Birds That Start With R

22 birds Animals and nature Checked 9 Oct 2026

Here are 22 birds that start with R, 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.

Twenty-two birds begin with R. The robin and the raven are the classic picks, and the rooster, the adult male chicken, is one even toddlers know. The roadrunner is a speedy bird that mostly runs on the ground.

The word rock turns up again and again: rock dove, rock pigeon, rock hopper, rock partridge and rock wren. Colors help with others, such as the redwing, redstart, redshank and ruddy duck. The rhea is a tall flightless runner from South America, and the ruff is a sandpiper whose male grows a showy neck ruff.

Birds starting with R: 22
Best known: robin, raven
Longest name: rusty blackbird

Best-known birds that start with R

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

robin
raven
rooster
roadrunner
razorbill

All birds that start with R

#	Name	What it is
1	rail	any of numerous widely distributed small wading birds of the family Rallidae having short wings and very long toes for...
2	raven	large black bird with a straight bill and long wedge-shaped tail
3	razorbill	black-and-white seabird of the auk family
4	red grouse	reddish-brown grouse of upland moors of Great Britain
5	redshank	a common Old World wading bird with long red legs
6	redstart	European songbird with a reddish breast and tail; related to Old World robins
7	redwing	North American blackbird with scarlet patches on the wings
8	reed bunting	European bunting inhabiting marshy areas
9	rhea	smaller of two tall fast-running flightless birds similar to ostriches but three-toed
10	roadrunner	speedy largely terrestrial bird found from California and Mexico to Texas
11	robin	large American thrush having a rust-red breast and abdomen
12	rock dove	pale grey Eurasian pigeon having black-striped wings from which most domestic species are descended
13	rock hopper	small penguin of the Falkland Islands and New Zealand
14	rock partridge	of mountainous areas of southern Europe
15	rock pigeon	pale grey Eurasian pigeon having black-striped wings from which most domestic species are descended
16	rock wren	short-tailed bird resembling a wren
17	roller	pigeon that executes backward somersaults in flight or on the ground
18	rook	common gregarious Old World bird about the size and color of the American crow
19	rooster	adult male chicken
20	ruddy duck	reddish-brown stiff-tailed duck of North America and northern South America
21	ruff	common Eurasian sandpiper; the male has an erectile neck ruff in breeding season
22	rusty blackbird	North American blackbird whose bluish-black plumage is rusty-edged in the fall

Short birds with R

robin
raven
rail
rook
ruff
rhea

Questions people ask

How many birds start with R?

This list has 22 birds starting with R, from well-known ones like robin, raven, rooster to rarer kinds.

What birds start with R?

Well-known examples are robin, raven, rooster, roadrunner, razorbill.

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