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List of birds of the U.S. Virgin Islands facts for kids

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This is a list of all the different kinds of birds found in the US Virgin Islands. As of July 2022, there were 267 bird species recorded there. Some of these birds were brought in by people (18 species). Many others (176 species) are rare visitors or just show up by accident. Sadly, two bird species that used to live there are now gone forever (extirpated). Also, five species on this list are in danger of disappearing from the whole world.

This list follows the official bird guide for North and Middle America. The names of the birds and their families come from this guide.

You'll see some special letters next to the bird names. Here's what they mean:

  • (A) Accidental - This bird rarely or accidentally visits the US Virgin Islands.
  • (I) Introduced - This bird was brought to the US Virgin Islands by people.

Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl

Order: Anseriformes Family: Anatidae

This group includes ducks, geese, and swans. These birds are great at living in water. They have webbed feet, flat bills, and oily feathers that shed water easily.

Guineafowl

Order: Galliformes Family: Numididae

Guineafowl are African birds that eat seeds and nest on the ground. They look a bit like partridges but have heads without feathers. Their gray feathers often have a speckled pattern.

New World Quail

Order: Galliformes Family: Odontophoridae

New World quails are small, round birds that live on land. They are not closely related to the quail found in other parts of the world. However, they look and act similarly.

Pheasants, Grouse, and Related Birds

Order: Galliformes Family: Phasianidae

This family includes many ground-dwelling birds like quails, partridges, and pheasants. They are usually plump with broad, short wings.

Flamingos

Order: Phoenicopteriformes Family: Phoenicopteridae

Flamingos are tall, social wading birds. They can be 3 to 5 feet (1 to 1.5 meters) tall. Flamingos eat small shellfish and algae by filtering them from the water. Their unique beaks are used upside-down to separate food from mud.

Grebes

Order: Podicipediformes Family: Podicipedidae

Grebes are small to medium-sized diving birds that live in freshwater. They have lobed toes, which makes them excellent swimmers and divers. Because their feet are set far back on their bodies, they are clumsy on land.

Pigeons and Doves

Order: Columbiformes Family: Columbidae

Pigeons and doves are birds with sturdy bodies, short necks, and slender bills. They have a fleshy area at the base of their bill called a cere.

Cuckoos

Order: Cuculiformes Family: Cuculidae

This family includes cuckoos, roadrunners, and anis. These birds have different sizes but usually have slender bodies, long tails, and strong legs.

Nightjars and Related Birds

Order: Caprimulgiformes Family: Caprimulgidae

Nightjars are medium-sized birds that are active at night. They usually build their nests on the ground. They have long wings, short legs, and very short bills. 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 almost never 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 known for hovering in the air. They flap their wings very fast. They are the only birds that can fly backward!

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots

Order: Gruiformes Family: Rallidae

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

Stilts and Avocets

Order: Charadriiformes Family: Recurvirostridae

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

Oystercatchers

Order: Charadriiformes Family: Haematopodidae

Oystercatchers are large, noisy birds that look like plovers. They have strong bills that they use to smash or pry open molluscs (like clams).

Plovers and Lapwings

Order: Charadriiformes Family: Charadriidae

This family includes plovers and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short thick necks, and long, pointed wings. You can find them in open areas around the world, especially near water.

Sandpipers and Related Birds

Order: Charadriiformes Family: Scolopacidae

This is a large and varied family of small to medium-sized shorebirds. It includes sandpipers, curlews, godwits, 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.

Skuas and Jaegers

Order: Charadriiformes Family: Stercorariidae

Skuas and jaegers are medium to large birds. They usually have gray or brown feathers, sometimes with white on their wings. They nest on the ground in cooler parts of the world and fly long distances.

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

Order: Charadriiformes Family: Laridae

This family includes gulls, terns, and skimmers. They are medium to large seabirds. They are typically gray or white, often with black on their heads or wings. They have strong, somewhat long bills and webbed feet. Terns usually hunt fish by diving. Skimmers have a longer lower beak. They fly low over the water to catch small fish.

Tropicbirds

Order: Phaethontiformes Family: Phaethontidae

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

Southern Storm-Petrels

Order: Procellariiformes Family: Oceanitidae

Storm-petrels are the smallest seabirds. They are related to petrels. They eat tiny sea creatures and small fish from the water's surface, often while hovering. Their flight can be fluttering, like a bat.

Northern Storm-Petrels

Order: Procellariiformes Family: Hydrobatidae

These storm-petrels look and act much like the southern storm-petrels. However, their genes show they are different enough to be in their own family.

Shearwaters and Petrels

Order: Procellariiformes Family: Procellariidae

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

Frigatebirds

Order: Suliformes Family: Fregatidae

Frigatebirds are large seabirds found in tropical oceans. They are big, black-and-white, or all black, with long wings and deeply forked tails. Male frigatebirds have colorful throat pouches that they can inflate. They cannot swim or walk well, and they cannot take off from flat ground. They have the largest wingspan for their body weight of any bird. They can stay in the air for more than a week!

Boobies and Gannets

Order: Suliformes Family: Sulidae

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

Cormorants and Shags

Order: Suliformes Family: Phalacrocoracidae

This family includes cormorants and shags. They are medium to large coastal seabirds that eat fish. Most have dark feathers, some are black-and-white, and a few are colorful.

Pelicans

Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Pelecanidae

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

Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns

Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Ardeidae

This family includes bitterns, herons, and egrets. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns are usually shorter-necked and more cautious. When flying, these birds pull their necks back, unlike other long-necked birds.

Ibises and Spoonbills

Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Threskiornithidae

This family includes ibises and spoonbills. They are large birds that live on land or wade in water. They have long, wide wings and are strong fliers. Despite their size, they are very good at soaring in the air.

New World Vultures

Order: Cathartiformes Family: Cathartidae

New World vultures look like vultures from other parts of the world, but they are not closely related. They both eat dead animals. Unlike Old World vultures, which find food by sight, New World vultures have a good sense of smell to find carrion (dead animals).

Osprey

Order: Accipitriformes Family: Pandionidae

The family Pandionidae has only one species: the osprey. The osprey is a medium-large raptor that specializes in eating fish. You can find them all over the world.

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

Order: Accipitriformes Family: Accipitridae

This family includes hawks, eagles, kites, and harriers. These birds of prey have strong, hooked beaks to tear meat from their food. They also have powerful legs, strong talons (claws), and excellent eyesight.

Owls

Order: Strigiformes Family: Strigidae

Typical owls are small to large birds of prey that hunt alone at night. They have big eyes that face forward and good hearing. They also have a hawk-like beak and a circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk.

Kingfishers

Order: Coraciiformes Family: Alcedinidae

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

Woodpeckers

Order: Piciformes Family: Picidae

Woodpeckers are small to medium-sized birds. They have 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. They are different from hawks and eagles because they kill their prey with their beaks, not their talons.

New World and African Parrots

Order: Psittaciformes Family: Psittacidae

Parrots are birds of various sizes with a special curved beak. Their upper beak can move a little where it connects to their skull. They usually stand upright. All parrots have two toes pointing forward and two pointing backward on each foot.

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. They are usually greenish and look like New World warblers, but they have heavier bills.

Swallows

Order: Passeriformes Family: Hirundinidae

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

Waxwings

Order: Passeriformes Family: Bombycillidae

Waxwings are birds with soft, silky feathers. Some of their wing feathers have unique red tips that look like sealing wax, which gives them their name. These birds live in northern forests. They eat insects in summer and berries in winter.

Mockingbirds and Thrashers

Order: Passeriformes Family: Mimidae

This family includes thrashers, mockingbirds, and New World catbirds. These birds are famous for their songs and their ability to copy many other bird calls and outdoor sounds. Their feathers are usually dull gray and brown.

Starlings

Order: Passeriformes Family: Sturnidae

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

Thrushes and Related Birds

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 everything (omnivores), often feeding on the ground. Many have beautiful songs.

Weavers and Related Birds

Order: Passeriformes Family: Ploceidae

Weavers are small songbirds related to finches. They eat seeds and have rounded, cone-shaped bills. The males of many species are brightly colored, often red or yellow and black. Some species only show these bright colors during breeding season.

Waxbills and Related Birds

Order: Passeriformes Family: Estrildidae

Estrildid finches are small songbirds from tropical parts of the Old World and Australasia. They are social birds that often live in colonies. They eat seeds and have short, thick, but pointed bills. They all look and act similar but have many different feather colors and patterns.

Old World Sparrows

Order: Passeriformes Family: Passeridae

Sparrows are small songbirds. Generally, sparrows are small, plump, brown or gray birds with short tails and strong, short beaks. Sparrows eat seeds, but they also eat small insects.

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 Related Birds

Order: Passeriformes Family: Icteridae

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

New World Warblers

Order: Passeriformes Family: Parulidae

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

Cardinals and Related Birds

Order: Passeriformes Family: Cardinalidae

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

Tanagers and Related Birds

Order: Passeriformes Family: Thraupidae

Tanagers are a large group of small to medium-sized songbirds found only in the New World, mostly in tropical areas. Many species are brightly colored. As a family, they eat many different things (omnivorous), but some species specialize in eating fruits, seeds, insects, or other foods. Most have short, rounded wings.

See also

  • List of birds
  • Lists of birds by region
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