Birds

Monk parakeet

Monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus), or Quaker parakeet, a South American parrot and the only parrot building communal stick nests; invasive in 26 countries, damaging power utilities, with over 22,000 birds in Europe.

Monticola

Monticola (rock-thrushes), genus of 13 Old World passerine species in Muscicapidae, named by F. Boie in 1822; includes Blue Rock-Thrush, Cape and Sentinel Rock Thrushes; arose about 5.5 million years ago.

Montifringilla

Montifringilla (snowfinches) is a genus of Passeridae sparrows of high Eurasian mountains, named by Brehm in 1828; distinct from the brambling Fringilla montifringilla, a Fringillidae finch.

Motacilla

Motacilla, the wagtails, a Linnaean 1758 genus of Motacillidae passerines with about 13 Old World species; eastern Palearctic origin about 4.5 million years ago, shaped by repeated dispersal rather than vicariance.

Mourning dove

Mourning dove (Zenaida macroura), also Tourterelle triste, a widespread North American seed-eating game bird; most frequently hunted species, ~337 million in the US in 2024, declining about 0.4% yearly since 1966.

Muscicapa

Muscicapa (Brisson 1760) is a genus of Old World flycatchers, type species the Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata. Molecular work shows it non-monophyletic, of African origin c. 7.4 Ma, later colonizing Eurasia.

Muscicapidae

Muscicapidae, the Old World flycatchers and chats (Fleming, 1822), is a passerine family of small insectivorous birds across Europe, Asia and Africa, including robins, nightingales and wheatears, defined by perch-and-sally flycatching and revised by 2023 phylogenomics.

Muscovy duck

Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata), a large tropical American tree-nesting duck domesticated pre-Columbian times; not mallard-derived; sterile mule/hinny hybrids with mallards; IUCN Least Concern; more susceptible to H5N1 and duck plague than Pekin ducks.

Mute swan

Mute swan (Cygnus olor), large Eurasian waterbird with orange bill and black knob, introduced to North America as an ornamental species; invasive, territorial, eats up to 3.6 kg of aquatic vegetation daily.

Myadestes

Myadestes, the solitaires, is a genus of 13 montane thrush species from Alaska to Bolivia, the West Indies, and Hawaii; five Hawaiian species include the common ʻōmaʻo, the critically endangered puaiohi, and the extinct kāmaʻo and ʻāmaui.

Myiagra

Myiagra is a genus of 21 Australasian monarch flycatchers (family Monarchidae) erected by Vigors & Horsfield in 1827, called broadbills for their broad flat bills, with twitching tails and harsh calls.

Myiarchus

Myiarchus (crested flycatchers), genus of tyrant flycatchers erected by Cabanis in 1844, type species M. ferox; about 22 species across the Americas, two main mtDNA clades, likely South American origin, notoriously hard to identify by plumage.

Myna

Mynas, also called mynah birds, are medium-sized omnivorous songbirds of the starling family, native to southern and Southeast Asia, famous as vocal mimics and including invasive and endangered species.

Myrtis

Myrtis is a monotypic hummingbird genus (Reichenbach, 1854) in Trochilidae, containing the Purple-collared Woodstar Myrtis fanny of Ecuador and Peru's dry Andean scrub, 7.5–8 cm, IUCN Least Concern.

Nannopsittaca panychlora

Nannopsittaca panychlora, the Tepui Parrotlet (tepuiparakitt), is a small green parrot of the tepuis of southern Venezuela, Guyana, and northern Brazil; described 1883, IUCN Least Concern, CITES Appendix II.

Nasica

Nasica is a monotypic woodcreeper genus (Furnariidae) holding the Long-billed Woodcreeper, Nasica longirostris, the largest woodcreeper at 35-36 cm, of Amazonian flooded forests, listed IUCN Least Concern.

Nectarinia

Nectarinia is a genus of sunbirds (Nectariniidae) established by Illiger in 1811, once a vast genus of about 80 species but reduced after molecular phylogenies showed it non-monophyletic, with many species moved to Cinnyris; it retains the malachite sunbird.

Nene (bird)

The nene, also called the Hawaiian goose or Branta sandvicensis, is a goose endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and the official state bird of Hawaiʻi since 1957.

Nestor meridionalis

Nestor meridionalis, the kākā, is a large olive-brown forest parrot endemic to New Zealand, related to the kea; threatened mainly by stoat predation of nesting females, with fewer than 10,000 birds and recovering populations at predator-controlled sites.

Netta rufina

Netta rufina, the red-crested pochard (Kolbenente, Pato colorado), is a large diving duck of the Aythyinae described by Pallas in 1773; the male has a rusty-orange head and red bill, and it breeds from Iberia to China, IUCN Least Concern.

New World vulture

New World vultures (Cathartidae, Cathartiformes): seven American carrion-feeding species including condors, turkey vulture, and king vulture; unrelated to Old World vultures, a classic case of convergent evolution.

Nicator

Nicator: sole genus of the African songbird family Nicatoridae, with three species (Western N. chloris, Eastern N. gularis, Yellow-throated N. vireo), olive-green birds of African forest understorey with yellow wing spots and loud songs.

Nicobar pigeon

The Nicobar pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica) is a large, metallic-plumaged pigeon living on small islands from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to Palau, and the closest living relative of the extinct dodo.

Nightjar

Nightjar: nocturnal, insectivorous bird of the family Caprimulgidae (goatsuckers, nighthawks), about 98 species in 20-22 genera, cryptic plumage, large gape, ground-nesting; Old World lineages arose from a single Neotropical expansion.

Nigrita

Nigrita is a valid genus of African estrildid finches (Estrildidae, Passeriformes) established by Strickland in 1843, containing four species including the Chestnut-breasted Nigrita, Nigrita bicolor, listed Least Concern by the IUCN.

Nils Olav

Nils Olav (Sir Nils Olav III) is a king penguin at Edinburgh Zoo serving as mascot of the Norwegian King's Guard; adopted 1972, knighted 2008, Major General since 2023, Guinness record holder, third penguin to hold the name.

Ninox

Ninox is a genus of Australasian hawk-owls and boobooks in Strigidae, erected by Hodgson in 1837; includes the powerful owl, Australia's largest owl, and the Critically Endangered Norfolk Island morepork.

Nipponia

Nipponia (crested ibis, Nipponia nippon, toki トキ) is a monotypic ibis genus of East Asia. Reduced to 7 wild birds found in Shaanxi, China in 1981, it recovered to over 9,000 by 2022 through captive breeding and reintroduction.

Noisy miner

Noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala), also called noisy miner bird, a large social Australian honeyeater of open eucalypt woodland and urban areas; its overabundant colonies aggressively exclude smaller birds and are a listed EPBC key threatening process.