2-syllable Birds that contain L

List of 2-syllable Birds that contain L

1

Blue Jay

Cyanocitta cristata

A bold, intelligent corvid with vivid blue, white, and black plumage native to eastern North America, a notorious mimic that imitates hawks to scare other birds.

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

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.

5

Curlew

Numenius arquata

Europe's largest wading bird — recognised by its extraordinarily long, downcurved bill and haunting bubbling call; a moorland and coastal bird facing serious population decline across its range due to habitat loss and predation of ground nests.

6

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.

7

Eagle

Haliaeetus leucocephalus

A large North American sea eagle and the national bird of the United States, recovered from near-extinction to abundance over the past five decades.

8

Falcon

Falco peregrinus (peregrine falcon)

A swift, sharp-winged raptor — including the peregrine, the fastest animal on Earth — with extraordinary diving speeds and a long history as a hunting partner in royal falconry traditions.

9

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.

10

Goldcrest

Regulus regulus

Britain's smallest bird — the goldcrest weighs as little as a 10-pence coin, and at 4–7 g is the joint-smallest bird in Europe alongside the firecrest; a tiny olive-green bird with a bright stripe on the crown — yellow in females, orange-red in males, displayed when excited; common in coniferous woodland and one of the most abundant British birds despite suffering severe losses in cold winters.

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

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.

13

Kestrel

Falco tinnunculus

A small falcon famous for hovering motionless into the wind above roadsides, moorland, and open fields while scanning the ground below for mice, voles, and large insects — one of the most recognizable birds of European and Asian countryside.

14

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.

15

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.

16

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.

17

Plover

Charadrius and Pluvialis spp.

A family of compact, fast-running shorebirds found on beaches, mudflats, and grasslands worldwide — famous for the killdeer's broken-wing distraction display that lures predators away from the nest.

18

Roller

Coracias garrulus

A brilliant blue and chestnut European and African bird named for its spectacular rolling display flight — one of the most colourful birds of open Mediterranean and African habitats.

19

Seagull

Laridae (family)

A common term for various gull species — adaptable scavenger-omnivores found at coastlines, parking lots, garbage dumps, and inland lakes worldwide, with the herring gull and ring-billed gull being among the most familiar.

20

Skylark

Alauda arvensis

A brown farmland bird famous for its sustained, complex hovering song — the male rises vertically to 300 metres and sings continuously for up to an hour, the quintessential sound of the open countryside in Romantic poetry and folk culture.

21

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.

22

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.

23

Swallow

Hirundo rustica (barn swallow); Hirundinidae family

A graceful, fast-flying songbird that catches insects on the wing — the barn swallow nesting in human structures across the Northern Hemisphere, performing transcontinental migrations.

24

Vulture

Cathartes aura

A widespread New World scavenger with a featherless red head and an extraordinary sense of smell — the only vulture that locates food primarily by odor.

25

Warbler

Parulidae (New World)

Small, often brightly colored songbirds — the "wood warblers" of the New World contain over 110 dazzling species, while "Old World warblers" comprise different families with different characteristics, both crucial for migration and forest insect control.