Birds That Start With M

21 birds Animals and nature Checked 9 Oct 2026

Here are 21 birds that start with M, each with a one-line description so you can tell what it is. The best-known ones come first, then the full list in A to Z order.

With 21 entries, M mixes garden regulars with rare oddities. The magpie, the mallard and the mockingbird are familiar to many families, and the macaw is the bright parrot most children will picture first. The mallard is the wild duck that most farm ducks come from.

Ducks are a theme here: mandarin duck, musk duck and the fish-eating merganser all appear. For a surprise, point to the moa, an extinct flightless bird of New Zealand, or the merlin, a small falcon. Several names describe where a bird lives, such as marsh wren, marsh hawk, mountain quail and meadowlark.

Birds starting with M: 21
Best known: mockingbird, magpie
Longest name: mistletoe thrush

Best-known birds that start with M

The ones most people will recognise, good for school lists, quizzes and games.

mockingbird
magpie
mallard
macaw
myna

All birds that start with M

#	Name	What it is
1	macaw	long-tailed brilliantly colored parrot of Central America and South America; among the largest and showiest of parrots
2	magpie	long-tailed black-and-white crow that utters a raucous chattering call
3	mallard	wild dabbling duck from which domestic ducks are descended; widely distributed
4	mandarin duck	showy crested Asiatic duck; often domesticated
5	marabou	large African black-and-white carrion-eating stork; its downy underwing feathers are used to trim garments
6	marsh hawk	common harrier of North America and Europe; nests in marshes and open land
7	marsh wren	a wren of the genus Cistothorus that frequents marshes
8	martin	any of various swallows with squarish or slightly forked tail and long pointed wings; migrate around Martinmas
9	meadowlark	North American songbirds having a yellow breast
10	merganser	large crested fish-eating diving duck having a slender hooked bill with serrated edges
11	merlin	small falcon of Europe and America having dark plumage with black-barred tail; used in falconry
12	mew gull	the common gull of Eurasia and northeastern North America
13	mistletoe thrush	large European thrush that feeds on mistletoe berries
14	moa	extinct flightless bird of New Zealand
15	mockingbird	long-tailed grey-and-white songbird of the southern United States able to mimic songs of other birds
16	mound builder	large-footed short-winged birds of Australasia; build mounds of decaying vegetation to incubate eggs
17	mountain quail	California partridge; slightly larger than the California quail
18	mourning dove	wild dove of the United States having a mournful call
19	musk duck	large crested wild duck of Central America and South America; widely domesticated
20	mute swan	soundless Eurasian swan; commonly domesticated
21	myna	tropical Asian starlings

Short birds with M

macaw
myna
moa

Questions people ask

How many birds start with M?

This list has 21 birds starting with M, from well-known ones like mockingbird, magpie, mallard to rarer kinds.

What birds start with M?

Well-known examples are mockingbird, magpie, mallard, macaw, myna.

Source: Princeton WordNet, a public dictionary database, reviewed by our editors to keep only clear, real members of the list. Meanings are short dictionary glosses.

See every letter on one page: birds A to Z