BIRDS

2-syllable Birds that contain I

Birds pronounced in 2 syllables that contain I — full profile for each.

You're looking for 2-syllable birds containing I — here are 32 matches, each linked to a full profile.

List of 2-syllable Birds that contain I

    1

    Bittern

    Botaurus stellaris

    A secretive, booming heron of reed beds — the male's low, foghorn-like boom carries for kilometres across marshes on still spring nights and is one of the most extraordinary sounds in British wildlife; the bittern's streaked brown plumage makes it almost impossible to spot even when standing upright among reeds.

    2

    Bluebird

    Sialia sialis (Eastern); Sialia mexicana (Western); Sialia currucoides (Mountain)

    A small bright-blue thrush native to North America — a beloved garden bird whose population was rescued from near-collapse in the mid-1900s through one of America's most successful citizen-science conservation campaigns.

    3

    Brambling

    Fringilla montifringilla

    A handsome winter finch from Scandinavian forests that arrives in Britain each autumn — the male has a striking orange-and-black plumage in breeding dress, and in exceptional years when beech mast crops are abundant, millions can gather at single sites across Central Europe in breathtaking communal roosts.

    4

    Bunting

    Emberiza citrinella

    A family of small, seed-eating songbirds found across Eurasia and the Americas — males are among the most brilliantly coloured birds of temperate regions, with deep blues, reds, and purples unmatched by larger species.

    5

    Chaffinch

    Fringilla coelebs

    Britain's second most common bird and one of Europe's most abundant — the male in spring is a strikingly handsome bird with a pink-red breast, slate-blue head, and bold white wing bars; males sing a loud, rattling song ending in a distinctive flourish that varies in dialect between regions.

    6

    Chicken

    Gallus gallus domesticus

    The most numerous bird on Earth — over 30 billion at any given time — domesticated from the Southeast Asian red junglefowl about 8,000 years ago and now central to every poultry-eating cuisine on Earth.

    7

    Crossbill

    Loxia curvirostra

    A finch with a uniquely crossed bill — the upper and lower mandibles overlap like a pair of scissors, allowing it to prise open pine and spruce cones and extract the seeds inside with precision; crossbills can breed in the depths of winter when cones are ripe, sometimes nesting in snow.

    8

    Dipper

    Cinclus cinclus

    The only aquatic songbird — a compact brown-and-white bird that walks along the riverbed submerged, using its wings to swim against the current and find invertebrates in fast-flowing streams.

    9

    Dunlin

    Calidris alpina

    Britain's most abundant small wader — a dumpy, short-legged sandpiper that winters in enormous flocks on estuaries and mudflats, performing breathtaking aerial "murmurations" that twist and turn as a single organism; in summer breeding plumage it has a distinctive black belly patch unique among similar species.

    10

    Fieldfare

    Turdus pilaris

    A large, handsome thrush that arrives in Britain from Scandinavia each autumn in clattering flocks to feast on hawthorn berries and windfall apples — with its distinctive chestnut back, grey rump, and spotted orange breast, it is one of Britain's most striking winter visitors.

    11

    Goldfinch

    Carduelis carduelis

    A brilliantly coloured small finch with a crimson face, black and white head, and gleaming yellow wingbars — a specialist seed-eater that uses its narrow bill to extract seeds from thistles and teasels; one of Britain's most beloved garden birds.

    12

    Hawfinch

    Coccothraustes coccothraustes

    Britain's most powerful-billed finch — the hawfinch has a massive, pale bill capable of cracking cherry stones and olive pits that require 50–70 kg of force to split; a bulky, short-tailed finch with rich chestnut, black, and white plumage and a distinctive white wing bar; notoriously shy and elusive, spending most of its time in high tree canopy and often detected only by its sharp call.

    13

    Hornbill

    Bucerotidae (family; 55 species)

    A large tropical bird defined by its enormous brightly colored bill topped with a casque — a forest frugivore and icon of African and Asian biodiversity, and the subject of one of the most unusual nesting behaviors in the bird world.

    14

    Ibis

    Threskiornis aethiopicus

    A wading bird with a distinctive long curved bill, central to ancient Egyptian religion as the embodiment of Thoth, and now extirpated from Egypt itself but thriving across sub-Saharan Africa.

    15

    Kiwi

    Apteryx (genus, 5 species)

    New Zealand's iconic flightless bird — about the size of a chicken, with hair-like feathers, a long sensitive beak with nostrils at the tip, and the relatively largest egg of any bird, sometimes 20% of the female's body weight.

    16

    Lapwing

    Vanellus vanellus

    A pied farmland wader with a wispy black crest and spectacular aerial courtship display — once Europe's most abundant wader, now in rapid decline due to agricultural change, and the subject of major conservation concern.

    17

    Linnet

    Linaria cannabina

    A small finch of open farmland and heathland whose male has a crimson breast and forehead in spring — linnets feed almost exclusively on seeds, particularly those of weeds on farmland, and have declined dramatically as herbicides have eliminated the weed seed supply; their liquid, twittering song was once prized and they were widely kept as cage birds.

    18

    Magpie

    Pica pica (Eurasian); Cracticus tibicen (Australian — different family)

    A long-tailed black-and-white corvid with iridescent blue-green wing flashes — Eurasian magpies are among the most-studied intelligent birds, while Australian magpies are renowned for spring swooping attacks on humans.

    19

    Marsh Tit

    Poecile palustris

    A small, glossy-capped tit of ancient woodland — easily confused with the willow tit but distinguished by its glossier black cap, cleaner white cheeks, and distinctive 'pitchoo' call; like all tits, the marsh tit is an intelligent, acrobatic forager; it is a food-hoarder, storing thousands of individual seeds in bark crevices and leaf litter, and has an exceptional spatial memory for relocating them.

    20

    Merlin

    Falco columbarius

    Britain's smallest falcon — a fierce, compact little raptor of upland moorland and coasts that hunts small birds with explosive speed, often following close to the ground in low dashing pursuit; the female is streaky brown, the male is blue-grey above with an orange-buff breast, and both are easily overlooked until they erupt in a burst of rapid wingbeats.

    21

    Nightjar

    Caprimulgus europaeus

    A cryptically camouflaged nocturnal bird that rests motionless on the ground or along tree branches during the day, invisible against bark and leaf litter — famous for its churring mechanical song heard across heathlands at dusk.

    22

    Ostrich

    Struthio camelus

    The world's largest living bird — flightless, two-toed, capable of running at 70 km/h, laying the largest eggs of any bird, and producing meat increasingly farmed across the globe.

    23

    Partridge

    Perdix perdix

    A plump, ground-dwelling game bird of European farmland and hedgerows — the "pear tree" bird of the twelve days of Christmas, now in serious decline across much of its range due to agricultural intensification.

    24

    Penguin

    Aptenodytes forsteri

    The largest living penguin species and the only animal to breed during the Antarctic winter, enduring the planet's harshest conditions.

    25

    Puffin

    Fratercula arctica (Atlantic puffin)

    A small black-and-white seabird with a colorful triangular bill — capable of holding 10+ fish in its beak at once, nesting in cliff burrows by the millions, and increasingly threatened by warming oceans.

    26

    Red Kite

    Milvus milvus

    Britain's most spectacular conservation success story — a large, elegant, fork-tailed raptor that was reduced to a tiny remnant population of a few dozen birds in Wales by the 1930s and has since been reintroduced across England and Scotland, now numbering thousands; the russet-red body, pale head, and deeply forked tail make it unmistakable in flight.

    27

    Robin

    Turdus migratorius

    A large, orange-breasted thrush common across North American lawns and gardens, an early sign of spring and the most numerous land bird on the continent.

    28

    Siskin

    Spinus spinus

    A small, lively finch of conifers and birch woodland — the male is a bright greenish-yellow bird with a streaked black cap; siskins form acrobatic feeding flocks in alder and birch trees in winter, and have become one of the most popular garden feeders in Britain since learning to exploit nyjer seed feeders.

    29

    Spoonbill

    Platalea leucorodia

    A tall, all-white wading bird with a spatula-shaped bill that sweeps side to side through shallow water — one of Europe's most spectacular wetland birds, and a conservation success story after near-extinction in northwestern Europe.

    30

    Starling

    Sturnus vulgaris (European starling)

    A glossy black songbird with iridescent purple-green sheen — native to Eurasia but introduced to North America in 1890 by Shakespeare enthusiasts, now one of the most invasive bird species in the Western Hemisphere.

    31

    Sunbird

    Nectarinia famosa

    Africa and Asia's answer to the hummingbird — small, fast, and brilliantly iridescent nectar feeders that perch rather than hover, with long curved bills designed for specific flower shapes.

    32

    Waxwing

    Bombycilla garrulus

    A plump, crested bird with silky pinkish-brown plumage, a waxy red tips on its secondary feathers, and a voracious appetite for berries — irrupts into Western Europe and North America in winter when Scandinavian berry crops fail.

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