10 Iconic Birds Nature Lovers Must See at Least Once
Birdwatchers love seeing any bird, but some are so special, beautiful, or so weird, that they achieve iconic status.
Here are the 10 most iconic birds of the world.
Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomacrus moccino)
Often considered in the running for the most beautiful bird in the world, the Resplendent Quetzal definitely lives up to its name and is worthy of being one of the most iconic birds of the world.
Despite being found across central America, the Resplendent Quetzal is considered at risk of extinction because the cloud forest habitat in which it makes its home is under threat.
The Resplendent Quetzal prefers the fruiting trees of the laurel family, which includes the wild avocado.
The long tail of the Resplendent Quetzal resembles a snake as it undulates behind the bird in flight. Both the Mayans and the Aztecs revered the bird and personified in the god Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent.
Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera)
Hummers are pretty much everyone’s favourite world bird, but with 363 species to choose from, it’s difficult to select just one to make this list. The Sword-billed Hummingbird isn’t the prettiest of these jewels of the avian world, but it has the distinction of being the only bird with a bill longer than its body.
The Sword-billed Hummingbird lives in the montane forests of the Andes from Venezuela south to Bolivia. Its bill is so long that when perched, it has to hold it up to keep its balance.
The Sword-billed Hummingbird is a worthy representative of the whole hummingbird family, many of which could easily be included in any list of iconic birds of the world.
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
Most of the world’s countries have a national bird, but few personify a nation’s identity like the Bald Eagle. A powerful fish-eating eagle, this raptor has become synonymous with democracy and freedom in the United States, and is an iconic symbol of the USA, a fact which ensures its place on the list of iconic birds of the world.
The Bald Eagle hunts by swooping down and catching fish near the surface in its talons, but is also an opportunistic feeder, eating carrion and pirating food from other bird.
Despite the name, Bald Eagles are white-headed rather than bald, the name relating to an older usage of the term bald.
Snowy (Wandering) Albatross (Diomedea exulans)
Next on the list of the 10 most iconic birds of the world is the species with the largest wingspan (11.5 feet) of any bird species found on earth today. Originally known as the Wandering Albatross, the species has been split into 4 in the last decade after scientific research. The original scientific name of Diomedea Exulans has been applied to the Snowy Albatross (pictured above).
The Wandering Albatross, which for most of the year spends its time soaring across the storm-tossed southern oceans.
One of the world’s longest-lived birds, the Wandering Albatross can live for up to eighty years and takes over a decade to reach maturity. The only time they come ashore is when they mate. Pairing for life, they return to islands in the southern oceans once every two years and typically raise only one chick.
This ocean ranger is definitely worthy of a place on any list of iconic birds of the world..
Common Ostrich (Struthio camelus)
The Ostrich is an unmistakable sight to anyone who has been on safari in Africa, or even seen a picture book as a child.
This bird is a record breaker in so many ways, the largest bird in existence, the fastest bird across the ground, the layer of the largest eggs.
It also possesses a mean kick. Powerful legs, armed with a vicious claw, they’re capable of disembowelling a lion with a single strike, so stay clear of them, particularly if the males are showing the red shins that mean mating season is in progress.
One of the most recognisable of all birds, the ostrich can take its place on this list of iconic birds of the world
Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoatzin)
The punk of the avian world, the Hoazin, with its blue eye makeup and spiky hairdo is an unmistakable sight in the Amazon rainforest.
Unique in the bird world as the only bird to survive purely on leaves, the Hoazin is often described as a flying cow. The leaves are digested in the bird’s crop thanks to bacteria, but can take two days to travel through the bird’s digestive system.
The Hoazin has limited flying ability, instead making short clumsy hops between trees. This, along with its size and noisy guttural calls make it an easy bird to spot.
The Hoazin can safely represent team weird on the list of iconic birds of the world.
Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica)
One of those birds with cuteness overload, the Atlantic Puffin is the subject of millions of bird photographs. The Puffin’s rainbow bills, which give it its clownish looks, are an evolutionary miracle, perfectly designed to carry multiple sand eels from fishing trips back to the burrows containing their chicks, or pufflings, (really, can they get any cuter). Remarkably, the puffin sheds its bill each winter and regrows it in the spring, specifically for this purpose.
Puffins mate for life and return to the same cliffs each summer to raise another brood.
If this list was ranking the cutest birds of the world, the puffin would probably be in at number 1. It still makes the cut for the list of iconic birds of the world.
Oilbird (Steatornis caripensis)
There’s unique, and then there’s the Oilbird. This species, so different it’s the only member of its own family, also holds the distinction of being the only nocturnal, flying, fruit-eating bird in the world.
The Oilbird lives in a world of total darkness, roosting in colonies in caves and only emerging at night to search for fruit. This has led to the oilbird’s highly developed vision and its ability to echo locate like bats. Their Spanish name, guacharo, means ‘one who whines or laments’ and relates to its raspy wails. Listening to the sound of a colony of oilbirds, like at Asa Wright in Trinidad or Cueva de los Guácharos National Park in Colombia, is an eerie experience.
Present in the neotropics, they can be found from Trinidad in the Caribbean to Bolivia in South America.
Their name relates to how fat their chicks are, and how indigenous people and early settlers collected them and rendered down for oil for lighting and cooking.
Another vote for team weird, the oilbird makes the list of iconic birds of the world
Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)
The Sage Grouse is America’s largest grouse and is a spectacular bird with its spiky tail, overdeveloped chest and yellow eyebrows.
One of the most impressive sights of American birding is a dawn visit in early spring to a Sage Grouse lek where large numbers of makes congregate to compete for mating rights with the females. The display includes strutting, wing fighting and a hooping sound made by expanding their chest cavity.
The Sage Grouse would probably have made the list of iconic birds of the world on the strength of its formidable eyebrows alone.
Andean Cock of the Rock
The Andean Cock of the Rock falls into the weird, rather than beautiful category. A member of the Cotinga family, the Cock of the Rock is the national bird of Peru, and one of the most sought after birds in the Andean cloud forests.
The female is a fairly drab rust brown colour, but the male boasts a spectacular bright orange plumage with a raised crest which gives its head a very distinctive shape. The best, quite often the only, way to see these birds is at their early morning leks where a number of males compete to attract the females.
The Andean Cock of the Rock does have a close relative in the Guianan Cock of the Rock, which looks similar but is a dull orange which hampers its popularity in comparison to the main attraction above.
The Andean Cock of the Rock is on so many birdwatchers ‘must see’ list. It surely deserves a place on this list of iconic birds of the world
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