1
Crow
Corvus brachyrhynchos
A large, all-black corvid widespread across North America — among the most intelligent of all birds, with sophisticated tool use, problem-solving, and individual face recognition.
Looking for 4-letter birds? Here are 9 birds that fit — each linked to a full profile.
Letters are counted across the whole name with spaces, hyphens, apostrophes, and diacritics excluded. "Apple Pie" is 8 letters; "Boeuf Bourguignon" is 16.
List of 4-letter Birds
2
Dove
Columba livia (rock dove); also Streptopelia, Zenaida, others
A small to medium-sized bird of the pigeon family — peace symbol across cultures, the white morph used in religious imagery, and the common name shared with the genus including the rock pigeon of every city worldwide.
3
Duck
Anas platyrhynchos
The most widespread and recognizable duck species on Earth, ancestor of nearly all domestic duck breeds, and a study in iridescent green and chestnut sexual dimorphism.
4
Hawk
Accipitridae and Buteoninae (multiple species)
A general name for medium-sized day-flying raptors — including the Cooper's, sharp-shinned, and red-tailed hawks of North America — built for speed in forest pursuit and for soaring on thermals.
5
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.
6
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.
7
Loon
Gavia immer
A primitive-looking diving bird of northern lakes with a haunting yodeling call, awkward on land but exceptional underwater — the official bird of Ontario and a symbol of northern wilderness.
8
Swan
Cygnus olor
A large white waterfowl with an orange bill and an iconic curved neck, fiercely territorial and surprisingly aggressive despite its placid appearance.
9
Wren
Troglodytidae (family)
Tiny brown songbirds with surprisingly loud voices — about 88 species worldwide, with the iconic Eurasian wren weighing just 10 grams while producing some of the loudest songs in the bird world.
About 4-letter birds
That's our current list of birds with exactly 4 letters. Need a different length? Try the browse-by-length pills in the sidebar, or combine with a starting letter — for example, 4-letter birds that start with A.