The Top Candidates

1. Common Ostrich
2. Wandering Albatross
3. Kori Bustard

1. The Common Ostrich

When we're talking about sheer size, the common ostrich takes the cake.They can reach sizes higher than 9 feet. (That's taller than you. Probably)What's weird though, is that they only weigh a little less than 300 pounds. Which for that size, is relativley light. Fun fact: Contrary to popular belief, ostriches do not stick their heads in sand when frightened. The reason why you might see them doing that is because they are unable to build nests so they dig holes in the sand. Occasionally, the eggs they lay need to be adjusted which is why you might see one putting its head in the sand.

2. The Wandering Albatross

But you might be thinking, “Wait the ostrich can't even fly. Why should it even be considered a bird?” That's where the Wandering albatross comes in. Not only can it actually fly, but it also has the largest wingspan of any bird. Coming in at a whopping 12 feet! If you were to flip it on its side, it would be taller than a basketball hoop. But why does this massive bird need these huges wings? The wandering albatross is a sea bird, which means it needs to cross large oceans. To adapt to this, the albatross developed these very large wings which allows them to fly for hours without taking a single flap. they also developed a way to drink salt water, which I guess is pretty cool.

3. The Kori Bustard

We've seen the tallest bird and the widest bird. But what about the truly “biggest”bird. I'm talking, the densist bird around. I'm talking about the Kori Bustard. Now, if you look up what the heaviest bird is, Google is gonna tell you that it's the ostrich. But as I have said earlier, it can't fly so it really doesn't count as a bird. That means that the Kori Bustard is the heaviest flying bird. As well as being the largest bird in Africa, it can also weigh up to 44 pounds (20 kg). Compare that to something like a sparrow which only weighs less than an ounce and you can see just how dense this bird is.

Who knows though? Mabye there's a bird out there that we haven't discovered yet that is bigger than all three of these birds. Personally I can't decide, so I'll let you decide for yourself.

Honorable mentions

1. Pelagornis
2. Big Bird
3. Daniel

1. Pelagornis

This thing could have easily crushed every bird on this list. It's wingspan could get up to 20 feet long, buuuuut, since we're only talking about birds that are still alive, Pelagornis is excluded.

2. Big Bird

As the name suggests, big bird is a big bird. He is 8 feet tall and towers over all of the people around him. Normally he would be a contender, but since he isn't an actual bird, he can't be counted.

3. Daniel a.k.a superman

The final “bird” on our honorable mentions list goes to Daniel Messeh; also known as superman. He can fly faster than any other bird on this list. the only problem is that even though he can fly, he isn't a bird and cannot be on the actual list.

For anyone interested, here is a chart comparing various atributes of the top canidates.