8 birds starting with the letter H — each with origin, classification, and notes.
If you've been searching for birds that start with H, you'll find 8 detailed birds below. We're not interested in giving you only a list of names — every entry on this page links to a full profile with the kind of detail you'd actually want to know.
For birds, that means taxonomy, habitat, diet, wingspan, migration pattern, and conservation status.
| Hawfinch | Hawk | Heron | Hobby |
| Hoopoe | Hornbill | House Martin | Hummingbird |
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.
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.
A long-legged wading bird that stands motionless in shallow water, then strikes with neck-spear precision — the great blue heron a familiar sight at North American wetlands.
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.
A cinnamon-orange bird with a dramatic black-tipped crown that fans open into a bold crest — found across Africa, Europe, and Asia, the national bird of Israel, and known in many cultures as a messenger between the worlds.
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.
A familiar summer visitor that builds its distinctive mud nest under the eaves of houses — arriving from southern Africa each April, house martins construct domed cup nests from hundreds of individual pellets of mud gathered from puddle edges; the white rump is the key identification feature separating it from the swallow.
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.
That's our current list of birds starting with the letter H. We add new entries every week — if you have a favorite bird starting with H that isn't on this page, let us know and we'll write it up.
Looking for more? Try birds that end with H, or contain H anywhere in the name.