Glossary of bird names

Accentor
A type of sparrowlike bird with a thin, finally pointed bill (=Prunellidae).

Accipiter
(ak-SIP-ih-ter). Genus name given to a group of "short-winged hawks" in Europe in 1760. In North America, the group includes the goshawk, Cooper's Hawk and Sharp-shinned Hawk, which are collectively known as the "accipiters" by ornithologists and bird-watchers.

Aigrette
The term aigrette (from the French for egret, or lesser white heron) refers to the tufted crest or head-plumes of the egret, used for adorning a woman's head-dress. It is another name for an egret.

Albatross
A type of oceangoing seabird that glides for great distances on long, narrow wings and nests on islands.

Alcid
(AL-sid). Seabird of the auk family. Ornithologists usually refer to these birds collectively as alcids.

American Vulture family
Another name for the New World vultures.

American Wood Warbler family
Another name for the New World warblers.

Anatid
Term among ornithologists for a bird that belongs to the family Anatidae--ducks, geese and swans.

Anhinga
A name for the North American species of darter and alternatively used for the other species as well.

Ani
A type of large black, New World cuckoo (=Crotophagidae or Cuculidae).

Antbird
A type of rain forest passerine that feeds on insects and other invertebrates that have become easier to catch when they are fleeing from army ants (=Formicariidae).

Apostlebird
See article.

Auk
A type of penguinlike seabird that is able to fly and typically hunts underwater, propelling itself with its wings instead of its feet (=Alcidae).

Auklet
A type of small auk.

Avocet
A type of wading bird known for its long legs and bill (=Recurvirostidae, in part).

Babbler

 * 1) A type of short-winged and strong-footed passerine of forest or scrub, often occurring in small, noisy groups (=Timaliidae).
 * 2) Noisy, gregarious; mainly ground-feeding passerines with plump brownish bodies with longish tails, pointed, down-curved bills. They build many dome-shaped nests for communal roosting (=Pomatostomidae).

Badger-bird
Another name for the Marbled Godwit.

Baldface
Another name for the American Coot.

Baldhead
A local name in Florida for the Sandhill Crane, in allusion to its partly unfeathered head.

Baldpate
Another name for the American Wigeon.

Baltimore-bird
Another name for the Baltimore Oriole.

Bananaquit
See article.

Bank-bird
Another name for the phalaropes.

Barn owl

 * 1) A type of long-legged owl in which its facial disks are heart-shaped (=Tytonidae).
 * 2) The Barn Owl.

Barbet
.

Barren-ground bird
Another name for the Rock Ptarmigan.

Basket-bird

 * 1) Another name for the Orchard Oriole.
 * 2) Another name for the White-eyed Vireo.

Bay ducks
Another name for the diving ducks.

Baza
A type of hawk in the genus Aviceda (=Accipitridae, in part).

Beach bird

 * 1) Another name for the Piping Plover.
 * 2) Another name for the Semipalmated Plover.
 * 3) Another name for the Sanderling.

Becard
A type of passerine related to the cotingas, in the genus Pachyramphus (=Tityridae, in part).

Bee bird

 * 1) Another name for the Eastern Kingbird.
 * 2) Another name for the Summer Tanager.

Bee martin
The Eastern Kingbird.

Beetle-head
The Black-bellied Plover.

Bellbird
A type of forest-dwelling passerine with bell-like calls:
 * 1) In Cotingidae
 * 2) In Meliphagidae ,
 * 3) or  the Wood Thrush in Turdidae.

Berrypecker

 * 1) See "painted berrypecker".
 * 2) Medium-sized birds which feed on fruit and some insects and other invertebrates. They have drab coloured plumage in greys, browns or black and white. The berrypeckers resemble stout short-billed honeyeaters, and the longbills are like drab sunbirds. There are 10 species, all of which are restricted to New Guinea (=Melanocharitidae).

Berrypicker
See article.

Big Cranky
Another name for the Great Blue Heron.

Big Indigo
Another name for the Blue Grosbeak.

Bill-willie
Another name for the Willet.

Bird-of-paradise
.

Bird of prey
A name applied to any of the carnivorous (meat-eating) birds, such as hawks, eagles, falcon and owls.

Bird of Satan
A United States folklore name for the Blue Jay.

Bittern
A type of heron (=Ardeidae, in part).

Blackbird
A type of medium-sized passerines that are usually all-black :
 * 1) A European thrush, Turdus merula (in Turdidae)
 * 2) A type of icterid (in Icteridae)

Black-breast

 * 1) The American Golden Plover.
 * 2) The Black-bellied Plover.

Black hag, black hagdon
The Sooty Shearwater.

Black-head

 * 1) The Ring-necked Duck.
 * 2) The Greater Scaup.
 * 3) The Lesser Scaup.
 * 4) The Black-headed Grosbeak.

Blackie
The American Black Duck.

Blackjack

 * 1) The American Black Duck.
 * 2) The Lesser Scaup.
 * 3) The Ring-necked Duck.

Blackpoll
The Blackpoll Warbler.

Black-tail
The Hudsonian Godwit.

Black warrior
The Harlan's Hawk.

Black witch
The Anis.

Bleater
The Common Snipe (Wilson's Snipe?).

Bluebill

 * 1) The Ring-necked Duck.
 * 2) The Greater Scaup.
 * 3) The Lesser Scaup.

Bluebird
A type of thrush (=Turdidae, in part).

Blue darter
The Accipiters.

Blue Jay
A species of corvid (in Corvidae).

Blue meteor
Another name for the Passenger Pigeon.

Blue Peter

 * 1) A common name for the American Coot, a bird that runs on the surface of the water before it takes off.
 * 2) Another name for the Common Gallinule.
 * 3) Another name for the Purple Gallinule.

"Peter" for a bird that can apparently walk on water (esp. when walking on floating plants they appear to be walking on water), an allusion to St. Peter (possibly another name for the storm-petrels.

Blue pop
Another name for the Blue Grosbeak.

Blue rock
Shortened name, especially in the UK, for "blue rock pigeon", the rock dove; another name in the US for the Red-billed Pigeon.

Blueshanks
An American Avocet.

Bluestocking
An American Avocet.

Bluethroat
A type of Old World flycatcher.

Blue-wing
A Blue-winged Teal.

Boatswain
A Parasitic Skua.

Bowerbird
.

Broadbill
.

Bulbul
.

Bunting
.

Bustard
.

Bustard
.

Buttonquail
.

Buzzard
.

Caracara
.

Cardinal
.

Catbird
.

Chanting-goshawk
.

Chat
.

Chickadee
.

Cockatoo
.

Condor
.

Conure
.

Cormorant
.

Cotinga
.

Coucal
.

Courser
.

Crake
.

Crane
.

Creeper
.

Crow
.

Cuckoo
.

Curassow
.

Currawong
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Painted berrypecker
A bird family that is a very small, restricted to the mountain forests of New Guinea. The two species are colourful medium-sized birds which feed on fruit and some insects (=Paramythiidae).

Pewee
A type of tyrant flycatcher in the genus Contopus (=Tyrannidae, in part).

Phoebe
A type of tyrant flycatcher in the genus Sayornis (=Tyrannidae, in part).

Wader

 * 1) A British for for a shorebird.
 * 2) A North American term for a large, long-legged wading bird such as a stork, heron or spoonbill.

Wagtail

 * 1) A type of slender, ground-dwelling passerine with a long tail that is flexed up and down when the bird is active (=Motacillidae).
 * 2) A Willy Wagtail from Australia (=Rhipiduridae)
 * 3) A Wagtail-tyrant (=Tyrannidae).

Yellowbird

 * 1) Another name for the American Goldfinch.
 * 2) Another name for the Yellow Warbler.

Yellowhammer

 * 1) Another name for the Northern Flicker's yellow-shafted subspecies.
 * 2) A species of bunting (=Emberizidae)

Yellowlegs
A type of sandpiper (=Scolopacidae, in part).

Yellow-nose
A Black Scoter.

Yellowshanks
Another name for the yellowlegs.

Yellowthroat
A type New World warbler.

Yelper
Another name for the American avocet and greater yellowlegs, and the cackling goose.