10 Types Of Black Birds (+Pictures)

There are many colors of the birds possible. However, most fascinating colorful birds are the blackbirds that are distributed everywhere and are considered as mystery, magical, eternal and so on.

Types of Black Birds:

  • Asian Glossy Starling   
  • Boat-tailed Grackle
  • Black Swan
  • Black-Billed Magpie
  • Raven
  • American Black Swift
  • American Coot  
  • Red-Winged Blackbird
  • European Starling
  • Groove-Billed Ani

What Do Black Birds Symbolize?

The blackbirds symbolize many things and are considered as something good or evil, which all depends on the place and the people. However, Their common symbolizes are eternally linked to the “dark vs light” phases of the moon.

The blackbird is a symbol of life in the heavens and the color black is symbolic of pure potential. The black color is associated with sign, mystery, secrets and magic.

10 Types Of Black Birds

1.Asian Glossy Starling(Aplonis panayensis)   

The Asian glossy starling is a black birds with red eyes that belongs to the Sturnidae family and are found in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.

Habitat: Whose habitats includes subtropical or tropical moist forest and mangrove forest. Here, In These habitats they feed on fruits such as figs, papaya, mango, nuts, animals such as  insects, grasshoppers, beetles, larvae, caterpillars, crickets, spiders, and snails.

Identification: They are easy to Identify because of their physical features such as black-colored body, black-colored feet, black-colored bills with red eyes. The males and females are not easily distinguishable because both are similar in appearance. 

Biometrics: Length:20 cm, weight:60 gm.

Cool Facts:These birds are community oriented, Therefore, they fly together, eat together, roost(rest, sleep) together, breed in flocks and stay together.

Other names: Philippine Glossy Starling.

2.Boat-tailed Grackle(Quiscalus major)

The boat-tailed grackle is a black bird belonging to the Icteridae family that is found in the coasts of the Southeastern United States.

Habitat: They prefer habitats such as salt marshes, freshwater marshes, Atlantic coasts, Gulf coasts, lakes, ponds, cultivated fields, and saltmarshes. Here, In these habitats they feed on arthropods, crustaceans, mollusks, frogs, turtles, lizards, grain, seeds, fruit, and tubers.

Identification: Males are completely black and glossy, whereas the females have dark brown plumages. These birds are large in size that have round crowns, long legs, long bills.The males and females can be distinguishable by their tails, that is  males have longer tails than females.

Biometrics: Weight:220-260 gm, Length: 37 cm, Wingspan: 50 cm.

Cool Facts: The babies of the Boat-tailed Grackle can swim better if they fall into the water unexpectedly, where they use their wings as paddles.

3.Black Swan(Cygnus atratus)

The black swan is a large waterbird belonging to the Anatidae family and are found in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia.

Habitat: Its habitat includes freshwater, brackish water, salt water lakes, estuaries, swamps, forest ponds and rivers. Here, In these habitats they feed on plant and aquatic vegetation such as aquatic leaves, flowers, algae, and weeds. 

Identification: They are easily identified because they have completely black feather bodies with orange-red bills along ‘S’ shaped necks. 

Biometrics: Length:1.4 m, Wingspan:2 m, Weight:7-9 Kg.

Cool Facts: They don’t let other waterbirds visit in their water habitats such as ponds, rivers, and lakes, which causes problems to the visiting birds, especially to the migrating birds which are under starvation due to long migration. Thus they are territorial birds.

4.Black-Billed Magpie(Pica hudsonia)

The black-billed magpie is a black bird with a few white feathers belonging to the corvidae family that are found in North America, Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, California, Northern Nevada, and New Mexico.

Habitat: Its habitats include meadows, farms and grasslands. Here, In these habitats they feed on wild fruit, grain, grasshoppers, beetles, squirrels, ticks and carrion.

Identification: They have black plumage and black beak with few white patches of back with diamond-shaped tails,a strong bill. 

Biometrics: Weight: 200-250 gm, Length: 55 cm, Wingspan: 65 cm.

Cool Facts: This bird is a nest predator, that is they prey on eggs, and chicks of other birds. 

Other Names: American magpie.

5.Raven(Corvus corax)

Raven is a black bird that is also a wild bird with some noticeable intelligence in them, which belong to the Corvidae family, that are usually found in many places such as Bhutan, the northwest coast of North America, Siberia and northeast Asia.

Habitat: Its habitat includes forests, coniferous forests, deciduous forests, beaches, islands, mountains, desert, grasslands, agricultural fields, tundra, farms, gardens and parks.

Identification: They are completely black, that is, black plumage, black legs, black eyes and beak, and have a thick neck, a solid beak, long tails.

Biometrics: Weight: 1-2 Kg, Length: 70 cm, Wingspan: 120 cm, Average Lifespan: 10 years.

Cool Facts: They are intelligent birds that can imitate calls of other birds and animals,especialy  those which are grown in human contact and can imitate the voices of humans that includes ‘Hi’, ‘Hello’ etc.

6.American Black Swift(Cypseloides niger)

The American black swift is black bird that is found in British Columbia and the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Caribbean.

Habitat: Its habitats include cliffs, waterfalls, sea caves, forests, and open areas. Here, In these habitats they feed on flying insects such as winged ants and other animals. 

Identification: They are completely black with white spots on their head and have long and curved wings, a short bill, and short feet. 

Biometrics: Weight: 55 g, Length: 19 cm, Wingspan: 48 cm.

Cool Facts: They don’t drink water like other birds, instead they will drink water while flying just above the water surface by dipping their bills into the water source such as ponds,river, etc.

Other Names:  black swift

7.American Coot(Fulica americana)   

The American coot is a black bird belonging to the Rallidae family and is found in North America, southwestern United States and Mexico.

Habitat: Its habitats include freshwater wetlands, swamps, marshes, and sewage ponds. Here, In these habitats they feed on aquatic plants such as algae, duckweed, eelgrass, wild rice, sedges, hydrilla, wild celery, waterlilies, cattails, water milfoil, grains , and insects such as beetles, dragonflies, crustaceans, snails, and small vertebrates such as tadpoles and salamanders.

Identification: These have grey-black plumages, a round head, a big sloping bill that is white, a tiny tail, short wings, and big yellow-green feet.

Biometrics: Weight: 450-600 gm, Length:43 cm, Wingspan:64 cm.

Facts: These birds are confused as ducks however it’s not a duck, they even swim like ducks but don’t have webbed feets like the ducks. 

Other names: mud hen or pouldeau

8.Red-Winged Blackbird(Agelaius phoeniceus)

The red-winged blackbird is a black bird with few red patches on its wings and belongs to the Icteridae family that are found in North America and Central America.

Habitat: Whose habitats includes freshwater marshes, saltwater marshes, rice paddy fields, meadows, agricultural fields and grassland. Here, In these habitats they feed on insects, seeds,grains, corn, wheat, weed seeds, waste grains and other few invertebrates.

Identification: They have completely black plumage, black legs, black beaks with red patches on their wings with a sharp conical bill, a medium length tail. The males and female birds are distinguishable as there is a whitish eyebrow in the females.

Biometrics: Weight: 80 gm, Length: 25 cm, Wingspan:40 cm

Cool Facts: These birds aggressively defend their territories, especially during reproduction, they are known to attack bigger animals including horses and humans.

9.European Starling(Sturnus vulgaris) 

European Starlings are the blackbirds belonging to the Sturnidae family that is found in the United States, Central America, and Cuba.

Habitat: Its habitats include  city streets, agricultural fields and gardens. Here, In these habitats they feed on fruits, beetles,berries, grasshoppers, flies, spiders, caterpillars, snails, earthworms, and other small invertebrates.

Biometrics: Length: 20 cm, Weight: 100 gm,

Cool Facts: According to the season the bill color of these birds changes, that is yellow in spring season and black in winter.

10.Groove-Billed Ani(Crotophaga sulcirostris)

The groove-billed ani is a tropical black bird belonging to cuckoo or Cuculidae family that is found in southern Texas, central Mexico and The Bahamas, Central America to northern Colombia and Peru.

Habitat: Its habitats include  grasslands, pastures, savanna, and wetlands. Here, In these habitats they feed on insects such as  ants, cockroaches, grasshoppers, beetles, ants, ticks, spiders and beetles, small animals, small lizards, fruits, and seeds. 

Identification: They have a large and curved beak, rounded wings, and a long round tail.

Biometrics: Weight:80-100 gm, length: 34 cm, Wingspan: 46 cm.

Cool Facts: They have two toes in forward and two backward directions like the Parrots and woodpeckers.

Read More : Eagle vs Falcon ?

Are Blackbirds Dangerous?

Yes, But not all black birds are dangerous, Those undergoing the reproduction phase can be dangerous as they can attack  animals that are larger than themselves, that can be horses, and even people when they feel threatened.

For instance, The black bird called Red-winged blackbirds are known to swoop down and attack people, especially during nesting season. They do it in an effort to protect their nests.

In a fight between male blackbirds does occur, it is usually short black birds that are soon chased away by the dominant black birds.  During breeding seasons, The female blackbird is aggressive, when it competes with other females for food and space, that could result in fights leading them violently.