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List of birds of Honduras

Adapted from Wikipedia · Discoverer experience

A Fulvous Whistling Duck at the London Wetland Centre, a peaceful scene in nature.

Honduras is a beautiful country in Central America that is home to many different kinds of birds. As of June 2023, there were 798 bird species known to live or visit Honduras. This list includes birds that stay in Honduras all year, those that come only in the summer or winter, and others that pass through during their journeys.

The scarlet macaw is the national bird of Honduras.

One special bird, the Honduran emerald, can only be found in Honduras and nowhere else in the world. Some birds are rare visitors, while others were brought to the country by people. There are also a few birds that scientists aren't completely sure about because they don't have clear proof they've been seen there.

Many of these birds face challenges because their homes are changing or they have too few numbers left. Learning about these birds helps us understand and protect Honduras's rich natural world. The list follows a special order used by bird experts in North and Middle America to group the birds by their families and features.

Tinamous

The tinamous are one of the oldest groups of birds. They look like other ground birds such as quail and grouse but are actually different. They belong to their own group called Tinamiformes and are related to birds like rheas, emus, and kiwis.

Ducks, geese, and waterfowl

Fulvous whistling-duck

Order: Anseriformes   Family: Anatidae

The family Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swans. These birds are well-suited to life in water. They have webbed feet, flat bills, and special feathers that keep them dry by repelling water.

Guans, chachalacas, and curassows

Crested guan

Order: Galliformes   Family: Cracidae

The Cracidae are large birds, similar in appearance to turkeys. The guans and curassows live in trees, while the smaller chachalacas are found in more open, scrubby areas. These birds usually have dull-colored feathers, but some curassows and guans have bright, colorful decorations around their faces.

Some birds in this group include:

New World quail

Buffy-crowned wood-partridge

Order: Galliformes   Family: Odontophoridae

The New World quails are small, round birds that live on the ground. They look a bit like other quails but are from a different family.

Flamingos

American flamingo

Order: Phoenicopteriformes   Family: Phoenicopteridae

Flamingos are social birds that walk in water. They are usually between 3 to 5 feet tall and live in places around the world. Flamingos eat small sea animals and algae by filtering them through their special beaks, which they hold upside-down while feeding.

One type found in this area is the American flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber.

Grebes

Pied-billed grebe

Order: Podicipediformes   Family: Podicipedidae

Grebes are small to medium-sized birds that live in freshwater and are good at swimming and diving. They have special toes that help them move in the water. But because their feet are far back on their bodies, they are not very good at walking on land.

Pigeons and doves

Order: Columbiformes   Family: Columbidae

Pigeons and doves are strong birds with short necks and short, thin beaks. They have a special fleshy part on their bills called a cere.

Cuckoos

The family Cuculidae includes cuckoos, roadrunners, and anis. These birds have slender bodies, long tails, and strong legs.

Nightjars and allies

Order: Caprimulgiformes   Family: Caprimulgidae

Nightjars are medium-sized birds that are active at night and usually lay their eggs on the ground. They have long wings, short legs, and very short beaks. Most nightjars have small feet that aren't great for walking, but they have long, pointed wings for flying. Their feathers are soft and blend in with tree bark or leaves to hide them.

Potoos

Order: Nyctibiiformes   Family: Nyctibiidae

Potoos, also known as poor-me-ones, are large birds similar to nightjars and frogmouths. They are active at night and eat insects. Unlike true nightjars, they do not have bristles around their mouths.

Swifts

Order: Apodiformes   Family: Apodidae

Swifts are small birds that spend most of their time in the sky. They have very short legs and never land on the ground, only resting on upright surfaces. Many swifts have long, curved wings.

Hummingbirds

Honduran emerald, Honduras' only endemic bird species

Order: Apodiformes   Family: Trochilidae

Hummingbirds are small birds that can hover in one spot because their wings flap very fast. They are the only birds that can fly backward.

Rails, gallinules, and coots

Order: Gruiformes   Family: Rallidae

The Rallidae family includes birds like rails, crakes, coots, and gallinules. These birds usually live in wet places near lakes, swamps, or rivers, where there is lots of tall plants. They are often hard to see because they are quiet and like to hide. Most of these birds have strong legs and long toes, which help them walk on soft, uneven ground. Their wings are usually short and rounded, so they are not very good at flying.

Finfoots

The Finfoots are a small group of tropical birds. They belong to the family Heliornithidae and are part of the Gruiformes order. These birds have special webbed lobes on their feet, similar to grebes and coots. One example is the Sungrebe (Heliornis fulica).

Limpkin

Limpkin

Order: Gruiformes   Family: Aramidae

The limpkin looks like a big rail. It has brown feathers and a grayer head and neck.

Thick-knees

Double-striped thick-knee

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Burhinidae

Thick-knees are birds that belong to the Burhinidae family. You can find them all over the world, especially in warm places, but some also live in parts of Europe and Australia. These birds have strong black or yellow-black beaks, big yellow eyes, and their feathers help them hide. Even though they are called waders, most of them prefer dry or semi-dry areas to live in.

Stilts and avocets

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Recurvirostridae

Recurvirostridae is a family of large birds that walk in water. These birds include avocets and stilts. Avocets have long legs and long, curved bills. Stilts have very long legs and long, thin, straight bills.

Oystercatchers

American oystercatcher

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Haematopodidae

The oystercatchers are big, loud birds that look like plovers. They have strong beaks that they use to open up molluscs.

Plovers and lapwings

The family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterels, and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short thick necks, and long, usually pointed, wings. They are found in open country worldwide, mostly in habitats near water.

Jacanas

Northern jacana

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Jacanidae

The jacanas are birds that live in warm areas near water. They have very big feet and claws, which help them walk on plants that float on the surface of shallow lakes. Their favorite places to live are these calm, shallow waters.

Sandpipers and allies

Red-necked phalarope

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Scolopacidae

The Scolopacidae family includes many types of small to medium-sized birds that live near water. These birds are called sandpipers, curlews, godwits, shanks, tattlers, woodcocks, snipes, dowitchers, and phalaropes. Most of them eat tiny animals they find in mud or soil. Their legs and beaks come in different lengths, so many of them can live in the same place without running out of food.

Skuas and jaegers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Stercorariidae

The Stercorariidae family includes medium to large birds, usually gray or brown with white wing markings. They build nests on the ground in colder regions and travel long distances during migration.

Gulls, terns, and skimmers

Franklin's gull

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Laridae

Laridae is a family of medium to large seabirds that includes gulls, kittiwakes, terns, and skimmers. These birds are usually gray or white, often with black markings on their heads or wings. They have longish bills and webbed feet. Terns are seabirds that are usually gray or white and often have black markings on their heads. Most terns catch fish by diving, but some eat insects from the surface of fresh water. Terns can live a long time, with some living more than 30 years. Skimmers are a small group of tropical birds that look like terns. They have a long lower beak that they use to feed by flying low over the water and skimming for small fish.

Tropicbirds

Tropicbirds are elegant white birds that live in tropical oceans. They have very long tail feathers and long wings marked with black, along with black markings on their heads.

Sunbittern

The sunbittern is a unique bird that lives in tropical areas of the Americas. It is the only member of its family, Eurypygidae, and its genus, Eurypyga.

Northern storm-petrels

The storm-petrels are tiny seabirds related to petrels. They eat small creatures and tiny fish from the water's surface while flying above it. Their flight moves up and down like a bat's wings.

Shearwaters and petrels

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Procellariidae

The procellariids are a group of medium-sized birds called "true petrels". They have special nostrils and a long outer wing feather.

Storks

Storks are large birds with long legs and necks. They have long, strong beaks and are mostly quiet, but they can make clattering sounds with their beaks to talk to each other near their nests. These nests can get quite big and are sometimes used for many years. Many storks travel long distances during migration.

Frigatebirds

Frigatebirds are large seabirds often seen above tropical oceans. They have long wings and forked tails, and come in black-and-white or all-black colors. Male frigatebirds have special colored throat pouches they can inflate. These birds are skilled fliers and can stay in the air for many days at a time. They cannot swim or walk, and need a running start to take off from the water.

One kind found in Honduras is the Magnificent frigatebird.

Boobies and gannets

Order: Suliformes   Family: Sulidae

The sulids include the gannets and boobies. These are medium to large birds that live near the coast and catch fish by diving into the water.

Anhingas

Order: Suliformes   Family: Anhingidae

Anhingas are sometimes called "snake-birds" because of their long, thin necks that look like snakes when they swim with just their necks above water. Male anhingas have dark black and brown feathers, a special crest on the back of their necks, and a bigger beak than females. Females have lighter feathers, especially around their necks and bellies. Anhingas have fully webbed feet and short legs placed far back on their bodies. Their feathers let water pass through a bit, so after diving, they often spread their wings to dry off.

Cormorants and shags

Phalacrocoracidae is a family of medium to large coastal birds that eat fish. They include cormorants and shags. Most of these birds have dark feathers, but some are black-and-white, and a few have colorful feathers.

Pelicans

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Pelecanidae

Pelicans are large water birds known for the big pouch they carry under their beaks. Like other birds in the Pelecaniformes group, they have webbed feet with four toes.

Herons, egrets, and bitterns

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Ardeidae

The family Ardeidae includes bitterns, herons, and egrets. Herons and egrets are medium to large birds with long necks and legs that walk in shallow water. Bitterns are usually shorter-necked and more cautious. When herons and egrets fly, they pull their necks in, which is different from other long-necked birds like storks.

Some birds in this family found in Honduras include:

Ibises and spoonbills

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Threskiornithidae

The Threskiornithidae family includes large birds that live on land and in shallow water, such as ibises and spoonbills. These birds have long, broad wings with 11 main flight feathers and about 20 smaller ones. Even though they are big and heavy, they are strong fliers and can glide easily through the air.

Some of these birds found in Honduras are:

New World vultures

Order: Cathartiformes   Family: Cathartidae

The New World vultures look like vultures from other parts of the world, but they are not closely related. They act like cleaners, eating animals that have already passed away. Unlike some other vultures, New World vultures can use their strong sense of smell to find food.

Osprey

Order: Accipitriformes   Family: Pandionidae

The family Pandionidae has just one species, the osprey. The osprey is a medium-sized bird of prey that mainly eats fish and can be found all over the world.

Hawks, eagles, and kites

Order: Accipitriformes   Family: Accipitridae

Accipitridae is a family of birds of prey. It includes hawks, eagles, kites, harriers, and Old World vultures. These birds have strong hooked beaks for tearing flesh, powerful legs, sharp talons, and excellent eyesight.

Barn-owls

Order: Strigiformes   Family: Tytonidae

Barn-owls are medium to large owls with big heads and special heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs and powerful talons. One type is the American barn owl, Tyto furcata.

Owls

Order: Strigiformes   Family: Strigidae

Typical owls are small to large birds that live alone and are active at night. They have big eyes that face forward, ears, a sharp beak like a hawk, and a special circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk.

Trogons

The family Trogonidae includes trogons and quetzals. These birds live in tropical woodlands around the world. They eat insects and fruit. Trogons have soft, colorful feathers, and the males and females often look different. Though they can fly quickly, they usually don't fly far. Their bodies are built more for climbing trees than for long flights.

Motmots

Order: Coraciiformes   Family: Momotidae

Motmots are birds with bright feathers and long, special tails that they wave around. In many types of motmots, the ends of the longest tail feathers can break off, making the tail look like it has a racket at the end.

Kingfishers

Kingfishers are medium-sized birds known for their large heads, long pointed beaks, short legs, and short tails. They belong to the order Coraciiformes and the family Alcedinidae.

Some kingfishers found in Honduras include:

Puffbirds

Order: Piciformes   Family: Bucconidae

Puffbirds are related to jacamars but they don’t have shiny, colorful feathers like them. Instead, puffbirds are mostly brown, rufous, or gray. They have big heads and flat bills with a small hook at the end. Their soft, full feathers and short tails make them look round and puffy, which is how they got their name.

Some puffbirds found in Honduras include:

Jacamars

The jacamars are birds found in tropical South America, and they can also be seen as far north as Mexico. They catch insects while flying and have shiny feathers, long bills, and tails. They look and act a bit like bee-eaters, but they are actually closer relatives of puffbirds.

Toucans

Toucans are colorful birds from places called the Neotropics. They have very big, bright bills that can be almost half as long as their bodies.

Woodpeckers

Order: Piciformes   Family: Picidae

Woodpeckers are small to medium-sized birds with strong, chisel-like beaks. They have short legs, stiff tails, and long tongues that help them catch insects. Many woodpeckers tap loudly on tree trunks with their beaks. Some species have two toes pointing forward and two backward, while others have only three toes.

Falcons and caracaras

Order: Falconiformes   Family: Falconidae

Falconidae is a family of birds that hunt during the day. Unlike hawks, eagles, and kites, these birds use their beaks to catch their food.

New World and African parrots

Order: Psittaciformes   Family: Psittacidae

Parrots are birds that range from small to large and have a special curved beak. They stand upright and have four toes on each foot, with two pointing forward and two pointing backward. This helps them grip branches and other objects.

Manakins

The manakins are a group of birds found in the warm parts of Central and South America, and also on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago. These birds live in forests. The males are usually very colorful, while the females are often dull green. Manakins eat small fruits, berries, and insects.

Some manakin species found in Honduras include:

Cotingas

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Cotingidae

Cotingas are birds that live in forests or near the edges of forests in tropical South America. There isn’t much known about these birds, but they all have wide bills with hooked tips, rounded wings, and strong legs. Many males of these birds are brightly colored or have special feathers like plumes or wattles.

Tityras and allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Tityridae

Tityridae are small to medium-sized birds that live in forests and woodlands in the Neotropics. They used to be grouped into different bird families like Tyrannidae, Pipridae, and Cotingidae, but now they have their own family. These birds are not as good at singing as other birds. Most of them have simple colors.

Royal flycatcher and allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Onychorhynchidae

This small family of birds was created in 2018. Before that, these birds were thought to be part of another family called tyrant flycatchers.

Some birds in this family include:

Tyrant flycatchers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Tyrannidae

Tyrant flycatchers are birds found from North to South America. They look a bit like other birds that catch insects, but they are stronger and have thicker beaks. Most of them eat insects, and many have simple, plain colors. These birds are not known for making complex songs like some other birds.

Typical antbirds

The antbirds are a large group of small birds that live in the forests of Central and South America. They mainly eat insects found on or near the ground. Many of these birds follow groups of army ants because the ants scare out small creatures that the birds can eat. Most antbirds are not brightly colored; they are usually brown, black, and white.

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Thamnophilidae

Antpittas

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Grallariidae

Antpittas look similar to true pittas. They have strong, long legs, very short tails, and stout bills.

Antthrushes

Antthrushes look like small rails. They have strong, long legs, very short tails, and thick bills.

The birds in this group include:

Ovenbirds and woodcreepers

Ovenbirds are a large family of small birds found in Central and South America. They are insect eaters and are known for building nests that look like little ovens, though some build nests with sticks or use tunnels and rock crevices.

Woodcreepers are brown birds that stand upright with the help of their stiff tails. They mostly eat insects they find on tree trunks.

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Furnariidae

Vireos, shrike-babblers, and erpornis

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Vireonidae

The vireos are small to medium-sized birds. They are usually green and look similar to wood warblers, but they have thicker beaks.

Crows, jays, and magpies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Corvidae

The family Corvidae includes crows, ravens, jays, choughs, magpies, treepies, nutcrackers, and ground jays. These birds are usually larger than other Passeriformes and some of them are very clever.

Swallows

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Hirundinidae

The Hirundinidae family is made for catching food while flying. They have slim bodies, long wings, and a short wide beak. Their feet work best for sitting, and the front toes are partly connected.

Waxwings

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Bombycillidae

The waxwings are a group of birds with soft, silky feathers and special red tips on some of their wing feathers. In the Bohemian and cedar waxwings, these tips look like sealing wax, which is how they got their name. These birds live in northern forests and eat insects during the summer and berries during the winter.

Treecreepers

Treecreepers are small birds that live in woodlands. They are brown on top and white underneath. These birds have special thin, pointed beaks that curve downward, which they use to find insects hiding in tree bark. They also have stiff tail feathers, similar to woodpeckers, that help them climb straight up tree trunks.

Gnatcatchers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Polioptilidae

Gnatcatchers are small, delicate birds that look similar to Old World warblers. They move quickly through the leaves, looking for insects to eat. These birds are usually a soft bluish-gray color and have long, pointy beaks perfect for catching tiny bugs. They live in open woodlands or scrubby areas and build their nests in bushes or trees.

Wrens

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Troglodytidae

The wrens are small birds known for their loud songs. They have short wings and thin, down-turned bills. Some species often hold their tails upright. These birds eat insects.

Mockingbirds and thrashers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Mimidae

The mimids are a group of birds that includes thrashers, mockingbirds, tremblers, and the New World catbirds. These birds are known for their singing, especially copying many different birds and other sounds they hear outside. They often have colors that are dull-gray or brown.

Some birds in this group include the Blue-and-white mockingbird, the Black catbird (which is near-threatened), the Gray catbird, the Tropical mockingbird, and the Northern mockingbird.

Dippers

Dippers are small birds that live near water in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. They move their heads up and down in a dipping motion, which is how they got their name. One type of dipper found in these areas is the American dipper.

Thrushes and allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Turdidae

The thrushes are a group of birds that mostly live in the Old World. They are often round and soft-looking, and they eat insects or other small things, usually finding food on the ground. Many thrushes have beautiful songs.

Olive warbler

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Peucedramidae

The olive warbler is a small bird that belongs to its own special family. It has long wings, a gray body, and wings with olive-green and two white bars. Males have an orange head and breast, while females have a yellow head and breast.

Waxbills and allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Estrildidae

These are small birds that live in warm parts of the world. They like to stay together in groups and mostly eat seeds. They have short, thick beaks that point forward. Though they look similar, their feathers come in many bright colors and patterns.

Old World sparrows

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Passeridae

Sparrows are small birds that usually have brown or gray feathers and short tails. They have strong beaks and eat seeds, but they also like to eat tiny insects. One common type of sparrow is the House sparrow.

Wagtails and pipits

The family Motacillidae includes small birds with medium to long tails, such as wagtails, longclaws, and pipits. They are slender birds that eat insects and live in open areas close to the ground.

One bird in this family found in Honduras is the American pipit.

Finches, euphonias, and allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Fringillidae

Finches are birds that eat seeds. They are small to medium-sized and have strong, conical beaks. These birds fly by flapping their wings and then gliding, and many of them sing beautifully.

Some finches found in Honduras include:

Thrush-tanager

This bird belongs to the order Passeriformes and the family Rhodinocichlidae. It used to be grouped with another family called Thraupidae but was moved to its own family in 2017.

One species is the Rosy thrush-tanager, Rhodinocichla rosea.

New World sparrows

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Passerellidae

Until 2017, these birds were grouped with another family called Emberizidae. Though we call them sparrows, they are not related to the sparrows from the Old World, which belong to a different family called Passeridae. Many of these birds have unique patterns on their heads.

Yellow-breasted chat

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Icteriidae

This bird was once thought to be part of the wood-warblers group, but scientists were not sure. In 2017, it was moved to its own special family.

Troupials and allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Icteridae

The icterids are small to medium-sized, colorful birds found in the New World. They include grackles, New World blackbirds, and New World orioles. Most of these birds have black feathers, often with bright yellow, orange, or red colors.

New World warblers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Parulidae

The wood-warblers are small, colorful birds found in the New World. They mostly live in trees, but some live on the ground. These birds eat insects.

Cardinals and allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Cardinalidae

Cardinals are a group of strong, seed-eating birds with thick beaks. They are often found in open woodlands. The males and females of these birds usually look very different from each other.

Some birds in this group include:

Tanagers and allies

The tanagers are a large group of small to medium-sized birds that live in the New World, mostly in warm places. Many of them have bright, beautiful colors. They eat many kinds of food, like fruits, seeds, and insects. Most tanagers have short, rounded wings.

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Thraupidae

Images

A Wilson’s Snipe bird perched on a fencepost in central Utah.
A male Ruddy Duck swimming at Whipsnade Zoo in England.

Related articles

Passeriformes
Honduras
Honduran emerald
Charadriiformes
Gruiformes
Pelecaniformes

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on List of birds of Honduras, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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