1,039 articles
Psittacus
Psittacus is a genus of African parrots established by Linnaeus in 1758, containing the gray parrot and the Timneh parrot of the West and Central African rainforests.
Psophia
Psophia is a genus of Amazonian ground-dwelling birds known as trumpeters, the only genus of the family Psophiidae in the order Gruiformes, established by Linnaeus in 1758.
Pterocles
Pterocles, also called sandgrouse, is a genus of 14 desert bird species (Temminck, 1815) in family Pteroclidae, order Pterocliformes; males carry water to chicks in absorbent belly feathers, and the genus may be paraphyletic with Syrrhaptes.
Pterodroma
Pterodroma (gadfly petrels), genus Bonaparte 1856 in Procellariidae; about 29-33 petrel species of Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans; cryptic Macaronesian taxa and Round Island hybridization; threatened remote-island seabirds.
Ptilinopus
Ptilinopus (fruit-doves, fruit-pigeons), a Swainson 1825 genus of colorful frugivorous pigeons in Columbidae, spanning Southeast Asia to Polynesia; about 50-55 species, partly split into Megaloprepia and Ramphiculus in 2025.
Puffin
Puffins, four auk-family seabird species (Atlantic, Horned, Tufted Puffin, Rhinoceros Auklet; Fratercula, Cerorhinca), are wing-propelled diving burrow nesters of Northern Hemisphere oceans, with colorful breeding bills and one chick per season.
Puffinus
Puffinus Brisson, 1760 is a genus of small and medium-sized shearwaters in the petrel family Procellariidae. After the larger species were moved to Ardenna, Puffinus retains about two dozen species including the Manx shearwater.
Purple martin
Purple martin (Progne subis), Golondrina Purpúrea, largest North American swallow; eastern birds nest almost entirely in human-supplied houses and gourds, migrates to South America, declining about 25% from 1966 to 2019.
Pycnonotus
Pycnonotus, the largest bulbul genus (Pycnonotidae, ~41 species) of African and Asian passerines including P. barbatus, P. cafer, and P. jocosus; molecular studies show it is polyphyletic and its classification is being revised.
Pygoscelis
Pygoscelis (brush-tailed penguins), genus Pygoscelis Wagler 1832: Adélie, chinstrap, and gentoo penguins of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, differing in sea-ice dependence, migration, and climate response.
Pyrrhocorax
Pyrrhocorax is a genus of crows containing just two glossy black species, the red-billed chough and the alpine chough, mountain and coastal birds with brightly colored bills and legs.
Pyrrhura
Pyrrhura (Bonaparte, 1856) is a genus of small Neotropical parakeets, called conures in aviculture, spanning Amazonian, Atlantic, Andean, and Central American forests; mtDNA work split the picta-leucotis complex, with species from Least Concern to Critically Endangered.
Quelea
Quelea is a genus of three African weaver birds (Ploceidae) established by Reichenbach in 1850: red-billed, cardinal, and red-headed quelea. The red-billed quelea, about 12 cm and 15–26 g, is possibly the world's most abundant wild bird and a major cereal-crop pest, distinct from the plant genus Qualea.
Quetzal
Quetzals comprise five species in the genus Pharomachrus and the eared quetzal, which occurs in southwestern United States and Central America. They are large, iridescent green and red forest birds.
Quiscalus
Quiscalus (grackles), genus of New World blackbirds (Icteridae) established by Vieillot in 1816; seven species including Common, Great-tailed, Boat-tailed, Carib grackles and the extinct Slender-billed Grackle, ranging across North America and the Caribbean.
Radjah
Radjah is a monotypic shelduck genus holding the Radjah Shelduck (Radjah radjah, formerly Tadorna radjah), also called Burdekin duck, a white, chestnut-banded waterfowl of northern Australia, New Guinea, and the Moluccas, IUCN Least Concern.
Rainbow lorikeet
Rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus), also called blue-bellied or Swainson's lorikeet, a colorful Australian nectar-feeding parrot, 28–32 cm, IUCN Least Concern, split into six species in 2019, a pest in Perth and New Zealand.
Rallidae
Rallidae, the rails, gallinules, and coots, is a cosmopolitan Gruiformes bird family of roughly 130-153 species, Eocene origin, highest flight-loss incidence of any bird family, and most extinction-prone.
Rallus
Rallus (Greater Rails) is a valid genus of long-billed marsh rails erected by Linnaeus in 1758, including Clapper, Ridgway's, King, Virginia, Water, and Austral rails; known for secretive wetland habits, 2014 species splits, and endangered coastal subspecies.
Ramphastos
Ramphastos (Linnaeus, 1758), the true toucans, is a Neotropical genus of large Piciformes in Ramphastidae, including the toco toucan R. toco and keel-billed R. sulfuratus; large colorful bills, frugivory, and key seed dispersal of Virola trees.
Raptor
Raptor (bird of prey): carnivorous birds with hooked beaks, sharp talons, and keen eyesight, spanning Accipitriformes, Falconiformes, Cathartiformes, Strigiformes, and Cariamiformes; about 557 extant species facing habitat loss and contamination.
Ratite
Ratite is a large flightless bird belonging to the paleognath lineage, derived from the Latin word ratis for its raft-like breastbone. It includes ostriches of Africa and emus of Australia.
Ravens of the Tower of London
Ravens of the Tower of London: captive common ravens kept at the Tower under a legend that the kingdom falls if they leave; six decreed by Charles II plus a spare, cared for by the Ravenmaster.
Recurvirostra
Recurvirostra (avocets), genus Linnaeus 1758 in Recurvirostridae; four species (Pied, Red-necked, American, Andean) of long-legged waders with upturned bills that scythe shallow wetlands for invertebrates.
Red junglefowl
Red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), tropical Southeast Asian pheasant and primary wild ancestor of the domestic chicken; five subspecies, domestication from G. g. spadiceus ~8,000 years ago, grey junglefowl contributed yellow skin, wild populations now 20-50% domestic ancestry.
Red kite
Red kite (Milvus milvus), European bird of prey with forked tail; persecuted to near extinction in Britain, restored by 1989 reintroductions; UK holds about 10% of world population; Near Threatened globally.
Red wattlebird
Red wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata), a large 33–37 cm Australian honeyeater of southern and eastern mainland Australia, second largest after the yellow wattlebird, named for red neck wattles, feeding on nectar, insects and fruit; IUCN Least Concern.
Red-bellied woodpecker
Red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus), an eastern and central US woodpecker with a barred back, red crown and nape, and a rarely seen red belly. Cavity nester, omnivorous, resident year round, population about 16 million and increasing.
Red-crowned crane
The red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis), also called the Japanese crane or tancho, is a vulnerable crane of East Asia known for the red patch on its crown.
Red-headed woodpecker
Red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), a crimson-headed North American cavity-nesting woodpecker that flycatches and caches food under bark; Near Threatened (IUCN), Endangered in Canada (COSEWIC 2018), with a 54% decline from 1966 to 2019.