The Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) is a large cosmopolitan raptor in the family Falconidae. It is renowned for its speed during its characteristic hunting stoop (high-speed dive), making it the fastest bird in the world, as well as the fastest...
The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. The osprey tolerates a wide variety of habitats, nesting in any location near a body of water providing an adequate food supply. It is found on all...
The Barn owl (Tyto alba) is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds. It is found almost everywhere in the world except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the...
The Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. In fact, it has the largest natural distribution of any of the world's passerines, ranging over 251 million square kilometers globally. In Anglophone Europe...
The Great egret (Ardea alba) is a large, widely distributed wading bird. Like all egrets, it is a member of the heron family, Ardeidae, and its close relatieves are pelicans. The Great egret is sometimes confused with the Great white heron of the...
The Grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is a large long-legged wading bird of the heron native to Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It lives in wetland areas and feeds on various aquatic creatures which it catches after standing stationary beside or...
Common swifts (Apus apus) are medium-sized aerial birds known for their superb flying ability. These birds never settle voluntarily on the ground, where they would be vulnerable to accidents and predation, and non-breeding individuals may spend up...
The Greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family. It was described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1811. The Greater flamingo was previously thought to be the same species as the American...
The Black kite (Milvus migrans) is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors. It is thought to be the world's most abundant species of Accipitridae. Unlike others in the group, Black kites...
The Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) is a tern in the family Laridae. These amazing birds perform the longest migrations known in the animal world. They have a circumpolar breeding distribution and see two summers each year. Arctic terns nest once...
The Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) is a cosmopolitan species of heron named for its association with cattle. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Bubulcus, although some authorities regard its two subspecies as full species, the Western cattle...
The Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) is a member of the duck, goose, and swan family Anatidae. It is native to Africa and named for its place of origin. Egyptian geese were considered sacred by the Ancient Egyptians and appeared in much of...
The Helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) is the best known of the guineafowl bird family, Numididae, and the only member of the genus Numida. It is native to Africa and has been widely introduced, as a domesticated species, into the West Indies,...
The Black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world. These birds have a stocky appearance as if hunched over, the head tucked down into the shoulders, and they are usually seen...
The willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus ) is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia. It is strongly...
The Little egret (Egretta garzetta) is small elegant heron in the family Ardeidae. As an aquatic bird, it feeds in shallow water and on land, consuming a variety of small creatures. At one time common in Western Europe, the Little heron was hunted...
The European honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus ), also known as the pern or common pern, is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.
The African fish eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer) is a large species of eagle found throughout sub-Saharan Africa near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply. It may resemble the Bald eagle in appearance; though related, each species...
Pied crows (Corvus albus) are widely distributed African birds. Extremely intelligent and opportunistic, they share the jackdaw’s love of shiny things. They also have a special flying ability, with broad wings that enable great powers of flight....
The African sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus ) is a wading bird native to Africa and the Middle East. It is especially known for its role in the religion of the Ancient Egyptians, where it was linked to the god Thoth; despite this, the species...
The Eurasian golden oriole (Oriolus oriolus) is the only member of the Old World oriole family of passerine birds breeding in Northern Hemisphere temperate regions. The name "oriole" was first used in the 18th century and is an adaptation of the...
The Hadada ibis (Bostrychia hagedash) is a long-legged wading bird native to Sub-Saharan Africa. It is named for its loud three to four-note calls uttered in flight especially in the mornings and evenings when they fly out or return to their roost...
The Brown booby (Sula leucogaster) is a large seabird. It is perhaps the most common and widespread species of the booby family Sulidae. They are gregarious birds that only nest on the ground and roost on solid objects rather than the water surface.
The Bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica) is a large wader. The migration of its subspecies Limosa lapponica baueri across the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to New Zealand is the longest known non-stop flight of any bird, and also the longest journey...
The Common tern (Sterna hirundo) is a seabird that has a circumpolar distribution. it has four subspecies breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. Its large population and huge breeding range mean that this...
The Garden warbler (Sylvia borin) is a common and widespread small bird that breeds in most of Europe and in the Palearctic to western Siberia. Its rich melodic song is similar to that of the blackcap, its closest relative, which competes with it...
The Black-winged kite (Elanus caeruleus) is a long-winged raptor best known for its habit of hovering over open grasslands in the manner of the much smaller kestrels. Black-winged kites are well adapted to utilize periodic upsurges in rodent...
African jacanas (Actophilornis africanus) are wading birds from sub-Saharan Africa. They are identifiable by long toes and long claws that allow them to walk on floating vegetation in shallow lakes. The part of the scientific name of this species...
The Western yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) is a small songbird that can be found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Its common name comes from characteristic tail-pumping behavior and the part of its scientific name 'flava' means 'golden-yellow' from...
The White-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) is a beautiful pelagic tropicbird. It is the smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and the smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. In Bermuda, it is locally called a...
The red knot (Calidris canutus ) (just knot in English-speaking Europe) is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the Calidris sandpipers,...
The little grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis ), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek takhus "fast" and bapto "to sink under". The specific ruficollis is from Latin rufus "red" and...
The lappet-faced vulture or Nubian vulture (Torgos tracheliotos ) is an Old World vulture belonging to the bird order Accipitriformes, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is the only member of the genus Torgos. It is not...
The spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata ) is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It breeds in most of Europe and in the Palearctic to Siberia, and is migratory, wintering in Africa and south western Asia. It is declining in...
The sanderling (Calidris alba ) is a small wading bird. The name derives from Old English sand-yrðling, "sand-ploughman". The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds....
The Egyptian plover (Pluvianus aegyptius ), also known as the crocodile bird, is a wader, the only member of the genus Pluvianus. Formerly placed in the pratincole and courser family, Glareolidae, it is now regarded as the sole member of its own...
The spur-winged goose (Plectropterus gambensis ) is a large bird in the family Anatidae, related to the geese and the shelducks, but distinct from both of these in a number of anatomical features, and therefore treated in its own subfamily, the...
The sooty tern (Onychoprion fuscatus ) is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone.
The wood warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix ) is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe, and just into the extreme west of Asian Russia in the southern Ural Mountains. This warbler is strongly...
The Eurasian curlew or common curlew (Numenius arquata ) is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia. In Europe, this species is often referred to just as...
The African harrier-hawk, harrier hawk or gymnogene (Polyboroides typus ) is a bird of prey. It is about 60–66 centimetres (24–26 in) in length. It breeds in most of Africa south of the Sahara. The only other member of the genus is the allopatric...
The common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos ) is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the spotted sandpiper (A. macularia ), make up the genus Actitis. They are parapatric and replace each other geographically; stray...
