 cm in length)
11. They have very strong legs for ripping apart rotten logs
12. Kiwi have been around for about 8 million years and haven't evolved much in this time
13. There are five different species of Kiwi, all are endangered: Great Spotted Kiwi, Little Spotted Kiwi, Okarito Brown Kiwi, Tokoea and North Island Brown Kiwi
14. The Kiwi is the national symbol of New Zealand
15. Kiwi can outrun humans
16. They are shy and nocturnal
17. Male and female Kiwi mate for life; some are known to have been together for 30 years
18. Kiwi lay the largest egg in relation to their body size; up to one quarter the weight of the female
19. Baby Kiwi look just like a mini version of the adults
20. The name either comes from its distinct cry: "kee-wee kee-wee" or from the Polynesian name for the Bristled-Thighed Curlew, the Kivi, which feeds in the same way as the Kiwi
21. The New Zealand dollar is often called the 'kiwi dollar'
22. Kiwifruit comes from China and was originally called Chinese gooseberries. In the 1960s, kiwifruit farmers in New Zealand decided to market their fruit overseas and called them "kiwifruit", after their national symbol

The Kakapo, also called the Owl Parrot, is a large flightless parrot endemic to New Zealand. This species is critically endangered; as of April 2009 there were only 125 living individuals known. The BBC recently posted this funny Kakapo video that's been making the rounds on the web. Actor Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine travel to New Zealand for the program Last Chance To See to look for Kakapos in the wild. During their encounter, Carwardine gets more than he bargained for:

Inspired by this funny video and several customer requests, we've added the Kakapo to Birdorable! Our cute Kakapo products are available via Zazzle, which allows customization. This means that you can choose from hundreds of apparel styles and colors, and you can add text to Birdorable designs as you see fit! Just pick any Kakapo shirt and then click on Customize it! Here are some Kakapo shirts to which I've added custom text. Why don't you go ahead and give it a try! You can play with the customization with no obligation to buy.

The Great Egret is one of the latest birds we've added to Birdorable. It is widely distributed across the tropical and temperate regions in the world and can be found on all continents. We see these beautiful white birds regularly here in Illinois, where they are quite common. This was however not always the case. In the late 1800s and early 1900s the birds were hunted to near extinction by plume hunters, as they were a popular addition to lady's hats. North American populations of Great Egrets were reduced by more than 95 percent! Fortunately, Great Egrets have recovered as a result of conservation measures. In 1953, the Great Egret was chosen as the symbol of the National Audubon Society, which was formed in part to prevent the killing of birds for their feathers.

Great Egret at Viera Wetlands in Florida

This is a our cute Birdorable version of the Great Egret. For more birds like this see Egret & Other Waders in our Meet the Birds area.

We present you the 200th Birdorable bird: the Dodo. We often get requests for new birds to make and the Dodo has been one of the most requested ones. The Dodo was a large flightless bird in the Columbidae family, related to pigeons and doves. It was found on the island of Mauritius and has been extinct since the mid-to-late 17th century. It is something of an icon of extinction as it occurred in modern times. Our Birdorable Dodo is based on reconstructions of the bird that can be found in museums around the world. We usually show a real photo of the bird here, but with this extinct bird we could find only drawings like this one:

That concludes our Birdorable Bonanza. For the last 17 days we've been adding a new Birdorable bird to the site every day. The sale ends Friday night, so you still have a chance to get some of our cute Birdorable products at 20% to 50% off:

The 198th bird in our Birdorable Bonanza is this cute little Northern Pintail. This dabbling duck has a widespread range in the Northern Hemisphere. It breeds across northern areas of North America, Europe and Asia and in winter migrates as far south as Hawaii, Central America, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Its global population is estimated at 6.1 to 7.7 million birds. Have you ever seen a Pintail?

Photo by Frank Shufelt (Source: Flickr)

Until the 31st of July we'll be adding a new bird every day as part of our Birdorable Bonanza until we reach the 200th at the end of this month. Here's a preview of tomorrow's bird:

The Birdorable Bonanza is almost over. For the last 16 days we've been adding a new Birdorable bird every day and we've been having the biggest Birdorable sale ever with 17 products at 20% to 50% off. Today's new bird is this Rainbow Bee-eater from Australia. These colorful birds measure 7 to 8 inches long, including the two elongated central tail feathers. They eat insects and have a special fondness for bees. This is our totally cute Birdorable Rainbow Bee-eater!

Photo by Maureen Goninan (Source: Flickr)

Here's a preview of tomorrow's 200th bird: