Birds of prey like hawks and eagles that eat rodents and other small animals have special hooked beaks for picking and tearing meat. Seed and nut-eating birds have shorter, thicker beaks for breaking the outer coverings of seeds and nuts. After a bird swallows its food, the food goes to a muscular organ called a gizzard where it is ground up even more. Instead of giving birth to live young, birds lay eggs with a hard shell and incubate them until they hatch. Most birds lay their eggs in some form of a nest to provide warmth and protection from the weather and predators.
Some birds are better at making nest than others.
Shore birds like Wilson's plover simply make a few scrapes on the ground or in the sand as a nests while many perching birds like weaver birds make intricately woven or sculpted nests that hang from the ends of branches. Finally, birds, like humans, stand upright and walk or swim using only two feet. Some birds, especially flightless birds like ostriches, rheas, and emus must only rely on their legs to move through their environment. Ostriches have such strong legs that they have the ability to run as fast as 35 mph. They could easily win a foot race with most people.