Spanish Phrases: Names of animals in Spanish: birds

This section is part of the Spanish animal vocabulary section and looks specifically at Spanish words for various species of bird. Note that we take bird in its widest sense, and include various flightless birds and poultry. As we will see in a moment, Spanish actually has two words for bird, depending on whether or not we take the word in this wider sense.

Birds and poultry

The most generic term for a bird in Spanish is un ave. This is the term that can also refer to flightless birds and poultry. Birds that can fly are also commonly referred to as pájaros. The names of certain species of bird are based on one or other term.

Note that the word ave is feminine, so would be used with a feminine adjective form: un ave acuática = an aquatic bird. But because ave starts with a stressed a, it is generally used with the articles un and el. The word águila, also feminine but beginning with a stressed a sound, behaves similarly. The word avestruz is masculine.

un águila	-	an eagle
un ave rapaz/de rapiña	-	a bird of prey
un avestruz	-	an ostrich
un búho	-	an owl
un buitre	-	a vulture
una cigüeña	-	a stork
un cisne	-	a swan
un cuervo	-	a crow, raven
un estornino	-	a starling
un faisán	-	a pheasant
un flamenco	-	a flamingo
un flamingo	-	a flamingo
un gallo	-	a cock, rooster
una gallina	-	a hen
una garza	-	a heron
una golondrina	-	a swallow
un gorrión	-	a sparrow
un guajolote	-	a turkey (Mexico)
un halcón	-	a falcon
un martín pescador	-	a kingfisher
una oca	-	a goose
un pájaro carpintero	-	a woodpecker
un pavo	-	a turkey
un pavo real	-	a peacock
un pelícano	-	a pelican
una perdiz	-	a partridge
un pingüino	-	a penguin
un ruiseñor	-	a nightingale
un tucán	-	a toucan

 Suggest a change / cambios sugeridos

See also

 mammals in Spanish
 fish and reptiles in Spanish
 insects and rodents in Spanish