kids encyclopedia robot

List of birds of Olympic National Park facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Welcome to a special guide about the amazing birds you can find in Olympic National Park! This park is located in the state of Washington, USA. This list tells you about all the different kinds of birds that have been seen there. It's based on information from the National Park Service (NPS).

Birds are grouped together by their families, like how your family has a last name. This helps scientists study them. The names of the birds and their scientific names come from a big list made by the American Ornithological Society (AOS). Family names come from another list called the Clements taxonomy.

There are 298 different bird species on this list! Most of these birds live in Olympic National Park regularly. They might live there all year, visit in summer or winter, or just pass through during migration. Some birds are seen more often than others. We use special tags to show how common they are:

  • R (Rare): These birds are usually seen only a few times each year. (18 species)
  • U (Uncommon): You might see these birds every month in the right places and seasons. They can even be common in some spots. (84 species)
  • O (Occasional): These birds show up in the park at least once every few years, but not necessarily every year. Their numbers can change. (38 species)
  • NC (Not confirmed): These birds are thought to be in the park, but there isn't strong proof yet. (52 species)
  • Unk (Unknown): We don't know how often this bird is seen. (1 species)
  • I (Introduced): These birds were brought to North America by humans. (5 species; one more bird is native to North America but was introduced to Washington)

Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl

Order: Anseriformes   Family: Anatidae

This family includes ducks, geese, and swans. These birds are great in the water! They have webbed feet for swimming, flat bills, and special oily feathers that shed water easily.

New World Quail

Order: Galliformes   Family: Odontophoridae

New World quails are small, round birds that live on the ground. They look similar to Old World quails but are not closely related.

Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies

Order: Galliformes   Family: Phasianidae

This family includes pheasants and grouse. These birds live on the ground and vary in size. They are usually plump with broad, short wings. Many are hunted for sport or raised for food.

Grebes

Order: Podicipediformes   Family: Podicipedidae

Grebes are small to medium-sized birds that dive in freshwater. They have lobed toes and are excellent swimmers. 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 birds with sturdy bodies, short necks, and thin bills. They have a fleshy area at the base of their bill called a cere.

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 small bills. Their soft feathers are colored to blend in with 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 don't land on the ground. Instead, they perch on vertical surfaces. Many swifts have long, swept-back wings that look like a crescent moon.

Hummingbirds

Order: Apodiformes   Family: Trochilidae

Hummingbirds are tiny birds that can hover in the air by flapping their wings very fast. They are the only birds that can fly backward!

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots

Order: Gruiformes   Family: Rallidae

This large family includes rails, crakes, coots, and gallinules. Most live in thick plants near lakes, swamps, or rivers. They are often shy and hard to spot. They have strong legs and long toes, good for walking on soft ground. They tend to have short, rounded wings and are not strong fliers.

Cranes

Order: Gruiformes   Family: Gruidae

Cranes are large birds with long legs and necks. Unlike herons, cranes fly with their necks stretched out. Many cranes have fancy and loud "dances" to attract mates.

Stilts and Avocets

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Recurvirostridae

This family includes avocets and stilts. Avocets have long legs and long bills that curve upwards. Stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight bills.

Oystercatchers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Haematopodidae

Oystercatchers are large, noticeable, and noisy birds that look like plovers. They have strong bills that they use to smash open or pry apart molluscs.

Plovers and Lapwings

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, often near water.

Sandpipers and Allies

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Scolopacidae

This is a large and varied family of small to medium-sized shorebirds. It includes sandpipers, curlews, godwits, and many others. Most of these birds eat small bugs they find in mud or soil. Different bill and leg lengths allow many species to feed in the same places without competing for food.

Skuas and Jaegers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Stercorariidae

Skuas are medium to large birds, usually gray or brown with white marks on their wings. They have longish bills with hooked tips and webbed feet with sharp claws. They look like big, dark gulls but have a fleshy area called a cere above their upper beak. They are strong, agile fliers.

Auks, Murres, and Puffins

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Alcidae

This family includes auks, murres, and puffins. These birds have short wings and live on the open sea. They only come to land to breed.

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Laridae

This family includes gulls, terns, and skimmers. They are medium to large seabirds, usually gray or white, often with black marks on their heads or wings. They have strong, longish bills and webbed feet.

Loons

Order: Gaviiformes   Family: Gaviidae

Loons are aquatic birds, about the size of a large duck, but not related to them. They are mostly gray or black and have spear-shaped bills. Loons swim and fly well, but they are very awkward on land because their legs are placed far back on their bodies.

Albatrosses

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Diomedeidae

Albatrosses are among the largest flying birds. The great albatrosses have the biggest wingspans of any living birds!

Northern Storm-Petrels

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Hydrobatidae

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

Shearwaters and Petrels

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Procellariidae

This group includes medium-sized "true petrels." They have nostrils that are joined together and a long outer primary feather used for flight.

Cormorants and Shags

Order: Suliformes   Family: Phalacrocoracidae

Cormorants are medium to large water birds, usually with dark feathers and colorful skin on their faces. Their bills are long, thin, and sharply hooked. They have four webbed toes.

Pelicans

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

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 are usually shorter-necked and more secretive. These birds fly with their necks pulled back, unlike storks or ibises.

New World Vultures

Order: Cathartiformes   Family: Cathartidae

New World vultures are not closely related to Old World vultures, but they look similar because they evolved in similar ways. Like Old World vultures, they eat dead animals. However, New World vultures have a good sense of smell to find carcasses, while Old World vultures find them by sight.

Osprey

Order: Accipitriformes   Family: Pandionidae

This family has only one type of bird: the osprey. Ospreys are birds of prey that eat fish. They have a very large, strong, hooked beak, powerful legs, sharp talons, and excellent eyesight.

  • Osprey, Pandion haliaetus (U)

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

Order: Accipitriformes   Family: Accipitridae

This family includes hawks, eagles, kites, and harriers. These birds of prey have very large, strong, hooked beaks to tear meat from their prey. They also have strong legs, powerful talons, and sharp eyesight.

Barn-Owls

Order: Strigiformes   Family: Tytonidae

Barn-owls are medium to large owls with big heads and unique heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with powerful talons.

Owls

Order: Strigiformes   Family: Strigidae

Typical owls are solitary birds of prey that are active at night. They have large eyes that face forward and good hearing. They have 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 bills, short legs, and stubby tails.

Woodpeckers

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

Order: Falconiformes   Family: Falconidae

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

Tyrant Flycatchers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Tyrannidae

Tyrant flycatchers are songbirds found across North and South America. They look a bit like Old World flycatchers but are stronger and have sturdier bills. They don't have the complex songs of many other songbirds. Most of them eat insects.

Vireos, Shrike-Babblers, and Erpornis

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Vireonidae

Vireos are small to medium-sized songbirds found only in the New World. They are usually greenish and look like wood warblers, but they have heavier bills.

Shrikes

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Laniidae

Shrikes are songbirds known for catching small animals and impaling them on thorns. A shrike's beak is hooked, like a bird of prey's.

  • Northern shrike, Lanius borealis (O)

Crows, Jays, and Magpies

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 smart.

Tits, Chickadees, and Titmice

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Paridae

The Paridae family includes small, sturdy woodland birds with short, strong bills. Some have crests on their heads. They are adaptable birds that eat a mix of seeds and insects.

Larks

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Alaudidae

Larks are small birds that live on the ground. They often have fancy songs and display flights. Most larks are plain-looking. They eat insects and seeds.

Swallows

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Hirundinidae

The swallow family is built for catching food in the air. They have slender bodies, long pointed wings, and short bills with wide mouths. Their feet are better for perching than walking.

Long-tailed Tits

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Aegithalidae

Long-tailed tits are small songbirds with medium to long tails. They build woven bag-shaped nests in trees. Most of them eat a mix of insects.

  • Bushtit, Psaltriparus minimus (U)

Kinglets

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Regulidae

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

Waxwings

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Bombycillidae

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

Nuthatches

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Sittidae

Nuthatches are small woodland birds. They have a special ability to climb down trees headfirst, unlike most other birds that only climb up. Nuthatches have big heads, short tails, and strong bills and feet.

Treecreepers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Certhiidae

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

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, down-curved bills. Many species hold their tails straight up. All wrens eat insects.

Mockingbirds and Thrashers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Mimidae

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

Starlings

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Sturnidae

Starlings are small to medium-sized songbirds with strong feet. They fly strongly and directly and often gather in large groups. They prefer open areas and eat insects and fruit. Their feathers are usually dark with a shiny, metallic look.

Dippers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Cinclidae

Dippers are small, sturdy birds that find their food in cold, fast-moving streams.

Thrushes and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Turdidae

Thrushes are a group of songbirds, mostly found in the Old World. They are plump, soft-feathered, and small to medium-sized. They eat insects or sometimes a mix of foods, often feeding on the ground. Many thrushes have beautiful songs.

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 insect-eaters that live in open areas. They have medium to long tails.

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 primary flight feathers. These birds have a bouncy flight pattern and most sing well.

Longspurs and Snow Buntings

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Calcariidae

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

New World Sparrows

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Passerellidae

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

Troupials and Allies

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

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, like the ovenbird, live more 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 bills. They usually live in open woodlands. Male and female birds often have different feather colors.

More About Birds

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
List of birds of Olympic National Park Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.