1
Albatross
Diomedea exulans
The largest flying bird by wingspan, a Southern Ocean seabird that can glide thousands of kilometers without flapping and live over 60 years.
Below are birds that contain the letter B anywhere in the name. Each of the 25 birds below opens to a full profile.
List of Birds That Contain B
2
Bearded Tit
Panurus biarmicus
A tiny, tawny gem of the reedbed — the male is unmistakable with a blue-grey head and long drooping black moustache stripes that give the species its name; not closely related to true tits, the bearded tit (or bearded reedling) is a specialist of large reedbeds, its life played out almost entirely among the reed stems; a sedentary species but capable of dramatic post-breeding dispersal.
3
Bee-eater
Merops apiaster
A brilliantly colored aerial hunter that catches bees, wasps, and other stinging insects in mid-flight — then systematically beats the insect against a perch and wipes the stinger clean before swallowing.
4
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.
5
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.
6
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.
7
Booby
Sula nebouxii
A large, torpedo-shaped seabird that hunts by plunge-diving from heights of 30 metres — remarkable for its sky-blue or bright red feet used in elaborate courtship displays, and for colonial nesting on remote islands.
8
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.
9
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.
10
Corn Bunting
Emberiza calandra
The largest British bunting — a large, streaky, plain-brown bird of arable fields with no distinctive markings but an utterly unmistakable song, often described as jangling keys; the corn bunting has declined severely across Britain as intensive farming reduced the cereal stubble, rough grassland, and insect-rich field margins on which it depends; polygamous males may mate with up to 18 females in a season.
11
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.
12
Frigatebird
Fregata magnificens
A large, long-winged tropical seabird with a remarkable red throat pouch that males inflate like a balloon during courtship, and a well-earned reputation as an aerial pirate that terrorizes other seabirds into dropping their food.
13
Hobby
Falco subbuteo
A dashing, long-winged falcon — sleek and swift, with the silhouette of a large swift, the hobby is one of Britain's most aerial predators, specialising in catching dragonflies and swallows in flight at speed; adults have slate-grey upperparts, heavily streaked underparts, and vivid rusty-red thighs and undertail; a summer visitor from Africa, arriving in late spring when dragonflies emerge.
14
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.
15
Hummingbird
Archilochus colubris
The most common hummingbird in eastern North America, weighing less than a U.S. nickel, capable of hovering, flying backward, and migrating across the Gulf of Mexico nonstop.
16
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.
17
Mockingbird
Mimus polyglottos (Northern); various other Mimus and Mimidae species
A medium-sized gray songbird famous for mimicking dozens of other species — capable of imitating 200+ songs and sounds across a lifetime, with the northern mockingbird as Harper Lee's literary symbol of innocence.
18
Razorbill
Alca torda
A cliff-nesting seabird with a distinctive laterally flattened "razor" bill, banded in white — the closest living relative of the extinct great auk; it dives deep for fish by flying underwater with its wings, nests on cliff ledges in large colonies alongside guillemots and puffins, and is an excellent indicator of North Atlantic fish stocks.
19
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.
20
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.
21
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.
22
Umbrellabird
Cephalopterus ornatus
A large black tropical bird of South American rainforests, distinguished by an umbrella-like crest of feathers above its head and a long, retractable, throat-feathered wattle that males inflate during courtship displays.
23
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.
24
Xantus's Hummingbird
Basilinna xantusii
A small, range-restricted hummingbird of southern Baja California with a brilliant green back and rufous belly — endemic to the peninsula and one of the few "X" birds in field guides.
25
Zebra Finch
Taeniopygia guttata
A small, social, vivid Australian songbird with zebra-striped tail feathers and orange cheek patches — a popular cage bird worldwide and the most-studied songbird in neuroscience laboratories.
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