Wild Birds
Birds are the only living descendants of theropod dinosaurs, and with over 10,000 known species they are the most diverse group of terrestrial vertebrates on Earth. They occupy every continent and most ocean habitats, from Arctic tundra to tropical rainforests and open ocean.
About This Section
Wild bird profiles on FaunaHub cover species taxonomy, geographic range and migratory behavior, diet and foraging strategy, nesting and breeding ecology, and conservation status from the IUCN Red List. Profiles distinguish between wild bird ecology and the domesticated or captive-bred bird species covered in the pet birds section.
Eagle
Diurnal raptors of family Accipitridae — booted, fish, snake, and forest eagles.
Owl
Nocturnal raptors (Strigiformes) with silent flight and acute hearing.
Penguin
Flightless seabirds of family Spheniscidae adapted for wing-propelled swimming.
Duck
Waterfowl of family Anatidae — a group-level overview using the mallard as a reference.
Goose
Large grazing waterfowl (Anatidae) known for flocking and long migrations.
Robin
Small garden songbird (European robin as reference).
Sparrow
Small social seed-eaters; house sparrow as reference.
Crow
Intelligent corvids in the genus Corvus.
Raven
Corvus corax — the large corvid relative of the crow.
Pigeon
Rock dove (Columba livia), wild and domestic forms.
Swan
Large long-necked waterfowl; mute swan as reference.
Flamingo
Pink filter-feeding wading birds (Phoenicopteridae).
Peacock
Male Indian peafowl, famous for its display train.
Toucan
Tropical birds with huge bills (Ramphastidae).
Hummingbird
Tiny hovering nectar specialists (Trochilidae).
Woodpecker
Tree-climbing, drumming birds (Picidae).
Hawk
Birds of prey; red-tailed hawk as reference.
Vulture
Scavenging birds; New World and Old World groups.
Pelican
Large waterbirds with a fish-catching throat pouch.
Stork
Tall wading birds (Ciconiidae); white stork as reference.
Ostrich
Struthio camelus — the world's largest living bird.
Emu
Dromaius novaehollandiae — Australia's largest bird.
Cassowary
Genus Casuarius — powerful flightless rainforest birds.
Kiwi
Genus Apteryx — small, nocturnal flightless birds of New Zealand.
Magpie
Pica pica — bold, intelligent black-and-white corvid.
Cardinal
Cardinalis cardinalis — vivid red North American songbird.
Heron
Family Ardeidae — tall wading birds; grey heron as a reference.
Kingfisher
Family Alcedinidae — vivid waterside birds; common kingfisher as a reference.
Kookaburra
Genus Dacelo — large Australasian kingfishers with a laughing call.
Hornbill
Family Bucerotidae — big-billed tropical birds; great hornbill as a reference.
Bee-eater
Family Meropidae — vivid birds that catch insects in flight.
Albatross
Family Diomedeidae — ocean wanderers with the largest wingspans.
Seagull (Gull)
Family Laridae — adaptable, intelligent coastal birds.
Roadrunner
Geococcyx californianus — a fast-running desert cuckoo.
Resplendent Quetzal
Pharomachrus mocinno — dazzling cloud-forest bird of Central America.
Hoopoe
Upupa epops — unmistakable crested bird with a long curved bill.
Sunbird
Family Nectariniidae — iridescent Old World nectar-feeders.
Swift
Family Apodidae — supremely aerial birds that can stay airborne for months.
Secretarybird
Sagittarius serpentarius — a raptor that hunts snakes on foot.
Weaver
Family Ploceidae — Old World birds that weave elaborate knotted nests.
Oxpecker
Genus Buphagus — African birds that ride on large mammals.
Nightjar
Family Caprimulgidae — camouflaged nocturnal insect-catchers.
Lyrebird
Menura novaehollandiae — an Australian master of vocal mimicry.
Turaco
Family Musophagidae — colourful African birds with unique pigments.
Shoebill
Balaeniceps rex — a tall African swamp bird with a huge shoe-shaped bill.
Frogmouth
Family Podargidae — nocturnal birds that mimic broken branches.
Potoo
Family Nyctibiidae — neotropical 'tree-stump' camouflage masters.
Hoatzin
Opisthocomus hoazin — the leaf-fermenting Amazonian 'stinkbird'.
Jacana
Family Jacanidae — long-toed 'lily-trotters' with role-reversed parenting.
Jabiru
Jabiru mycteria — a giant stork of Neotropical wetlands.
Sunbittern
Eurypyga helias — flashes 'sunburst' eyespots on its wings.
Kagu
Rhynochetos jubatus — New Caledonia's near-flightless 'ghost' bird.
Motmot
Family Momotidae — colourful birds with racket-tipped tails.
Tropicbird
Family Phaethontidae — ocean seabirds with long tail streamers.
Frigatebird
Family Fregatidae — soaring sea pirates with an inflatable red pouch.
Hamerkop
Scopus umbretta — an African bird that builds giant domed nests.
Cock-of-the-Rock
Genus Rupicola — brilliant South American birds that display at leks.
Bowerbird
Family Ptilonorhynchidae — males build & decorate elaborate bowers.
Umbrellabird
Genus Cephalopterus — black cotingas with a crest and throat wattle.
Hornero
Genus Furnarius — South American birds that build domed mud 'oven' nests.
Seriema
Family Cariamidae — snake-hunting grassland birds; kin of the 'terror birds'.
Screamer
Family Anhimidae — loud South American wetland relatives of waterfowl.
Trumpeter
Genus Psophia — social Amazon ground birds with cooperative breeding.
Guan
Family Cracidae — large arboreal Neotropical fruit-eating game birds.
Curassow
Family Cracidae — big crested forest birds; the great curassow as a reference.
Chachalaca
Genus Ortalis — noisy, adaptable smallest cracids.
Tinamou
Family Tinamidae — ancient ground birds, flying kin of the ratites.
Limpkin
Aramus guarauna — a snail-eating wader with an eerie wail.
Sungrebe
Heliornis fulica — a finfoot whose male carries chicks under his wings.
Kakapo
Strigops habroptilus — the world's heaviest, flightless, critically endangered parrot.
Kea
Nestor notabilis — the world's only alpine parrot, famously clever and mischievous.
Cotinga
Family Cotingidae — dazzlingly coloured Neotropical birds with bizarre displays.
Manakin
Family Pipridae — tiny tropical birds whose males 'dance' to court females.
Bird-of-Paradise
Family Paradisaeidae — New Guinea's ornately plumed courtship dancers.
Fairy-wren
Genus Malurus — tiny Australian songbirds with brilliant blue males and cooperative families.
Bellbird
Genus Procnias — wattled cotinga relatives with some of the loudest calls on Earth.
Boat-billed Heron
Cochlearius cochlearius — a big-eyed night heron with a broad, scoop-like bill.
Antpitta
Family Grallariidae — round, long-legged forest-floor birds, more often heard than seen.
Roller
Family Coraciidae — jewel-coloured birds named for the males' tumbling courtship flight.
Trogon
Family Trogonidae — iridescent forest birds (quetzals among them) with unique feet.
Jacamar
Family Galbulidae — glittering Neotropical birds that hawk butterflies on the wing.
Broadbill
Family Eurylaimidae — plump, bright Old World forest birds with wide bills and hanging nests.
Pitta
Family Pittidae — dazzling 'jewel-thrushes' that hop, shy and elusive, on the forest floor.
Honeyguide
Family Indicatoridae — African birds that lead people to bees' nests; brood parasites too.
Tody
Family Todidae — tiny emerald-and-red Caribbean jewel-birds that dig nest tunnels in banks.
Puffbird
Family Bucconidae — stocky, big-headed Neotropical sit-and-wait hunters; relatives of jacamars.
Barbet
Chunky, colourful bristle-faced birds — relatives of toucans that chisel nest holes.
Drongo
Family Dicruridae — bold black fork-tailed birds; clever mimics that fake alarm calls to steal food.
Bustard
Family Otididae — stately ground birds of open plains; among the heaviest flying birds, with grand male displays.
Thick-knee (Stone-curlew)
Family Burhinidae — big-eyed, cryptic, mostly nocturnal ground birds with eerie wailing calls.
Sandgrouse
Family Pteroclidae — desert birds whose males carry water to their chicks in special belly feathers.
Mousebird
Order Coliiformes — crested African birds that clamber mouse-like and huddle to sunbathe; Africa's only endemic bird order.
Courser
Family Glareolidae — long-legged dryland birds that run swiftly across open ground instead of wading.
Go-away-bird
Genus Corythaixoides — grey crested African turacos named for the loud 'g'way' alarm call that warns other animals.
Coucal
Genus Centropus — large ground cuckoos that, unlike many cuckoos, build their own nests and raise their own young.
Pratincole
Genus Glareola — waders that hawk insects on the wing like giant swallows; relatives of the running coursers.
Button-quail
Genus Turnix — quail-like ground birds (not true quails) with reversed sex roles; females court and males incubate.
Greater Painted-snipe
Rostratula benghalensis — a wetland wader where the brighter female courts the males that raise the brood.
Marabou Stork
Leptoptilos crumenifer — a huge bare-headed African scavenging stork of wetlands and savannas.
African Grey Parrot
Psittacus erithacus — a highly intelligent African forest parrot; Endangered, pressured by the pet trade.
Sarus Crane
Antigone antigone — the tallest flying bird, a red-headed crane of Asian wetlands; Vulnerable.
Mandarin Duck
Aix galericulata — an ornately coloured East Asian perching duck that nests in tree cavities.
White Stork
Ciconia ciconia — a long-billed wading bird that nests on European rooftops and migrates to Africa.
Barn Owl
Tyto alba — a pale, heart-faced owl of farmland; one of the most widespread birds in the world.
Golden Eagle
Aquila chrysaetos — a large bird of prey of mountains and open upland country.
Western Capercaillie
Tetrao urogallus — the largest grouse; males display dramatically at spring leks in old conifer forest.
Bald Eagle
Haliaeetus leucocephalus — a white-headed sea eagle and US national bird; a famous DDT-era recovery.
Wild Turkey
Meleagris gallopavo — a large woodland bird and the wild ancestor of the domestic turkey.
Whooping Crane
Grus americana — the tallest bird in North America; Endangered and intensively managed.
Sandhill Crane
Antigone canadensis — a grey crane famous for large migratory gatherings and bugling calls.
California Condor
Gymnogyps californianus — a giant New World vulture; Critically Endangered, restored by captive breeding.
Snowy Owl
Bubo scandiacus — a large white Arctic owl that hunts by day; Vulnerable.
Common Loon
Gavia immer — a diving waterbird of northern lakes with haunting calls and striking plumage.
Harpy Eagle
Harpia harpyja — one of the most powerful eagles, a hunter of the Neotropical rainforest canopy. Vulnerable.
Andean Condor
Vultur gryphus — one of the largest flying birds, a New World vulture of the Andes. Vulnerable.
Macaw
Ara and relatives — large, vividly coloured Neotropical parrots; status varies, several threatened by trade.
Rhea
Rhea americana and relatives — large flightless ratite birds of South American grasslands and pampas.
King Vulture
Sarcoramphus papa — a striking New World vulture with a colourful bare head, of Neotropical forests.
Scarlet Ibis
Eudocimus ruber — a vivid scarlet wading bird of northern South American wetlands and mangroves.
Galah
Eolophus roseicapilla — a common pink-and-grey cockatoo of open country across much of Australia.
Black Swan
Cygnus atratus — a mostly black, red-billed waterbird native to wetlands of parts of Australia.
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Aquila audax — Australia's largest bird of prey, with a long, wedge-shaped tail.
Takahe
Porphyrio hochstetteri — a flightless blue-green rail endemic to New Zealand; Endangered, once thought extinct.
Emperor Penguin
Aptenodytes forsteri — the largest living penguin, which breeds through the Antarctic winter on sea ice.
Adelie Penguin
Pygoscelis adeliae — a small penguin of Antarctic coasts and islands; one of the most southerly breeding birds.
Snow Petrel
Pagodroma nivea — a pure-white Southern Ocean seabird strongly tied to Antarctic sea ice.
Wandering Albatross
Diomedea exulans — a huge seabird of the Southern Ocean that breeds on subantarctic islands; Vulnerable.
Honeyeater
Family Meliphagidae — Australasian nectar-feeding birds that pollinate many native plants; not hummingbirds.
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