Beast Mode: An Ark of Animal Words: Birds, Birds, Birds, List 2

We're honoring our feathered friends. So be bald and dive into this list of trilling vocabulary all about birds.

Here are links to our lists in the collection: List 1, List 2
25 words 903 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. blue jay
    a common bird of eastern North America
    She flapped to the pine tree where the blue jays had nested, landed, and lost her balance. Frightful's Mountain
  2. cardinal
    crested North American songbird having bright red plumage
    “That red one is a cardinal,” he’d tell me, and “that one over there is a blue jay. They don’t like each other much.” Out of My Mind
  3. cassowary
    a large black flightless bird with a distinctive head crest
    Southern cassowary populations have been observed to be declining for almost 80 years, and the species was officially listed as endangered in 2000.
    – The New York Times
  4. condor
    the largest flying bird in the western hemisphere
    “Yes, but let us discuss other birds. The condor. The hummingbird. They are opposites, no? They balance each other.” The Ugly One
  5. crow
    a black bird having a raucous call
    As I looked around, a cloud of crows flew over me, straight for the woods in back of the barn, cawing their heads off. Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer
  6. cuckoo
    a bird with pointed wings and a long tail
    I would awaken to the sound of the cuckoo in the tamarind tree that shaded the courtyard. Homeless Bird
  7. duck
    a small bird that swims and lives near water
    But we live on his farm now, and if I have to live on a farm, I think it ought to be an interesting one, with chickens and ducks and maybe some peacocks or something. Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer
  8. emu
    a flightless bird similar to the ostrich but smaller
    While wild emus tend to live five to 10 years, Blake says, in captivity, they can live 20.
    – The Washington Post
  9. flamingo
    a long-necked pink bird that often stands on one leg
    The flamingos slept on one leg, their heads under their wings. The Lions of Little Rock
  10. grackle
    a long-tailed blackbird with iridescent black feathers
    In the apple groves at the edge of town, flocks of grackles settled into the branches for the night, squawking. The Hot Zone
  11. heron
    a gray or white wading bird with long neck and long legs
    Just then a heron flew over us and drifted down to the river’s edge. Homeless Bird
  12. hummingbird
    a tiny bird that hovers and flies by quickly beating its wings
    It takes a long time, but a ruby-throated hummingbird finally descends and eats from the tip of my unmoving, sweetened index finger. Counting by 7s
  13. kingfisher
    a colorful bird with a short tail and long, sharp bill
    The kingfisher keeps screaming his alarm cry but from a safe distance. On the Far Side of the Mountain
  14. osprey
    a large hawk that feeds on fish
    Seagulls circled overhead, while two ospreys piped at each other in a nest on top of a concrete utility pole. Hoot
  15. owl
    a bird of prey that hunts at night
    When Harry relieved this owl of its burden, it ruffled its feathers importantly, stretched its wings, and took off through the window into the night. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
  16. peacock
    a male bird with a colorful fan-like tail
    “It’s funny,” I said, “that girls have to be pretty. It’s the boys that have to be pretty in Nature. Look at the cardinal. Look at the peacock. Why is it so different with us?” The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
  17. pelican
    a large waterbird with a large bill and pouch for fish
    Beyond the kelp beds pelicans were already hunting, soaring high over the clear water, diving straight down, if they sighted a fish, to strike the sea with a great splash that I could hear. Island of the Blue Dolphins
  18. pheasant
    a wild game bird with long narrow tail feathers
    In the wild, turkeys and pheasants follow bison herds. The Omnivore's Dilemma
  19. puffin
    a black and white seabird with a bright orange beak and feet
    “Here the birds are buntings and longspurs. They do not fly to the sea twice a day like the puffins and sandpipers that my father followed.” Julie of the Wolves
  20. robin
    a small Old World songbird with a reddish breast
    The robins and wood thrushes and other small birds that navigated by the stars at night fluttered down into the trees. Frightful's Mountain
  21. sparrow
    a small dull-colored singing bird
    Tiny wrens and sparrows hopped around the yard and fluttered up to the bird feeder on the fencepost. Wish
  22. swallow
    small long-winged songbird noted for swift graceful flight
    I look up to see a mama barn swallow skitter off from her nest for more food. The Last Cuentista
  23. swift
    a small bird that is noted for its rapid flight
    I am sitting on the sunny back patio, listening to the call of the swifts and watching my five-year-old son pick and eat blackberries along the garden wall.
    – Nature
  24. toucan
    a brilliantly colored bird with a large beak
    Lourdes refilled the mosaic-lined fountain with sweet water and built an aviary in the garden, stocking it with toucans and cockatoos, parrots, a macaw, and canaries that sang in high octaves. Dreaming in Cuban
  25. woodpecker
    a bird with a strong bill that bores into trees for insects
    He looks up at Gabriel, still strumming, still singing, and he sees resting on his shoulder a two-foot-tall Lazarus woodpecker. Where Things Come Back
Created on Mon Oct 16 17:21:16 EDT 2023 (updated Thu Nov 30 13:03:05 EST 2023)

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