Birds That Start With P

25 birds Animals and nature Checked 9 Oct 2026

Here are 25 birds that start with P, 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.

P is one of the busiest bird letters, with 25 names. Penguin, parrot, peacock, pelican and puffin are all easy wins for young children, and each has a shape that is simple to draw.

Look closer and you find game birds such as the pheasant, the partridge and the ptarmigan, which has feathered feet. The peregrine appears twice, once more as peregrine falcon. The passenger pigeon is a sad entry, a North American pigeon that is now extinct. Small flycatchers called the phoebe and the pewee round out a list that suits both beginners and keen birders.

Birds starting with P: 25
Best known: penguin, pigeon
Longest name: passenger pigeon

Best-known birds that start with P

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

penguin
pigeon
parrot
peacock
pelican
pheasant
puffin
parakeet

All birds that start with P

#	Name	What it is
1	parakeet	any of numerous small slender long-tailed parrots
2	parasitic jaeger	a variety of jaeger
3	parrot	usually brightly colored zygodactyl tropical birds with short hooked beaks and the ability to mimic sounds
4	partridge	valued as a game bird in eastern United States and Canada
5	passenger pigeon	gregarious North American migratory pigeon now extinct
6	peacock	male peafowl; having a crested head and very large fanlike tail marked with iridescent eyes or spots
7	peafowl	very large terrestrial southeast Asian pheasant often raised as an ornamental bird
8	pelican	large long-winged warm-water seabird having a large bill with a distensible pouch for fish
9	penguin	short-legged flightless birds of cold southern especially Antarctic regions having webbed feet and wings modified as...
10	peregrine	a widely distributed falcon formerly used in falconry
11	peregrine falcon	a widely distributed falcon formerly used in falconry
12	petrel	relatively small long-winged tube-nosed bird that flies far from land
13	pewee	small olive-colored woodland flycatchers of eastern North America
14	pheasant	large long-tailed gallinaceous bird native to the Old World but introduced elsewhere
15	phoebe	small dun-colored North American flycatcher
16	pigeon	wild and domesticated birds having a heavy body and short legs
17	pintail	long-necked river duck of the Old and New Worlds having elongated central tail feathers
18	pipit	a songbird that lives mainly on the ground in open country; has streaky brown plumage
19	pitta	any bird of the genus Pitta; brilliantly colored chiefly terrestrial birds with short wings and tail and stout bills
20	plover	any of numerous chiefly shorebirds of relatively compact build having straight bills and large pointed wings
21	prairie chicken	brown mottled North American grouse of western prairies
22	ptarmigan	large Arctic and subarctic grouse with feathered feet and usually white winter plumage
23	puffin	any of two genera of northern seabirds having short necks and brightly colored compressed bills
24	purple finch	North American finch having a raspberry-red head and breast and rump
25	purple martin	large North American martin of which the male is blue-black

Short birds with P

pitta
pipit
pewee

Questions people ask

How many birds start with P?

This list has 25 birds starting with P, from well-known ones like penguin, pigeon, parrot to rarer kinds.

What birds start with P?

Well-known examples are penguin, pigeon, parrot, peacock, pelican, pheasant, puffin, parakeet.

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