The balancing bird is a toy that has its center of gravity located at the tip of the beak. The center of gravity (also called the center of mass) is a special point on an object. It’s the point at which the mass of the body is perfectly balanced. For example, the center of gravity of a pencil is in the middle. So you can hold a pencil up using just one finger if you place it underneath the middle of the pencil. Similarly, you can hold the bird up using one finger as well, if you place it underneath the beak.