Birds vocabulary

Birds

A creature that is usually able to fly is called a bird. Birds are covered with feathers and have two wings.

Birds can include:

• Chicken: a domestic bird that is kept for its meat or eggs. The adult male chicken is called cock (US rooster). The female chicken is hen. The baby chicken is chick.
• Turkey: a large domestic bird that is kept for its meat, eaten at Thanksgiving.
• Goose: a water bird like a duck. The male goose is called gander.
• Duck: a bird with webbed feet that lives near water. The male duck is called drake.
• Pheasant: a large bird that has a long tail.
• Eagle: a strong bird of prey that has a hooked beak and keen eyesight.
• Hawk: a medium-sized bird of prey that catches small animals for food.
• Crow: a black bird that has an unpleasant cry.
• Owl: a bird with round eyes, which hunts its prey in darkness using strategy.
• Pigeon (dove): a grey or white bird that lives in cities. The white dove is used as a symbol of love and peace.

Pigeon	Dove
A French word	A Germanic word
Larger species	Smaller species

• Sparrow: a small brown-grey bird, that is especially common in cities.
• Hummingbird: a small bird that creates humming noise by beating wings.
• Canary: a small pet bird that has yellow plumage.
• Parrot: a tropical pet bird that has the ability to imitate human voice.
• Swallow: a small bird that has pointed wings and a tail with two points.
• Ostrich: a large flightless bird with long neck and long legs, which lives in Africa.
• Penguin: a black and white flightless bird that lives in Antarctica. Penguin uses its wings for swimming.
• Peacock: a large colorful pheasant that can spread out tail feathers like a fan. The female of peacock is called peahen.
• Flamingo: a tall, pink bird that has a long, curved neck and long legs.
• Gull (seagull): black and white bird that lives near the sea.
• Swan: a snowy white bird with a long thin neck, that is close relative to the geese.
• Heron: a tall bird with a long neck and long legs that is typically seen near water. Heron is an expert fisher.
• Woodpecker: a bird that has a sharp and strong beak to dig holes in trees.

Main parts of birds

• Beak (also bill): the pointed or curved part of a bird’s mouth which is used for eating or killing prey.
• Feather: one of the plumage that covers most parts of the body of birds.
• Plumage: the layer of feathers.
• Talon: a sharp nail on the feet of the birds that is used to catch food.
• Wing: one of the parts of a bird that is used for flying.

Groups of birds

• Brood: a group of young birds
• Clutch: a group of eggs in a single nest
• Colony: a group of penguins/gulls
• Flight: a group of birds that are flying together; a flight of doves/pigeons/swallows etc.
• Flock: a group of the same birds; a flock of parrots/pigeons/ etc.
• Gaggle: a group of geese on land or water
• Skein: a group of geese in flight
• Wedge: a group of geese in V formation