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Acanthis
Acanthis is the redpoll genus of small northern finches (Fringillidae), formerly split into Common, Hoary, and Lesser Redpolls and merged in 2024 into one species, Redpoll Acanthis flammea, with variation driven by a supergene.
Acanthiza
Acanthiza (thornbills), genus of small Australian passerine birds in Acanthizidae established by Vigors & Horsfield, 1827; about 13 insectivorous species, 8-10 cm, one in New Guinea.
Accipiter
Accipiter Brisson, 1760, the sparrowhawk genus of Accipitridae with type species A. nisus; formerly 46–50 species worldwide, shown non-monophyletic and split in 2024 into five genera including Astur and Tachyspiza.
Accipitridae
Accipitridae (Vigors, 1824) is the family of diurnal birds of prey containing hawks, eagles, kites, harriers, and Old World vultures, in the order Accipitriformes; roughly 233–258 species worldwide, distinguished from falcons by nest building and eye color.
Accipitriformes
Accipitriformes, the hawk and eagle order, holds about 249 diurnal raptor species in Accipitridae, Pandionidae, and Sagittariidae; sister to Cathartiformes and split from Falconiformes on genetic evidence.
Aceros
Aceros (Hodgson, 1844) is a hornbill genus of Bucerotidae, type species the rufous-necked hornbill Aceros nipalensis; once about 10 species, now 1-5 depending on checklist, with Rhyticeros as sister genus.
Acridotheres
Acridotheres (typical mynas), Vieillot 1816, is a Sturnidae genus of about 11 Asian starling species including the common myna, a top-100 IUCN invasive, and the Vulnerable Javan myna.
Acrocephalus
Acrocephalus (reed warblers) is a Naumann 1811 genus of Acrocephalidae warblers, about 37 species breeding across Eurasia, Africa, and Australasia; molecular phylogenies overthrew its traditional taxonomy.
Actitis
Actitis is a small genus of wading birds in the sandpiper family, containing the Common Sandpiper of Eurasia and the Spotted Sandpiper of the Americas.
Adélie penguin
Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae), a 3–6 kg Antarctic penguin with a white eye ring, breeding around the entire Antarctic coast; named after Adélie Land by Dumont d'Urville in 1840; krill-eating, least concern, sensitive to sea-ice change.
Aegithalos
Aegithalos (エナガ属, 長尾山雀屬) is a genus of small long-tailed passerines in Aegithalidae, with 9 species including the long-tailed tit; known for domed feather-lined nests and cooperative breeding.
Aegolius
Aegolius (saw-whet owls), genus of small Strigidae owls erected by Kaup in 1829; type species the Boreal Owl A. funereus; five species including the Northern Saw-whet Owl and the extinct Bermuda Saw-whet Owl.
Aegolius acadicus
Aegolius acadicus, the Northern Saw-whet Owl (petite nyctale), is a tiny North American strigid owl; migratory nominate form across the continent, threatened non-migratory brooksi subspecies on Haida Gwaii.
Aegolius funereus
Aegolius funereus, the boreal owl or Tengmalm's owl, is a small Holarctic Strigidae owl of boreal and subalpine coniferous forests, 21–28 cm long, feeding mainly on voles, nesting in woodpecker holes, IUCN Least Concern with 730,000–1,810,000 mature individuals.
Aegypius
Aegypius is a monotypic Old World vulture genus (Savigny, 1809, Accipitridae) holding only the cinereous vulture, Aegypius monachus, a Near Threatened Palearctic scavenger up to 14 kg with a 3.1 m wingspan.
Aerodramus
Aerodramus is a genus of small, dark cave-nesting swifts of tropical Asia, Oceania, and northern Australia, known for echolocation and nests harvested as edible bird's nest.
African fish eagle
African fish eagle (Icthyophaga vocifer, formerly Haliaeetus vocifer), a large white-headed fish-eating raptor across sub-Saharan Africa, IUCN Least Concern with about 300,000 birds, national bird of Zambia.
African penguin
African penguin (Spheniscus demersus), jackass penguin, black-footed penguin: the only penguin breeding in Africa, endemic to South Africa and Namibia; IUCN Critically Endangered since October 2024, with about 9,900 breeding pairs left and 2025 no-fishing zones around six colonies.
Agelaius
Agelaius (Vieillot, 1816) is a genus of New World blackbirds (Icteridae) including the Red-winged Blackbird; shown polyphyletic in 1994, after which South American species moved to Agelasticus and Chrysomus.
Aix
Aix (Boie, 1828) is a genus of Anatidae perching ducks with two species: the Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) of East Asia and the Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) of North America, both crested, tree-cavity-nesting ducks.
Alauda
Alauda (skylarks) is a genus of larks in Alaudidae erected by Linnaeus in 1758, holding four species: Eurasian skylark, Oriental skylark, white-winged lark, and the Raso lark of Cape Verde.
Alauda arvensis
Alauda arvensis, the Eurasian skylark, a ground-nesting lark of Eurasian farmland famed for hovering song flight; IUCN Least Concern with 290-530 million birds but steep European declines from agricultural intensification.
Albatross
Albatrosses (family Diomedeidae), 22 species of large oceanic seabirds including the wandering albatross with a 3.5 m wingspan; they travel up to 1,000 km daily by dynamic soaring, and 15 to 17 of 22 species are threatened, chiefly by fisheries bycatch.
Albatross (metaphor)
Albatross (metaphor): 'an albatross around one's neck' means a persistent, often self-inflicted burden of guilt or obstruction, from Coleridge's 1798 poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; first figurative print uses 1857, bare-word sense by 1936.
Alca
Alca is a monotypic auk genus whose sole living species is the razorbill, Alca torda, the closest living relative of the extinct great auk, with a rich Miocene-Pliocene fossil record.
Alcippe
Alcippe is a genus of Asian fulvetta songbirds erected by Blyth in 1844, now the namesake of family Alcippeidae; the same name, given to a boring barnacle by Hancock in 1849, is an invalid junior homonym replaced by Trypetesa.
Alectoris
Alectoris is a genus of seven partridge species in the pheasant family, spread across the Palearctic; the chukar, its best-known member, is a widely introduced game bird.
Alexandrine parakeet
Alexandrine parakeet (Psittacula eupatria, 亞歷山大鸚鵡), a large green Asian parakeet with a maroon shoulder patch, heavy red bill, and male pink-black neck ring; native to the Indian subcontinent and Indochina, introduced in European cities, CITES Appendix II, IUCN Least Concern since 2024.
Amadina fasciata
Amadina fasciata, the cut-throat finch (also ribbon finch), is an African estrildid finch of the Sahel and southern Africa; the male has a red throat band, the female lacks it, and it breeds in old weaver nests. IUCN Least Concern, CITES Appendix II.
Amazona
Amazona (Amazon parrots) is a Neotropical parrot genus, Lesson 1830, Psittacidae, with 27–31 species from Mexico to Argentina and the Caribbean; not monophyletic with Amazona xanthops, largely threatened, English names now 'Amazon'.