A surprising number of birds are named after other animals – in fact, so many that I had to apply some relatively strict rules to the list below:

1. Only the common English name counts (i.e., no “snakebird” as this is an Anhinga)
2. Only proper animals, not animal products (i.e., no Honey Buzzard)
3. No birds named after other birds (so, no parrotbill)
4. Only one mention for each animal (so, no Zebra Finch because the list already includes Zebra Dove)

Still, that leaves an impressive 20 names, which of course means hundreds of species (there are 31 species of bee-eaters alone, and the antbird family has about 230 species). So, here is the (most likely incomplete) list:

• Antbird
• Bat Hawk
• Bee-eater
• Catbird
• Cattle Egret
• Cowbird
• Crab Plover
• Dolphin Gull
• Fish Owl
• Flycatcher
• Frogmouth
• Lizard Buzzard
• Mousebird
• Oxpecker
• Rhinoceros Hornbill
• Serpent Eagle
• Spiderhunter
• Turtle Dove
• Worm-eating Warbler
• Zebra Dove

And as a bonus, there is the Elephant Bird – a proper name for a flightless bird on Madagascar, but unfortunately, the last one died around 1000 CE. Guess why.

Photo: Streaked Spiderhunter, Hongbenghe, Yunnan, China, December 2023