1,039 articles
Oxyura
Oxyura, the stiff-tailed ducks (Bonaparte, 1828), is a genus of six diving duck species in Anatidae, including the ruddy duck, white-headed duck, and blue-billed duck, defined by stiff tail feathers and rear-set legs.
Oxyura jamaicensis
Oxyura jamaicensis, the ruddy duck, is a small stiff-tailed diving duck native to the Americas, introduced to England via Slimbridge escapes; its European spread threatens the white-headed duck through hybridization, prompting a UK eradication cull from 2005.
Oxyura leucocephala
Oxyura leucocephala, the white-headed duck, is an endangered Eurasian stifftail diving duck breeding in Spain and North Africa; its main threat is fertile hybridization with the introduced North American ruddy duck, countered by UK and pan-European eradication programs.
Pachycephala
Pachycephala (whistlers) is the largest genus of Pachycephalidae, Australo-Papuan in origin, spanning the Indo-Pacific; includes the Golden Whistler complex, the world's most geographically variable bird species with over 70 subspecies.
Pachyptila
Pachyptila is a genus of small seabirds called prions in the petrel family Procellariidae, abundant around the Southern Ocean and known for variation in bill width between filter-feeding and pursuit-feeding species.
Pacific black duck
Pacific black duck (Anas superciliosa), also called grey duck, a brown dabbling duck of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, and Pacific islands, threatened mainly by hybridization with the introduced mallard.
Painted bunting
Painted bunting (Passerina ciris, nonpareil, azulillo sietecolores), a small North American cardinalid songbird; males blue-headed, green-backed, red-bellied; two populations, declining about 33% since 1966, trapped for cage-bird trade.
Parabuteo
Parabuteo (Harris' Hawks) is a small Accipitridae hawk genus with two Neotropical species, Harris's Hawk and White-rumped Hawk, known for cooperative group hunting and a proposed species split.
Paradisaea
Paradisaea (Linnaeus, 1758) is the most species-rich birds-of-paradise genus, with seven species on New Guinea and nearby islands; males bear filamentous flank plumes and wire-like tail feathers, display in canopy leks, and the genus originated in the Late Miocene eastern Central Range.
Parakeet
A parakeet is any small, slender parrot with a long, tapered tail, a non-taxonomic term covering more than 100 species; in America it usually means the budgerigar.
Parrot
Parrots (Psittaciformes, including macaws, cockatoos, and lorikeets) are over 350 species of zygodactyl, curved-beaked birds of Gondwanan Cretaceous origin, noted for lifelong vocal learning, seed-dispersing ecology, heavy CITES-regulated trade, and high extinction risk.
Partridge
Partridge: plump ground-dwelling gamebirds of Galliformes/Phasianidae, chiefly grey partridge (Perdix perdix) of farmland and Alectoris species such as chukar and red-legged partridge; distinguished by head pattern, flank barring, and red bills.
Parulidae
Parulidae, the New World warblers or wood-warblers, is a family of small (9-15 cm) American insectivorous songbirds, unrelated to Old World warblers, with about 110-116 species, many long-distance migrants whose ancestral state was migratory.
Parus
Parus is a genus of small passerine birds in the family Paridae, the tits and chickadees, erected by Linnaeus in 1758 and now restricted to the great tit group.
Passenger pigeon
The passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) was a North American bird that once numbered 3 to 5 billion before hunting and habitat loss drove it extinct in 1914.
Passerculus
Passerculus (Bonaparte, 1838) is a valid monotypic passerellid sparrow genus, the Savannah Sparrows, containing Passerculus sandwichensis with subspecies princeps (Ipswich Sparrow) and beldingi; formerly broader, related taxa now sit in Centronyx.
Passerella
Passerella (fox sparrows) is a genus of New World sparrows in the family Passerellidae, erected by Swainson in 1837 with Fox Sparrow as type. Formerly one variable species, it now holds four species split on mitochondrial and plumage evidence.
Passerina
Passerina is a genus of seven colorful North American buntings in the cardinal family, including the indigo, lazuli, and painted buntings, named by Vieillot in 1816.
Passerine
Passerine (Passeriformes), the perching birds, largest avian order with nearly 6,500 species, about two thirds of all birds; suborders Tyranni and Passeri (songbirds); anisodactyl foot, syrinx voice, early Cenozoic diversification from Australasia.
Patagioenas
Patagioenas is a genus of about 17 New World pigeon species (Columbidae), split from Columba on DNA evidence; includes the band-tailed pigeon, largest North American pigeon and closest living relative of the extinct passenger pigeon.
Patagona
Patagona is a genus of hummingbirds containing the two largest living hummingbird species, the Northern and Southern Giant Hummingbirds, restricted to the Andes of South America and split into two species in 2024.
Peafowl
Peafowl (Pavo cristatus, P. muticus, Afropavo congensis) are large pheasant-family birds; male peacocks display 1.7 m trains with 100-175 eyespots, rattling at 25-28 Hz at leks; Indian peafowl Least Concern, green peafowl endangered.
Pedionomus
Pedionomus Gould, 1840 is a monotypic bird genus (family Pedionomidae, order Charadriiformes) containing only the plains-wanderer Pedionomus torquatus, a critically endangered Australian grassland shorebird with reversed sex roles.
Pelecanoides
Pelecanoides, the diving petrels (family Pelecanoididae), is a genus of four to five small Southern Ocean procellariiform seabirds convergent with auks, diving to about 30 m on average and flying through wave crests.
Pelican
Pelican (genus Pelecanus, family Pelecanidae): large fish-eating waterbird with a distensible throat pouch; seven species worldwide. Brown pelican plunge-dives; American White Pelican scoops cooperatively; DDT-era endangered listing recovered by 2009.
Penguin
Penguins (Spheniscidae): 18 flightless, wing-propelled diving seabird species of the Southern Hemisphere, from the little penguin to the emperor; 67% declining, with the African Penguin Critically Endangered and Emperor Penguin Endangered.
Peregrine falcon
Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), the world's fastest animal, a cosmopolitan bird of prey hunting birds in a 320 km/h stoop. Nearly wiped out by DDT, listed endangered 1970, delisted 1999; IUCN Least Concern, 248,000-478,000 mature individuals.
Perisoreus
Perisoreus (Gray Jays) is a corvid genus with three species: Canada Jay, Siberian Jay, and Sichuan Jay, boreal resident birds that cache perishable food in saliva-coated boluses for winter survival and early breeding.
Pernis
Pernis (honey-buzzards), genus of Accipitridae raptors named by Cuvier in 1816; includes P. apivorus and P. ptilorhynchus, wasp-larvae feeders; P. ptilorhynchus is the basal accipitrid lineage, with Aviceda as sister genus.
Petrochelidon
Petrochelidon, a genus of mud-nesting swallows (Hirundinidae) established by Cabanis in 1851, with 11 species including the Cliff Swallow P. pyrrhonota and Cave Swallow P. fulva; formerly merged into Hirundo, restored on genetic grounds.