1,039 articles
Inca tern
Inca tern (Larosterna inca, zarcillo), a Near Threatened Humboldt Current seabird, sole species of Larosterna, ranging northern Peru to central Chile, breeding in crevices and old penguin burrows, hit by El Niño breeding failures and anchovy overfishing.
Incana
Incana (Lynes, 1930) is a monotypic bird genus of Cisticolidae, order Passeriformes, containing only the Socotra Warbler, Incana incana (Sclater & Hartlaub, 1881); distinct from Tringa incana and plant taxa named incana.
Indian paradise flycatcher
Indian paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi), formerly Asian paradise flycatcher, a monarch flycatcher of Asia from Tien Shan to Sri Lanka; males have 25 cm tail streamers and rufous or white morphs; IUCN Least Concern.
Indian peafowl
Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus), blue peafowl, national bird of India; a Phasianidae gamebird whose peacock fans a ~200-feather train rattled at 25.6 Hz. Least Concern, native to the subcontinent, genome 1.05 Gb, PMEL leucism gene.
Indian roller
Indian roller (Coracias benghalensis), a blue-winged roller of the Indian Subcontinent and Arabia; resident, Near Threatened since 2025 after eBird and SoIB data showed Indian declines of roughly 30% over three generations.
Indian Runner duck
Indian Runner duck: an East Indies (Java, Lombok) mallard-derived domestic duck breed with upright penguin-like carriage, imported to Britain about 1835, a prolific egg layer (250-280 eggs/year) and ancestor of the Khaki Campbell.
Indian silverbill
Indian silverbill (Euodice malabarica), also white-throated munia, a small estrildid finch of the Arabian Peninsula through Iran to the Indian subcontinent; Least Concern, resident, white rump distinguishes it from the African silverbill.
Indian vulture crisis
Indian vulture crisis: mid-1990s collapse of Gyps bengalensis, G. indicus, and G. tenuirostris, caused by the veterinary NSAID diclofenac in livestock carcasses; banned in India, Nepal, and Pakistan in 2006, with meloxicam as the safe alternative.
Indigo bunting
Indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea), a small North American cardinalid songbird; breeding males are structurally blue, it migrates at night navigating by stars calibrated with magnetism, and BBS data show long-term declines despite Least Concern status.
Inezia
Inezia (Cherrie, 1909) is a genus of South American tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) with four species: Pale-tipped, Plain, Amazonian, and Slender-billed Inezia; ITIS TSN 557786, valid, IOC World Bird List v15.1.
Irania
Irania is a monotypic Muscicapidae genus, also called White-throated Robin (Irania gutturalis), a migratory chat breeding in arid mountains from Türkiye to Central Asia and wintering in eastern Africa; Least Concern.
Irena
Irena is a genus of passerine birds known as fairy-bluebirds, erected by Thomas Horsfield in 1821 and the sole genus of its own family, Irenidae.
Ivory-billed woodpecker
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is a large woodpecker of the southeastern U.S. and Cuba. Last seen in 1944, its existence is a major controversy in ornithology.
Junco
Junco, a New World sparrow genus (Passerellidae) named by Wagler in 1831, includes the dark-eyed junco Junco hyemalis, yellow-eyed, Guadalupe, and volcano juncos; species limits remain debated, with rapid postglacial diversification within 10,000 years.
Junglefowl
Junglefowl, genus Gallus: red (Gallus gallus), grey (G. sonneratii), Ceylon (G. lafayettii), and green (G. varius) junglefowl of South and Southeast Asia; wild ancestors of the domestic chicken, mainly from red junglefowl subspecies G. g. spadiceus.
Kākāpō
Kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus), the world's heaviest and only flightless parrot, a nocturnal lek-breeding New Zealand species; critically endangered, 242 birds in 2025, managed by DOC and Ngāi Tahu.
Kauaʻi ʻōʻō
Kauaʻi ʻōʻō (ʻōʻōʻāʻā, Moho braccatus), an extinct black Hawaiian songbird endemic to Kauaʻi, last of the Mohoidae family; last male heard 1987, delisted as extinct by USFWS in 2023.
Kea
Kea (Nestor notabilis), the world's only alpine parrot, endemic to New Zealand's South Island; endangered, 1,000-5,000 birds, threatened by stoats, cats, and lead poisoning.
Kelp gull
Kelp gull (Larus dominicanus), also called Dominican gull, a large black-backed Southern Hemisphere gull; IUCN Least Concern, 3.3–4.3 million birds, increasing, expanding on fishery discards and refuse.
Kererū
Kererū (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae), the New Zealand pigeon, also kūkū or kūkupa: a 51 cm, 650 g endemic fruit pigeon, Not Threatened but conservation dependent, and the only surviving disperser of large-seeded native trees.
Kestrel
Kestrel: small hovering falcons of the genus Falco, at least 13 species including the common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) and American kestrel (Falco sparverius). Cavity-nesting open-country hunters; several populations declining, Mauritius kestrel Endangered.
Killdeer
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus), a North American plover named for its call, nests on open ground including lawns and gravel; known for broken-wing display; 2.3 million birds, declining, IUCN Least Concern.
King penguin
King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus), second largest penguin after the emperor, breeding on subantarctic islands; 14–16 month breeding cycle, foot incubation, dives to 322 m, IUCN Least Concern.
Kingfisher
Kingfishers (Alcedinidae, Coraciiformes) are about 91 species of often brightly colored diving birds; in Britain the name means the Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis, 3,850 UK pairs, Least Concern.
Kite (bird)
Kite (bird): graceful, long-winged raptors in Accipitridae, including Swallow-tailed Kite (Elanoides forficatus), Red Kite (Milvus milvus), and Black Kite; kite subfamilies are not monophyletic, and species range from Least Concern to Near Threatened.
Kiwi (bird)
Kiwi (Apteryx): five flightless ratite species endemic to New Zealand, closest relatives of Madagascar's extinct elephant birds. About 70,000 remain; stoats kill chicks, dogs kill adults; DOC sanctuaries, Operation Nest Egg, and community predator control sustain them.
Klais
Klais is a monotypic genus of hummingbirds (family Trochilidae) erected by Reichenbach in 1854, holding only the Violet-headed Hummingbird, Klais guimeti, a violet-crowned forest-edge species from Honduras to Bolivia, IUCN Least Concern.
Kōkako
Kōkako: two endemic New Zealand wattlebird songbirds (Callaeidae). North Island C. wilsoni, blue wattles, ~2,300 pairs, recovering via pest control; South Island C. cinerea, orange wattles, Data Deficient after 2007 sighting.
Kookaburra
Kookaburra (genus Dacelo): large Australian-New Guinean kingfishers famed for the laughing kookaburra's dawn territorial laugh; four main species, cooperative breeders, snake-eating perch hunters, IUCN Least Concern.
Labrador duck
Labrador duck (Camptorhynchus labradorius), also called pied duck or skunk duck: a small extinct sea duck of the northeastern North American coast, last confirmed in 1875 on Long Island, with fewer than 60 museum specimens surviving.