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List of birds of Canada facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Canada is a huge country with many different places for birds to live, from snowy mountains to vast forests and open coasts. This list tells you about the amazing bird species that have been seen here.

There are over 700 different types of birds in Canada! Most of them live here regularly, either all year, during summer, or just passing through on their long journeys. Some birds are "accidental" visitors, meaning they don't usually come to Canada but sometimes get lost and end up here.

A few bird species were "introduced" by humans, meaning they were brought here from other parts of the world. Sadly, some birds that used to live in Canada are now "extinct" (meaning they've completely disappeared from Earth) or "extirpated" (meaning they no longer live in Canada, but can still be found elsewhere in the world).

The birds on this list are grouped by their scientific families, which helps scientists study how they are related. Many bird families found in Canada also live in other parts of the world, like Europe and Asia. But some families are special to North and South America, such as hummingbirds, New World vultures, and wood-warblers.

Here's a quick guide to what the letters next to some bird names mean:

  • (A) Accidental: This bird rarely visits Canada.
  • (I) Introduced: Humans brought this bird to Canada.
  • (E) Extinct: This bird no longer exists anywhere in the world.
  • (Ex) Extirpated: This bird no longer lives in Canada, but still exists in other places.

Scientists also use special codes to show how well a bird species is doing worldwide. These are called conservation status codes:

Conservation Status Codes
= Least Concern = Near Threatened = Vulnerable
= Endangered = Critically Endangered = Extinct in the Wild
= Extinct

Ducks, Geese, and Swans

Trumpeter Swan Sasata
Trumpeter swan
Woodduck95
Wood duck pair (female on right, male on left)
Bristol.zoo.common.eider.arp
Common eider

Order: Anseriformes Family: Anatidae

This group includes ducks, geese, and swans. These birds are amazing swimmers and divers! They have webbed feet and special feathers that keep water off, thanks to natural oils.

New World Quail

Callipepla californica1
California quail

Order: Galliformes Family: Odontophoridae

New World quails are small, round birds that live on the ground. They look a bit like quails from other parts of the world, but they are not closely related.

Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies

Wild turkey
Wild turkey

Order: Galliformes Family: Phasianidae

This family includes pheasants and grouse. These birds live on land and vary in size. Many of them are hunted for sport or raised for food.

Flamingos

Order: Phoenicopteriformes Family: Phoenicopteridae

Flamingos are tall, wading birds with long legs and necks. They are known for their pink feathers and unique beaks, which they use upside down to filter tiny food from the water.

Grebes

ClarksGrebe23
Clark's grebe

Order: Podicipediformes Family: Podicipedidae

Grebes are freshwater diving birds. They are excellent swimmers and divers thanks to their lobed toes. However, their feet are set far back on their bodies, making them clumsy on land.

Pigeons and Doves

Order: Columbiformes Family: Columbidae

Pigeons and doves are plump birds with short necks and small, thin beaks.

Cuckoos

BlackbilledCuckoo23
Black-billed cuckoo

Order: Cuculiformes Family: Cuculidae

This family includes cuckoos and roadrunners. 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. They usually nest on the ground. They have long wings, short legs, and very short beaks. Their soft feathers help them blend in with tree bark or leaves.

Swifts

Order: Apodiformes Family: Apodidae

Swifts are small birds that spend most of their lives flying. They have very short legs and can't easily stand on the ground. They often perch on vertical surfaces. Many swifts have long, swept-back wings that look like a boomerang.

Hummingbirds

Rubythroathummer65
Ruby-throated hummingbird

Order: Apodiformes Family: Trochilidae

Hummingbirds are tiny birds famous for hovering in mid-air by flapping their wings incredibly fast. They are the only birds that can fly backward!

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots

KingRail23
King rail

Order: Gruiformes Family: Rallidae

This family includes rails, crakes, coots, and gallinules. They are small to medium-sized birds that usually live in thick plants near lakes, swamps, and rivers. They are often shy and hard to spot. Most have strong legs and long toes, which help them walk on soft, uneven ground.

Limpkin

Myakka Limpkin
Limpkin

Order: Gruiformes Family: Aramidae

The limpkin is a unique bird that looks like a large rail but is more closely related to cranes. It lives in marshes with trees or bushes.

Cranes

Order: Gruiformes Family: Gruidae

Cranes are large birds with long legs and long necks. Unlike herons, which look similar, cranes fly with their necks stretched out. They often have loud and fancy courtship dances.

Stilts and Avocets

AmericanAvocet23
American avocet

Order: Charadriiformes Family: Recurvirostridae

This family includes avocets and stilts. Avocets have long legs and long, upward-curving beaks. Stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight beaks.

Oystercatchers

Order: Charadriiformes Family: Haematopodidae

Oystercatchers are large, noticeable, and noisy birds that look a bit like plovers. They have strong beaks that they use to smash or pry open shellfish.

Plovers and Lapwings

Killdeer59
Killdeer

Order: Charadriiformes Family: Charadriidae

This family includes plovers, dotterels, and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short thick necks, and long, pointed wings. They live in open areas worldwide, especially near water.

Sandpipers and Allies

GreaterYellowlegs23
Greater yellowlegs
Rnphalarope04
Red-necked phalarope

Order: Charadriiformes Family: Scolopacidae

This is a large and varied family of shorebirds, including sandpipers, curlews, godwits, and snipes. Most of these birds eat small insects and worms found in mud or soil. Their different leg and beak lengths allow many species to feed in the same areas without competing for food.

Skuas and Jaegers

Order: Charadriiformes Family: Stercorariidae

Skuas are medium to large birds, often grey or brown, with white marks on their wings. They have longish beaks with hooked tips and webbed feet with sharp claws. They are strong, agile flyers.

Auks, Murres, and Puffins

Pigeon Guillemots,Vancouver 2008 155
Pigeon guillemot

Order: Charadriiformes Family: Alcidae

Alcids look a bit like penguins because they are black and white and stand upright. However, they are not closely related to penguins and can fly! Alcids live in the open sea and only come to land to nest.

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

Westerngull
A western gull in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco
Ring Billed Gull
Ring-billed gull

Order: Charadriiformes Family: Laridae

This family includes gulls, terns, and skimmers. Gulls are usually grey or white with black markings. They have strong beaks and webbed feet. Terns are seabirds that often dive for fish. Skimmers have a unique lower beak that is longer than the upper one, which they use to scoop up small fish while flying low over the water.

Tropicbirds

Order: Phaethontiformes Family: Phaethontidae

Tropicbirds are slender white birds that live in tropical oceans. They have very long central tail feathers. Their long wings and heads have black markings.

Loons

PacificLoon24
Pacific loon

Order: Gaviiformes Family: Gaviidae

Loons are aquatic birds, about the size of a large duck, but they are not related to ducks. They are mostly grey or black and have spear-shaped beaks. Loons are great swimmers and can fly well, but they are very clumsy on land because their legs are placed far back on their bodies.

Albatrosses

Order: Procellariiformes Family: Diomedeidae

Albatrosses are among the largest flying birds. Some types, like the great albatrosses, have the biggest wingspans of any living bird!

Southern Storm-Petrels

Oceanites oceanicusPCCA20070623-3634B
Wilson's storm-petrel

Order: Procellariiformes Family: Oceanitidae

Storm-petrels are the smallest seabirds. They are related to petrels and eat tiny ocean creatures and small fish from the water's surface, often while hovering. Their flight is fluttery, sometimes like a bat.

Northern Storm-Petrels

Order: Procellariiformes Family: Hydrobatidae

These storm-petrels look and act much like the southern storm-petrels. However, they have enough genetic differences that scientists place them in their own family.

Shearwaters and Petrels

Northern Fulmar
Northern fulmar

Order: Procellariiformes Family: Procellariidae

This group includes medium-sized "true petrels." They have nostrils that are joined together and long outer wing feathers.

Storks

Order: Ciconiiformes Family: Ciconiidae

Storks are large, heavy, wading birds with long legs, long necks, and strong, long beaks. They have wide wings and are silent birds.

Frigatebirds

Order: Suliformes Family: Fregatidae

Frigatebirds are large seabirds found in tropical oceans. They are mostly black or black and white, with long wings and deeply forked tails. Male frigatebirds have colorful throat pouches that they can inflate. They are amazing flyers and can stay in the air for more than a week!

Boobies and Gannets

Morus bassanus adu
Northern gannet

Order: Suliformes Family: Sulidae

This group includes gannets and boobies. Both are medium-large coastal seabirds that dive headfirst into the water to catch fish.

Anhingas

Order: Suliformes Family: Anhingidae

Anhingas are water birds that look like cormorants, with very long necks and straight beaks. They eat fish and often swim with only their neck above the water, earning them the nickname "snakebird."

Cormorants and Shags

Order: Suliformes Family: Phalacrocoracidae

Cormorants are medium to large water birds, usually dark in color, with areas of colored skin on their faces. Their beaks are long, thin, and sharply hooked. They have four webbed toes.

Pelicans

Brown Pelican
Brown pelican

Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Pelecanidae

Pelicans are very large water birds with a special pouch under their beak. Like other birds in their group, they have four webbed toes.

Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns

Egretta thula1
Snowy egret

Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Ardeidae

This family includes herons, egrets, and bitterns. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns have shorter necks and are more secretive. These birds fly with their necks pulled back, unlike storks or ibises.

Ibises and Spoonbills

Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Threskiornithidae

Birds in this family have long, wide wings and are strong flyers. They can even soar high in the sky! They have long bodies, long necks, and long legs. Their beaks are also long, either curved downward (for ibises) or flat and spoon-shaped (for spoonbills).

New World Vultures

Turkey Vulture, Ottawa
Turkey vulture

Order: Cathartiformes Family: Cathartidae

New World vultures are not closely related to vultures from other parts of the world, but they look similar because they evolved in similar ways. Like other vultures, they eat dead animals. But unlike Old World vultures, which find food by sight, New World vultures have a great sense of smell to find carcasses.

Osprey

Order: Accipitriformes Family: Pandionidae

The osprey is a bird of prey that eats fish. It has a very large, strong, hooked beak for tearing meat, strong legs, powerful claws, and excellent eyesight. This family only has one species.

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

Goshawkmale66
American goshawk

Order: Accipitriformes Family: Accipitridae

This family includes hawks, eagles, kites, and harriers. These birds of prey have very large, strong, hooked beaks for tearing meat, powerful legs, sharp claws, and keen eyesight.

Barn-Owls

Order: Strigiformes Family: Tytonidae

Barn-owls are medium to large owls with big heads and a special heart-shaped face. They have long, strong legs with powerful claws.

Owls

Bubo virginianus -near Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Oregan, USA -juvenile-8
Juvenile great horned owls

Order: Strigiformes Family: Strigidae

Typical owls are solitary birds of prey that are active at night. They have large eyes that face forward, good hearing, a hawk-like beak, and a clear circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk.

Kingfishers

Order: Coraciiformes Family: Alcedinidae

Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long, pointed beaks, short legs, and stubby tails.

Woodpeckers

RedNapedSapsucker23
Red-naped sapsucker

Order: Piciformes Family: Picidae

Woodpeckers are small to medium-sized birds with chisel-like beaks, short legs, stiff tails, and long tongues for catching insects. Many woodpeckers tap loudly on tree trunks with their beaks.

Falcons and Caracaras

Americankestrel65
American kestrel

Order: Falconiformes Family: Falconidae

This family includes falcons and caracaras. They are birds of prey that are active during the day. Unlike hawks and eagles, falcons kill their prey with their beaks instead of their claws.

Tyrant Flycatchers

Tyrannus-tyrannus-001
Eastern kingbird

Order: Passeriformes Family: Tyrannidae

Tyrant flycatchers are songbirds found across North and South America. They look a bit like flycatchers from other parts of the world, but they are stronger and have more powerful beaks. Most of them eat insects.

Vireos, Shrike-Babblers, and Erpornis

Order: Passeriformes Family: Vireonidae

Vireos are small to medium-sized songbirds. They are usually greenish and look like wood warblers, but they have heavier beaks.

Shrikes

Northern Shrike (8128455040)
Northern shrike

Order: Passeriformes Family: Laniidae

Shrikes are songbirds known for catching other birds and small animals. They sometimes impale their prey on thorns. A shrike's beak is hooked, like a bird of prey.

Crows, Jays, and Magpies

Perisoreus canadensis mercier2
Canada jay

Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae

This family includes crows, ravens, jays, and magpies. Corvids are larger than average songbirds, and some of the bigger species are very intelligent.

Tits, Chickadees, and Titmice

Order: Passeriformes Family: Paridae

The Paridae family includes small, stocky woodland birds with short, strong beaks. Some have crests on their heads. They are adaptable birds that eat both seeds and insects.

Larks

Order: Passeriformes Family: Alaudidae

Larks are small ground birds known for their often fancy songs and display flights. Most larks look quite plain. They eat insects and seeds.

Swallows

Order: Passeriformes Family: Hirundinidae

The swallow family is built for catching food while flying. They have slender, streamlined bodies, long, pointed wings, and short beaks with wide mouths. Their feet are better for perching than walking.

Long-tailed Tits

Order: Passeriformes Family: Aegithalidae

Long-tailed tits are a family of small songbirds. Their feathers are usually dull grey or brown. Only one species from this family is found in North America.

Kinglets

Order: Passeriformes Family: Regulidae

Kinglets are a small family of birds that look like titmice. They are very tiny birds that eat insects. Adult kinglets have colorful crowns on their heads, which is how they got their name.

Waxwings

Order: Passeriformes Family: Bombycillidae

Waxwings are birds with soft, silky feathers and unique red tips on some of their wing feathers. These tips look like sealing wax, giving the birds their name. They live in northern forests, eating insects in summer and berries in winter.

Silky-Flycatchers

Order: Passeriformes Family: Ptiliogonatidae

Silky flycatchers are a small family of songbirds found mostly in Central America. They are related to waxwings, and most species have small crests on their heads.

Nuthatches

Order: Passeriformes Family: Sittidae

Nuthatches are small woodland birds. They have a special ability to climb down trees headfirst, which most other birds cannot do. Nuthatches have large heads, short tails, and strong beaks and feet.

Treecreepers

Order: Passeriformes Family: Certhiidae

Treecreepers are small woodland birds, brown on top and white underneath. They have thin, curved beaks that point downward, which they use to pull insects out of tree bark. They have stiff tail feathers, like woodpeckers, which help them support themselves on trees.

Gnatcatchers

Order: Passeriformes Family: Polioptilidae

These delicate birds look and act like Old World warblers, constantly moving through leaves to find insects. Gnatcatchers are mostly soft bluish-grey and have the long, sharp beak typical of insect-eating birds. Many species have distinct black head patterns and long, black-and-white tails that they often hold upright.

Wrens

Order: Passeriformes Family: Troglodytidae

Wrens are small and often hard to see, but they have very loud songs. They have short wings and thin, downward-curved beaks. Several species often hold their tails straight up. All wrens eat insects.

Mockingbirds and Thrashers

Order: Passeriformes Family: Mimidae

This family includes thrashers, mockingbirds, and New World catbirds. These birds are famous for their amazing songs and their ability to copy many different bird calls and other sounds. They usually have dull grey and brown feathers.

Starlings

Common starling in london
Immature female European starling

Order: Passeriformes Family: Sturnidae

Starlings and mynas are small to medium-sized songbirds from the Old World with strong feet. They fly strongly and directly, and most live in large groups. They prefer open areas and eat insects and fruit. Many species have dark feathers with a shiny, metallic look.

Dippers

Order: Passeriformes Family: Cinclidae

Dippers are named for their bobbing or "dipping" movements. They are unique among songbirds because they can dive and swim underwater!

Thrushes and Allies

WesternBluebird23
Western bluebird

Order: Passeriformes Family: Turdidae

Thrushes are a group of songbirds, mostly found in the Old World. They are plump birds with soft feathers, small to medium in size. They eat insects and sometimes fruits, often feeding on the ground. Many thrushes have beautiful songs.

Old World Flycatchers

Order: Passeriformes Family: Muscicapidae

This is a large family of small songbirds found only in the Old World. The species listed here only appear in Canada as accidental visitors. These birds vary a lot in how they look, but they usually have weak songs and harsh calls.

Accentors

Order: Passeriformes Family: Prunellidae

Accentors are small, rather plain birds that look a bit like sparrows, but they are not related. Accentors have thin, sharp beaks, which they use to eat insects in summer and seeds and berries in winter.

Old World Sparrows

Order: Passeriformes Family: Passeridae

Old World sparrows are small songbirds. They are generally plump, brownish or grayish birds with short tails and strong, short beaks. Sparrows eat seeds, but they also eat small insects.

Wagtails and Pipits

Order: Passeriformes Family: Motacillidae

This family includes wagtails and pipits. They are slender, ground-feeding songbirds with medium to long tails. They eat insects and live in open areas.

Finches, Euphonias, and Allies

Order: Passeriformes Family: Fringillidae

Finches are songbirds that eat seeds. They are small to medium-sized and have strong, often cone-shaped beaks. All finches have twelve tail feathers and nine main wing feathers. These birds fly with a bouncing motion, flapping and then gliding with their wings closed. Most finches sing well.

Longspurs and Snow Buntings

Order: Passeriformes Family: Calcariidae

This group of songbirds used to be grouped with the New World sparrows. However, they are different in several ways and are usually found in open grassy areas.

Old World Buntings

Order: Passeriformes Family: Emberizidae

This family of songbirds contains only one genus. Until recently, the New World sparrows were also considered part of this family.

New World Sparrows

Passerculus sandwichensis crop
Savannah sparrow

Order: Passeriformes Family: Passerellidae

Until 2017, these birds were part of the Emberizidae family. Most of these species are called sparrows, but they are not closely related to the Old World sparrows. Many of them have unique patterns on their heads.

Yellow-breasted Chat

Order: Passeriformes Family: Icteriidae

This bird was once thought to be a wood-warbler, but scientists were unsure. In 2017, it was placed in its own family.

Troupials and Allies

HoodedOriole23
Hooded oriole

Order: Passeriformes Family: Icteridae

The icterids are a group of small to medium-sized, often colorful songbirds found only in the New World. They include grackles, New World blackbirds, and New World orioles. Most species have black as their main feather color, often brightened with yellow, orange, or red.

New World Warblers

8G7D5475-Canada
Canada warbler

Order: Passeriformes Family: Parulidae

Wood warblers are a group of small, often colorful songbirds found only in the New World. Most live in trees, but some spend more time on the ground. Most birds in this family eat insects.

Cardinals and Allies

Order: Passeriformes Family: Cardinalidae

Cardinals are a family of strong, seed-eating birds with powerful beaks. They are typically found in open woodlands. Males and females usually have different colored feathers.

More About Birds

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List of birds of Canada Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.