4 birds starting with the letter L — each with origin, classification, and notes.
If you've been searching for birds that start with L, you'll find 4 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.
| Lapwing | Linnet | Little Owl | Loon |
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.
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.
Britain's smallest owl and the only one to be diurnal — this compact, flat-headed owl perches in the open on fence posts, telegraph poles, and old walls, staring at passers-by with intense yellow eyes and bobbing its head in indignation; introduced to Britain from the Continent in the 1870s and 1880s, it is now a naturalised and widely distributed species.
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.
That's our current list of birds starting with the letter L. We add new entries every week — if you have a favorite bird starting with L that isn't on this page, let us know and we'll write it up.
Looking for more? Try birds that end with L, or contain L anywhere in the name.