The 100 Greatest Bird Names of All Time

I love bird names. And in a world with more than 11,000 kinds of birds, ornithologists have had to dig deep to come up with unique titles for each one. While literal descriptions have their place (I’m delighted every time someone asks me the name of that black bird with red wings), we’re fortunate that many, many others are surprising, bizarre, never-before-uttered sequences of words or sounds. And each bird’s name carries with it a bit of history. They’re a window into the ways people have made sense of a vast world’s diversity through folk knowledge and science. They show how we relate to the birds with whom we share the world.A few weeks ago, I decided that it would be fun to rank the 100 greatest ones. My task was made easier by Wikipedia’s List of birds by common name, but narrowing down 11,000 names (this is a genuine curated list, I really did look through all of them) turned out to be way harder than I expected. There are FAR TOO MANY GOOD ONES. My short list alone had more than three hundred, and picking the top hundred nearly ended me. It was also so much fun! I considered myself something of a bird name connoisseur, but many of the top names were new to me and so strange and surprising that they left me speechless.A few weeks ago, I shared the ranked list on Twitter and on Substack notes. If you’ll forgive a slight departure from the usual essays that make up my Substack posts, I’m going to share this list here as well.But first, there have been a few fantastic pieces of Bird History by some writers on and off of Substack that deserve a mention.James McCommons’s new book, The Feather Wars: And the Great Crusade to Save America’s Birds, is the first complete history of the fifty-year movement to transform birds from a natural resource into an indispensable piece of our national heritage. St. Martin’s Press sent me a review copy, which I’ve now crammed with highlights and annotations. It’s been a terrific resource as I work on my own book, and I’m deeply grateful to McCommons for bringing to life so many once-forgotten men and women to whom we owe our gratitude for protecting America’s birds. I can’t recommend the book highly enough.

Get it here.Kirk Gordon is in the middle of a terrific series on how the pink flamingo—both the lawn ornament and the ever-beleaguered bird—serve as a mirror to America’s culture, identity, and excesses. It’s been delightful and incisive so far, and there’s more to come. Read part 1 and part 2, and then subscribe to Unnatural Heritage so you don’t miss the rest.For his Substack Charismatic Manyfauna , William von Herff wrote a great piece about how, just decades before the arrival of Columbus, the bird-loving Aztecs took Great-tailed Grackles from their original habitat in the coastal lowlands and introduced them to Tenochtitlan (today’s Mexico City). After reading his piece, I went back through my eBird checklists from a past trip and was really happy to see that I’d seen Great-tailed Grackles in Mexico City, the modern descendants of a pre-colonial species introduction.And now, here’s the list:#100: Chad FirefinchThis is no Virginia Rail. Cockiest bird in Central Africa.#99: Screaming CowbirdOutscreamed the Screaming Piha to squeak into the top 100.#98: Happy WrenWould have been just as content to be left off this list, you can’t ruin their day.#97: Middle American LeaftosserWhen US politicians try to appeal to voters in the heartland, this is who they’re thinking of. But this guy just wants to know what’s under the next leaf.#96: Handsome FruiteaterThere are three other “handsome” birds (Handsome Spurfowl, Flycatcher, and Sunbird), but these gluttons need representation in the top 100.#95: Sandwich TernNamed after a town in England but also two slices of wonderbread, a slather of chunky PB, and a spoonful of raspberry jam#94: Willie-wagtailBirds with people names are one of the best sub-categories, and none wears theirs so explicitly as this guy. (

Robin, Jackdaw, and Magpie are others, I wrote about them here): #93: Splendid FairywrenThere are four other “splendids” (Splendid Astrapia, White-eye, Starling, and Sunbird). It’s a tight race between them, but there’s no more ethereal group than the fairywrens.#92: Zigzag HeronMy vision’s getting blurry just looking at em#91: Three-wattled BellbirdThere are 33 other birds named for their wattles, including the bizarre and somewhat obscene-looking Wattled Ploughbill, along with four Wattlebirds. But none of them have three.#90: WeebillEverything’s little about the smallest bird in Australia but its bill is littlest of all. Decently cute bird but impossibly cute name. How could I say no?#89: Charming HummingbirdCharismatic microfauna. Got its name because an ornithologist thought it looked nice, and I don’t disagree. The group noun for hummingbirds is supposedly a charm, although I agree with Nick Lund that these terms of venery are a joke.#88: BananaquitTiny nectar drinker from the tanager family, named for their banana-yellow color. The best of the ‘quits (Orangequit and grassquits) and the bananas (Bananal Antbird and Eastern / Western Plantain-eaters).#87: Tiny HawkNot a pro skater, but a teeny tiny eentsy weentsy little killer bird. About as big as a starling. Still twice the size of the smallest raptor (the Black-thighed Falconet), but this one’s got a better name.#86: Rose RobinThere are 100+ birds called robins, all named after a real or imagined and similarity to the European Robin. The nickname spread everywhere the English went, for better or worse. In this case, it’s perfect.#85: Large Green-PigeonLargest of the Green-Pigeons, this hulking bird tells you exactly who it is. A pigeon that’s large and green. This sort of honesty is rare these days and should be recognized.#84: Greater RoadrunnerUnclear where they ran before roads were invented.

The only member of the cuckoo family to make this list. Fun fact: “cuckold” comes from some cuckoos’ practice of laying eggs in other birds’ nests. Not this guy, tho!#83: Society KingfisherAfter reading Bowling Alone they decided they needed to get more involved in their community. Find them at the Society Islands Elks Club in French Polynesia.#82: Mealy AmazonA few hundred years ago someone thought that If you look really closely at this parrot’s back it looked like it was dusted with flour, or.. cornmeal. Not a great fieldmark but I love the name.#81: Oleaginous HemispingusThe Oilbird didn’t make the cut but one oily representative still did. The name of this chungus means oily half-finch, which itself would have been a winner.#80: Cinderella Waxbill293 birds are “grey”, 32 are “ashy”, and 16 are “cinereous,” which all could have worked for this bird, but some ornithologist with joy in their heart called it Cinderella.#79: Belcher’s GullMy apologies to the British explorer Sir Edward Belcher, after whom it’s named, but I can’t take this one seriously.#78: Noisy FriarbirdHere’s what eBird says: “Typically very loud; emits a variety of harsh, loud squawks.” Noisy indeed. Like their name suggests, friarbirds are all going through various stages of hair loss; this one is entirely bald.#77: LimpkinNamed for its supposedly funny walk, plus the suffix -kin (like pumpkin, napkin, munchkin), a Middle English diminutive meaning little. These little limpers snack on snails from Florida to Argentina.#76: Resplendent QuetzalI get excited about any bird name that’s kept its indigenous roots. In Nauhatl, its name is quetzaltototl, from quetzalli (tail-feather) + tototl (bird). The national bird of Guatemala. Resplendent doesn’t do it justice.#75: Flightless Steamer-DuckPatagonian chunk duck. Can’t fly, obviously, and mad about it - known to kill larger birds, using their bony wing nubs.

Got its name from the way they flap their wings when they swim fast, looking like paddle steamers.#74: Restless FlycatcherWill not sit still. Also known as scissors grinder and dishlicker for its quick raspy call. What I’ve learned here is that Australia is way over-represented in quality names.#73: Christmas ShearwaterFirst described on Kirimati, aka Christmas Island. Shearwater (for the way they skim ocean waves) pulls a lot of weight too, as does the fact that they’re in the order of tubenose birds#72: ApostlebirdRoams Australia in groups of 12 (or 6, or 40, as the case may be). Apparently also goes by grey jumper, lousy Jack, and happy family.#71: Gang-gang CockatooGang-gang is also of aboriginal origin, probably related to its call, which sounds like uncorking a wine bottle. Cockatoo comes from 16th century Dutch “kaketoe,” which they borrowed from Malay#70: Chaco ChachalacaSay this bird’s name out loud. You’re already happier than you were 8 seconds ago. Chachalaca comes from the Nahuatl word for “to chatter”. eBird transcribes their song as “bink, ka chee chaw raw taw.”#69: Obscure BerrypeckerIf you see a strange bird pecking your berries, and also happen to be in the Arfak Mountains of New Guinea, this could be your bird.#68: Milky StorkThe pantone people and the bird people have a lot in common. Sometimes you’ve got to dig deep for the perfect word, and in this case the bird’s slightly cream-colored feathers meant milky was the way to go. Only about 2,000 are left in the wild :(#67: Blue-footed BoobyA classic for a reason. Booby comes from the Spanish “bobo”, meaning stupid or foolish, for their clumsiness on land and undeserving trust of humans.#66: EmuUnclear where the name came from (possibly an Arabic word for large bird, via Portuguese?), but in rare company of three-letter bird names (Kea and Tui).

There used to be a two-letter bird in Hawaii, the Ou, but it went extinct in 1989.#65: Monotonous LarkLarks are known for their beautiful songs, but this one comes up short. eBird says they “incessantly sing a croaking, gurgling, distinctive four-note song every 3-5 seconds for hours on end, day and night.”#64: Greater Prairie-ChickenClearly better than the Lesser Prairie-Chicken (and the Chicken of the Sea, for that matter). From a larger family of gallinaceous, or chicken-like birds.#63: Wandering TattlerNarcing their way from Alaska to the South Pacific, sometimes migrating up to 3,000 miles, twice a year#62: Common LoonAnother classic. And while common might work as an insult, this bird is anything but. Brits call it the Great Northern Diver. William Wood called it a Loon first in 1634, writing “The Loone is an ill shap’d thing like a Cormorant”.#61: Bearded MountaineerNot a rugged climber, just a lil high-altitude Peruvian hummingbird. But look at that beard!#60: Growling RiflebirdIts black velvety plumage supposedly resembles the uniform of the 19th century British Army Rifle Brigade. Plus, it growls.#59: DickcisselThey get their name from their song, which sounds something like “dick dick dick ciss ciss ciss.” eBird says its call is “flatulent.” These prairie birds migrate every year between the tropics and the Great Plains.#58: Beijing BabblerSounds like something J. K. Rowling would name a magical beast. But the bird is very real and boasts an impressive vocabulary.#57 Magnificent FrigatebirdAlso called man o’ war birds. They hunt fish on the wing and sometimes steal from other birds, reminding sailors of warships. The magnificent comes from the males’ enormous inflatable red throat sacks.#56 KilldeerNamed for its call. Has not yet been known to carry out its threat. Quite nice once you get to know them!#55: Ancient MurreletA tiny species of auk. “