1,039 articles
Hawaiian hawk
The Hawaiian hawk, known in Hawaiian as ʻio (Buteo solitarius), is a hawk found only on the island of Hawaiʻi, listed as endangered in 1967 and delisted in 2020.
Hawk
Hawk: common name for over 250 diurnal raptor species in Accipitriformes (Accipitridae), distinct from falcons (Falconiformes, closer to parrots). Known for acute vision, taloned hindlimbs, open-country hunting, and use in falconry.
Heron
Heron, family Ardeidae (also egrets and bitterns), Pelecaniformes wading birds of wetlands worldwide; 62 extant species; ambush hunters with specialized S-shaped neck strike; habitat degradation is the main threat.
Hesperornis
Hesperornis, type genus of the Hesperornithiformes, a large flightless toothed diving seabird from the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America, discovered by O.C. Marsh in Kansas in 1870; swam with powerful hind legs, ate fish and squids, nested on land.
Hieraaetus
Hieraaetus (Kaup, 1844) is a genus of small booted eagles in Accipitridae, including the Booted, Little, Pygmy, Ayres's, and Wahlberg's Eagles plus the extinct Hieraaetus moorei; its split from Aquila remains debated among authorities.
Hieraaetus morphnoides
Hieraaetus morphnoides, the Little Eagle (Aquila morphnoides), is a small 45-55 cm Australian booted eagle with pale and dark morphs, rabbit-heavy diet, Vulnerable in ACT, NSW, SA, and Victoria.
Hieraaetus pennatus
Hieraaetus pennatus, the booted eagle (Aquila pennata), a small trans-Saharan migratory eagle breeding in southern Europe and wintering mainly in the Sahel; IUCN Least Concern, Spain holds about 70% of the European population.
Hippolais
Hippolais is a genus of Acrocephalidae warblers established by Conrad von Baldenstein in 1827, holding Icterine, Upcher's, Olive-tree, and Melodious Warblers; molecular work shows the traditional genus limits are non-monophyletic.
Hirundo
Hirundo (Linnaeus, 1758) is the barn swallow genus of the swallow family Hirundinidae, order Passeriformes; type species Hirundo rustica, about 14-16 cosmopolitan species, mud-nesting aerial insectivores with four well-supported phylogenetic clades.
Histrionicus
Histrionicus, the harlequin ducks, a monotypic sea duck genus (Anatidae, Mergini) erected by Lesson in 1828; sole species H. histrionicus, the Harlequin Duck, breeding on fast rivers and wintering on rocky coasts.
Hoatzin
Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin), also called stinkbird or Canje pheasant, sole species of Opisthocomiformes in Amazon and Orinoco basins; leaf-eating foregut fermenter whose clawed-wing chicks climb and swim.
Homing pigeon
Homing pigeon (Columba livia domestica), domesticated bird bred to return to its loft from distant release points; navigates with sun compass, magnetic compass, and olfactory map; long used for military messaging.
Honeyguide
Honeyguides (Indicatoridae), about 16–17 African and Asian near-passerine birds related to woodpeckers; the greater honeyguide guides humans to bees' nests for wax, and all species are brood parasites whose chicks kill host young with bill hooks.
Hooded crow
Hooded crow (Corvus cornix, formerly C. corone cornix), a grey-and-black Eurasian corvid of Northern, Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the Middle East; split from the carrion crow in 2002, interbreeds in a narrow European hybrid zone, clutch 3-6, IUCN Least Concern.
Hooded pitohui
Hooded pitohui (Pitohui dichrous), a toxic New Guinean songbird, the first poisonous bird documented by science (1992). Carries homobatrachotoxin in skin and feathers, likely from Choresine beetles; genus Pitohui is polyphyletic.
Hoopoe
Hoopoe (Upupa epops, Common or Eurasian Hoopoe): a crested Bucerotiformes bird of family Upupidae, sister to woodhoopoes and hornbills; known for antibiotic-producing Enterococcus symbionts in its uropygial gland, egg-smearing, and Palearctic-Africa migration.
Hornbill
Hornbills (Bucerotidae, order Bucerotiformes) are Old World tropical birds, 16 genera and 64 species, with large casqued bills, sealed-cavity nesting, frugivory and seed dispersal, and casque-based thermoregulation; many species are threatened.
Horned owl
Horned owls, genus Bubo (horned owls, eagle-owls), large tufted Strigidae owls with 10 species; the Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) spans the Americas, eats mostly mammals, and nests in other birds' old nests.
Horned screamer
Horned screamer (Anhima cornuta), also called anhuma or kamichi cornu, a large South American wetland bird of the Anhimidae with a 15 cm cartilaginous forehead horn, wing spurs, loud trumpeting calls, and IUCN Least Concern status.
House finch
House finch (Haemorhous mexicanus), a small red-headed North American finch, native to the West and Mexico, established in the East by a 1940 Long Island release of "Hollywood finches"; host of Mycoplasma gallisepticum conjunctivitis.
House sparrow
House sparrow (Passer domesticus; Gorrión Común, Moineau domestique): a human-associated Old World sparrow nesting in building cavities, introduced to North America in 1851, IUCN Least Concern with 896 million to 1.31 billion mature individuals but declining in North America and the UK.
Hummingbird
Hummingbird (Trochilidae), tiny New World bird related to swifts; about 340 species, 2–20 g, the only vertebrates capable of sustained hovering, fueled by nectar and using torpor to survive nights.
Hyacinth macaw
Hyacinth macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus), also called hyacinthine or blue macaw, the world's largest parrot at 90-100 cm, from Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay; IUCN Vulnerable, CITES Appendix I, palm-nut specialist of the Pantanal.
Hydrobates
Hydrobates (Boie, 1822) is the genus of northern storm petrels, family Hydrobatidae; it absorbed Oceanodroma after genetic work showed paraphyly, and includes H. pelagicus, H. leucorhous, and H. castro.
Hydrobatidae
Hydrobatidae, the northern storm petrels (family Mathews, 1912, order Procellariiformes), small pelagic seabirds now placed in a single genus Hydrobates with about 18 species, split from the southern Oceanitidae.
Hylocichla
Hylocichla (Baird, 1864) is a monotypic thrush genus (Turdidae) containing only the Wood Thrush, Hylocichla mustelina (Gmelin, 1789), an eastern North American migrant wintering from Mexico to Panama; once lumped with Catharus, now retained as separate on genetic evidence.
Hymenolaimus
Hymenolaimus, also called the blue duck or whio (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos), is a monotypic New Zealand duck genus in Anatidae; a river-specialist, IUCN Endangered species of fast-flowing forest streams.
Ibis
Ibis, wading birds of the family Threskiornithidae (with spoonbills), known for long down-curved bills used to probe mud for prey; range from Least Concern Black-headed Ibis to Critically Endangered São Tomé ibis.
Icteridae
Icteridae, the New World blackbirds or troupials and allies, is a passerine family of about 108 American species including orioles, grackles, cowbirds, meadowlarks, caciques, and oropendolas, defined by five deep lineages and brood-parasitic Molothrus cowbirds.
Icterus
Icterus is the genus of New World orioles, family Icteridae, about 25-30 species across the Americas, including the Baltimore oriole, orchard oriole, and Venezuelan troupial, known for plumage convergence and hybridizing northern orioles.