A surprising number of birds are named after other animals – in fact, so many that I had to apply some relatively strict rules to the list below:
- Only the common English name counts (i.e., no “snakebird” as this is an Anhinga)
- Only proper animals, not animal products (i.e., no Honey Buzzard)
- No birds named after other birds (so, no parrotbill)
- Only one mention for each animal (so, no Zebra Finch because the list already includes Zebra Dove)
Still, that leaves an impressive 20 names, which of course means hundreds of species (there are 31 species of bee-eaters alone, and the antbird family has about 230 species). So, here is the (most likely incomplete) list:
- Antbird
- Bat Hawk
- Bee-eater
- Catbird
- Cattle Egret
- Cowbird
- Crab Plover
- Dolphin Gull
- Fish Owl
- Flycatcher
- Frogmouth
- Lizard Buzzard
- Mousebird
- Oxpecker
- Rhinoceros Hornbill
- Serpent Eagle
- Spiderhunter
- Turtle Dove
- Worm-eating Warbler
- Zebra Dove
And as a bonus, there is the Elephant Bird – a proper name for a flightless bird on Madagascar, but unfortunately, the last one died around 1000 CE. Guess why.
Photo: Streaked Spiderhunter, Hongbenghe, Yunnan, China, December 2023
Kai has lived in Shanghai for 22 years. He only started birding after moving to China, so he is far more familiar with Chinese birds than the ones back in his native Germany. As a birder, he considers himself strictly average and tries to make up for it with photography, which he shares on a separate website. Alas, most of the photos are pretty average as well.
He hopes that few clients of his consulting firm—focused on China’s chemical industry—ever find this blog, as it might raise questions about his professional priorities. Much of his time is spent either editing posts for 10,000 Birds or cleaning the litter boxes of his numerous indoor cats. He occasionally considers writing a piece comparing the two activities.
Snake-eagle. Assuming a serpent is not a snake.
It is, actually, but that should not have excluded it from the list. Thanks for the addition.