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List of birds of Pennsylvania facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Bonasa-umbellus-001edit1
The ruffed grouse, the official state bird of Pennsylvania

This list tells you about all the different kinds of birds found in Pennsylvania. As of May 2021, there were 439 types of birds officially recorded. Some birds are seen regularly, while others are quite rare.

Here's what the special letters next to some bird names mean:

  • (A) Accidental – These birds are very rare, with usually fewer than five sightings.
  • (C) Casual – These birds are also rare, but seen a bit more often or are becoming more common.
  • (P) Provisional – These birds have been seen, but there isn't enough strong proof (like a photo) to fully confirm them yet.
  • (I) Introduced – These birds were brought to North America by people.
  • (X) Extinct – These birds no longer exist anywhere in the world.
  • (Ex) Extirpated – These birds no longer live in Pennsylvania, but you can still find them in other places.

The list follows the order set by the American Ornithological Society.

Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl

These birds, like ducks, geese, and swans, are experts at living in water. They have webbed feet to swim well and special feathers that shed water easily.

Canada goose flight cropped and NR
Canada goose
Anas-americana-004
American wigeon
Anas platyrhynchos male female quadrat
Mallard

New World Quail

These small, plump birds live on the ground. They are not closely related to quails from other parts of the world.

Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies

This group includes pheasants and their relatives. They are ground-dwelling birds, usually plump with broad, short wings. Many are hunted for sport or raised for food.

Flamingoes

Flamingoes are tall, wading birds that live in groups. They filter small shellfish and algae from the water using their unique, upside-down beaks.

Grebes

Grebes are small to medium-sized diving birds that live in freshwater. They are excellent swimmers with lobed toes. On land, they are quite clumsy because their feet are set far back on their bodies.

Pigeons and Doves

These birds have sturdy bodies, short necks, and small, thin beaks.

Cuckoos

Cuckoos, roadrunners, and anis are birds with slender bodies, long tails, and strong legs.

Nightjars and Allies

Nightjars are medium-sized birds that are active at night. They usually nest on the ground. Their soft feathers are colored to help them blend in with bark or leaves.

Chordeiles minor -British Columbia -Canada-8c
Common nighthawk

Swifts

Swifts are small birds that spend most of their lives flying. They have very short legs and can only perch on vertical surfaces. Many have long, swept-back wings.

  • Chimney swift, Chaetura pelagica
  • Apus species, Apus sp. (P) (A)

Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are tiny birds famous for hovering in the air. They can flap their wings very fast and are the only birds that can fly backward.

RubyThroatedHummingbird(Crop)
Ruby-throated hummingbird

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots

This is a large family of small to medium-sized birds. They often live in thick plants near water. They are usually shy and hard to spot. Most have strong legs and long toes for walking on soft ground.

Sora (Porzana carolina)
Sora

Limpkin

The limpkin is a unique bird that looks like a large rail. It is actually more closely related to cranes.

Cranes

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

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

Black-necked Stilt of Quintana Texas1
Black-necked stilt

Oystercatchers

Oystercatchers are large, noticeable, and noisy birds. They have strong bills that they use to smash or pry open shellfish.

Plovers and Lapwings

This family includes plovers and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies and short, thick necks. They live in open areas around the world, often near water.

Snowy Plover srgb
Snowy plover

Sandpipers and Allies

This is a large and varied family of shorebirds. It includes sandpipers, curlews, and snipes. 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 areas without competing for food.

Greater Yellowlegs2
Greater yellowlegs
Curlew - natures pics
Long-billed curlew

Skuas and Jaegers

These are medium to large birds that look like dark gulls. They have hooked bills and are strong, agile fliers.

Auks, Murres, and Puffins

Alcids look a bit like penguins with their black and white colors. But unlike penguins, they can fly! They live in the open sea and only come to land to nest.

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

This family includes gulls, terns, and skimmers. Gulls are usually gray or white with black markings. Terns are often gray or white with black heads. Skimmers have a unique lower beak that is longer than the upper one, which they use to scoop up small fish from the water.

Black-headed Gull - St James's Park, London - Nov 2006
Black-headed gull
SkimmerSkimming
Black skimmer

Tropicbirds

Tropicbirds are slender white birds of tropical oceans. They have very long central tail feathers and black markings on their wings and head.

Loons

Loons are aquatic birds, about the size of a large duck. They are mostly gray or black with spear-shaped bills. Loons are excellent swimmers and flyers, but they are very clumsy on land.

Gavia immer -Gull Lake, Haliburton County, Ontario, Canada-8
Common loon

Southern Storm-Petrels

These are the smallest seabirds. They are related to petrels and feed on tiny sea creatures and small fish from the water's surface. They often hover while feeding.

Northern Storm-Petrels

These storm-petrels look and act much like their southern relatives. However, genetic differences place them in their own family.

Lesp1
Leach's storm-petrel

Shearwaters and Petrels

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

Pterodroma hasitataPCCA20070623-3608B
Black-capped petrel

Storks

Storks are large, heavy wading birds with long legs, long necks, and strong bills. They have wide wingspans. Unlike some other wading birds, storks are mute.

WoodStorkWhole
Wood stork

Frigatebirds

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

Boobies and Gannets

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

Two Gannets edit 2
Northern gannet
  • Brown booby, Sula leucogaster (A)
  • Northern gannet, Morus bassanus (A)

Anhingas

Anhingas are water birds that look like cormorants. They have very long necks and straight beaks. They eat fish and often swim with only their neck above the water.

Cormorants and Shags

Cormorants are medium to large aquatic birds. They usually have dark feathers and colored skin on their faces. Their bills are long, thin, and hooked.

Phalacrocorax-auritus-007
Double-crested cormorant

Pelicans

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

Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns

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.

GBH with fish2
Great blue heron

Ibises and Spoonbills

This family includes ibises and spoonbills. They have long, broad wings and long bodies with long legs. Ibises have bills that curve downward, while spoonbills have straight, flattened bills.

New World Vultures

New World vultures are scavengers, meaning they eat dead animals. They look like Old World vultures but are not closely related. Unlike Old World vultures, they have a great sense of smell to find food.

Osprey

The osprey is a unique bird of prey that eats only fish. It has a very large, hooked beak, strong legs, powerful claws, and excellent eyesight.

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

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

Buteo jamaicensis -near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA -eating rabbit-8 (1)
A red-tailed hawk perched in a tree eating a rabbit

Barn-Owls

Owls in this family are medium to large with big heads and special heart-shaped faces.

Owls

These are typical or "true" owls. They are usually active at night and hunt alone. They have large eyes that face forward, good hearing, and a hawk-like beak.

Strix-varia-005
Barred owl

Kingfishers

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

Woodpeckers

Woodpeckers are small to medium-sized birds with chisel-like beaks. They have stiff tails and long tongues to catch insects. Many woodpeckers tap loudly on tree trunks with their beaks.

Melanerpes-erythrocephalus-003
Red-headed woodpecker

Falcons and Caracaras

This family includes falcons and caracaras. Unlike hawks and eagles, they kill their prey with their beaks, not their claws.

New World and African Parrots

Parrots are known for their strong, curved bills, upright posture, and clawed feet. Many are brightly colored.

Tyrant Flycatchers

These birds are found across North and South America. They look a bit like Old World flycatchers but are stronger. Most are plain in color and eat insects.

Sayornis phoebe CT3
Eastern phoebe

Vireos, Shrike-Babblers, and Erpornis

Vireos are small to medium-sized birds mostly found in the New World. They are usually greenish and look like wood-warblers, but have stronger bills.

Shrikes

Shrikes are known for catching small animals and impaling them on thorns. Their beak is hooked, like a bird of prey.

Lanius ludovicianus -Texas -USA-8-4c
Loggerhead shrike

Crows, Jays, and Magpies

This family includes crows, ravens, and jays. These birds are larger than average songbirds and some are very intelligent.

Corvus-brachyrhynchos-001
American crow

Tits, Chickadees, and Titmice

These are mainly small, stocky woodland birds with short, strong bills. They are adaptable and eat both seeds and insects.

Larks

Larks are small ground birds known for their often beautiful songs and display flights. Most larks are plain in color and eat insects and seeds.

Swallows

Swallows are built for flying and 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.

Landsvale
Barn swallow

Kinglets

Kinglets are a small family of very tiny insect-eating birds. Adults have colored crowns on their heads, which gives them their name.

Regulus satrapa -Canada-8a
Golden-crowned kinglet

Waxwings

Waxwings are birds with soft, silky feathers. They have unique red tips on some wing feathers that look like sealing wax. These birds live in northern forests and eat insects in summer and berries in winter.

Cedar Wax Wing
Bohemian waxwing
Cedar Waxwing August 14 2012 Newfoundland PA
Cedar waxwing photographed in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania

Nuthatches

Nuthatches are small woodland birds. They have a special ability to climb down trees headfirst, which is unusual for birds. They have large heads, short tails, and strong bills and feet.

Sitta-carolinensis-001
White-breasted nuthatch

Treecreepers

Treecreepers are small woodland birds that are brown on top and white underneath. They have thin, curved bills that they use to pull insects from tree bark. They use their stiff tail feathers to support themselves on trees.

Gnatcatchers

These delicate birds look like some warblers. They move constantly through leaves looking for insects. Gnatcatchers are mostly soft bluish-gray and have long, sharp bills.

Wrens

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

MarshWrenTuleLake
Marsh wren

Mockingbirds and Thrashers

This family includes thrashers and mockingbirds. These birds are famous for their amazing ability to copy the songs of other birds and many outdoor sounds. They are usually dull gray and brown.

Mockingbird in Bay Ridge (85082)
Northern mockingbird

Starlings

Starlings are small to medium-sized birds with strong feet. They fly strongly and directly and often live in large groups. They prefer open areas and eat insects and fruit. Many have dark feathers with a metallic shine.

Thrushes and Allies

Thrushes are a group of birds that are usually plump and have soft feathers. They are small to medium-sized and eat insects or sometimes everything. They often feed on the ground, and many have beautiful songs.

Turdus-migratorius-002
American robin

Old World Flycatchers

This is a large family of small birds. They are mainly small tree-dwelling insect-eaters. Many catch their prey while flying.

Old World Sparrows

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

Wagtails and Pipits

This family includes wagtails and pipits. They are slender, insect-eating birds that feed on the ground in open areas.

Finches, Euphonias, and Allies

Finches are seed-eating birds that are small to medium-sized. They have strong, often cone-shaped beaks. They have a bouncy flight pattern and most sing well.

Carduelis-tristis-002
American goldfinch

Longspurs and Snow Buntings

This group of birds was once thought to be part of the New World sparrows. However, they are different and usually found in open grassy areas.

New World Sparrows

Most birds in this family are called sparrows, but they are not closely related to the Old World sparrows. Many have unique patterns on their heads.

Spizella-passerina-015
Chipping sparrow

Yellow-breasted Chat

This bird was once grouped with the wood-warblers, but now it has its own family.

Troupials and Allies

This group includes grackles, New World blackbirds, and New World orioles. They are small to medium-sized birds, often colorful. Many species have black feathers, sometimes with bright yellow, orange, or red.

Red winged blackbird - natures pics
Red-winged blackbird

New World Warblers

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

Dendroica-aestiva-001
Yellow warbler
Protonotaria-citrea-002 edit
Prothonotary warbler

Cardinals and Allies

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

Northern Cardinal Male-27527-2
Northern cardinal

See also

  • List of birds
  • Lists of birds by region
  • List of North American birds
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List of birds of Pennsylvania Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.