The Complete List of Birds of Mexico

Mexico’s landscapes—coastal wetlands, deserts, tropical lowlands and high pine-oak forests—support an enormous variety of bird life and make Mexico a top destination for birdwatching. This list compiles species recorded across the country to help observers, naturalists and curious readers see what occurs where.

There are 95 Birds of Mexico, from Altamira Oriole,Yucatan Wren to illustrate geographic and ecological range; for each species we list Scientific name,Status,Range / habitat — you’ll find those details below.

How can I use this list to plan where and when to see specific species?

Use the Range / habitat column to narrow down likely regions and habitats, then check Status for seasonality or rarity. Start with areas known for high diversity (coasts, cloudforest, Yucatán) and match species’ habitats to accessible sites; local birding guides and eBird region checklists will confirm current presence.

How do I tell which birds need conservation attention or are endemic?

Look at the Status column for terms like threatened or endangered and cross-check scientific names with IUCN or national lists. Endemics tend to cluster in specialized habitats (islands, highlands, Yucatán), so focus on those ranges in the list to spot species of particular conservation concern.

Birds of Mexico

Images and Descriptions

Resplendent Quetzal

An iconic, iridescent green trogon famed for the male’s incredibly long tail streamers. Feeds on fruit, especially wild avocados. This bird was sacred to the Aztec and Maya people and is a symbol of beauty and freedom in Mesoamerica.

Eared Quetzal

A large, stunning trogon with a shimmering green head and back, red belly, and distinctive ear-like tufts. Unlike other quetzals, it nests in self-excavated cavities in dead trees and its call is a series of loud, squealing whistles.

Tufted Jay

A spectacular, large jay with a striking forward-curling black crest, brilliant blue body, and white underparts. Highly social, living in cooperative breeding groups of up to 16 individuals that defend a communal territory year-round.

Cozumel Thrasher

A medium-sized, brown-and-white speckled thrasher known only from Cozumel Island. Its population was decimated by hurricanes and introduced predators. No confirmed sightings have occurred since 2004, making it one of the world’s rarest birds.

Thick-billed Parrot

A large, noisy green parrot with a prominent red forehead and a massive black bill adapted for prying open pine cones. It undertakes seasonal migrations, following the cone crop, and is critically dependent on mature pine forests.

Horned Guan

A large, turkey-like bird with glossy black plumage, a white breast band, and a unique red, fleshy “horn” on its head. It is incredibly rare and elusive, living high in the canopy of undisturbed cloud forests.

Golden-cheeked Warbler

A small, active warbler with a bright yellow face framed in black, a black back, and white underparts. It breeds exclusively in central Texas but spends its winters in the montane forests of Mexico and Central America.

Aztec Thrush

A striking, elusive thrush with bold black-and-white patterning, unlike any other North American thrush. It often forages quietly on the forest floor but can be difficult to find despite its distinctive appearance.

Military Macaw

A large, spectacular parrot, primarily lime green with a bright red forehead patch and brilliant blue flight feathers. They are highly social, often seen flying in pairs or family groups, and are named for their uniform, green “plumage.”

Crested Caracara

A large, long-legged raptor with a distinctive black cap, bare red face, and bold black-and-white plumage. Often seen walking on the ground, scavenging for carrion or hunting small animals. It is Mexico’s national bird.

Great Kiskadee

A large, noisy flycatcher with a bright yellow belly and a bold black-and-white striped head. Its name is an onomatopoeia of its loud, three-part ‘kis-ka-DEE!’ call. It is adaptable and often seen in human-modified landscapes.

Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer

A small, finch-like bird with a unique, sharply upturned bill with a hooked tip. Males are slaty-gray with a rich cinnamon belly. It uses its specialized bill to pierce the base of flowers to “rob” nectar without pollinating them.

Slate-throated Redstart

An energetic warbler with a gray back, black head, and brilliant red-orange belly. It constantly fans its striking white-tipped tail while foraging, a behavior used to startle insects into flight before catching them.

Montezuma Oropendola

A large, spectacular icterid known for its long, hanging woven nests built in colonies. It has a chestnut body, a pale cheek patch, and a striking orange-tipped bill. Its gurgling, bubbling calls are a feature of the tropical forest.

Turquoise-browed Motmot

A stunningly colorful bird with a turquoise brow, rufous back, and a long tail with two bare-shafted “rackets” at the end. They nest in tunnels dug into earth banks and swing their tails like a pendulum when alarmed.

Rose-throated Becard

A chunky, large-headed bird. Males are dark gray with a subtle but beautiful rosy-pink throat patch. Females are brownish. They build enormous, messy, globular nests from plant fibers, often hanging conspicuously from tree branches.

Squirrel Cuckoo

A large, long-tailed cuckoo with a bright rufous back and grayish belly. It moves with squirrel-like agility through the canopy, hopping and running along branches. Unlike many cuckoos, it builds its own nest and raises its young.

Elegant Trogon

A beautiful trogon with a metallic green back, brilliant red belly, and a finely barred black-and-white tail. Males have a yellow bill and an orange eye-ring. They nest in cavities and sit very still, making them hard to spot despite their colors.

Great-tailed Grackle

A large, noisy, and highly successful blackbird. Males are iridescent black with a huge, keel-shaped tail and piercing yellow eyes. Females are smaller and brown. Known for their intelligence and vast repertoire of clicks, whistles, and squawks.

Inca Dove

A small, pale dove covered in a unique, scaly-looking feather pattern. In flight, it reveals rufous primary feathers. Known for its soft ‘coo-coo’ call and for huddling together in pyramids for warmth on cold nights.

Vermilion Flycatcher

A brilliant little flycatcher. The male is a stunning, fiery red with a black mask and back, making it one of Mexico’s most conspicuous small birds. They often return to the same favored perches to sally out for insects.

Violet-crowned Hummingbird

A medium-sized hummingbird with clean white underparts and a bronze-green back. Its most striking feature is the iridescent violet-blue crown, which can appear dark until it catches the light. Lacks the flashy gorget of many hummingbirds.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

A small, dazzlingly iridescent hummingbird. Males are emerald green with a glittering blue throat. Its bill is bright red with a black tip. They make a distinctive sharp, chattering call, especially when chasing rivals from feeders.

Green Jay

A brilliantly colored jay with a vibrant green back, yellow belly and tail feathers, and a striking blue-and-black head. Highly intelligent and social, they travel in noisy family flocks, communicating with a wide variety of calls.

Bronzed Cowbird

A medium-sized blackbird with a glossy bronze sheen and striking red eyes. Like other cowbirds, it is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of other bird species, who then raise the cowbird young as their own.

Gray Silky-flycatcher

A slender, elegant bird with a crest, soft gray plumage, a yellow patch under the tail, and a black-and-white tail pattern. They are social and often seen in flocks, feeding on berries, particularly mistletoe.

Rufous-naped Wren

A large, noisy, and social wren with a boldly striped head, rusty-red nape, and barred wings and tail. They live in family groups and build multiple large, messy, spherical nests for roosting and breeding.

Black-vented Oriole

A striking oriole, primarily black with a bright yellow-orange belly, shoulder patch, and rump. It is named for the small patch of yellow under the tail. It builds a short, shallow hanging nest, unlike the long sacks of some orioles.

Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush

A plain, warm-brown thrush that is best identified by its bright orange bill, legs, and eye-ring. It is a shy and secretive bird, more often heard than seen, singing a beautiful, fluting song from dense thickets.

Gila Woodpecker

A common desert woodpecker with a brown head and a zebra-striped back. Males have a small red cap. They are famous for excavating nest cavities in giant saguaro cacti, which are later used by many other desert creatures.

Yellow-winged Cacique

A slim, mostly black icterid with a piercing pale yellow eye, bright yellow wing patches, and a yellow rump and tail base. They are social birds, often found in small, noisy flocks, and build hanging, woven nests.

White-throated Magpie-Jay

An impossibly beautiful, large blue-and-white jay with an incredibly long tail and a jaunty, forward-curving crest. Highly social and intelligent, they travel in conspicuous, raucous family groups through the dry woodlands.

Mangrove Warbler

A subspecies group of the Yellow Warbler. The resident mangrove form has a beautiful, solid chestnut-red head, which distinguishes it from the streaked migratory forms. A true specialist, it is rarely found away from mangrove habitat.

White-fronted Parrot

Mexico’s smallest and most common Amazon parrot. It’s mostly green with a white forehead patch, blue crown, and red around the eyes. Often seen in noisy flocks, feeding on fruits and seeds in the canopy.

Bare-throated Tiger Heron

A large, subtly-barred heron with a bare, yellow-to-orange throat patch. It stands motionless for long periods at the water’s edge, waiting to spear fish or crabs. Its booming, guttural call is a classic sound of the tropical wetlands.

Boat-billed Heron

A strange, nocturnal heron with huge dark eyes and a massive, broad, boat-shaped bill. It roosts quietly in dense vegetation during the day and becomes active at night, using its unique bill to scoop up prey in shallow water.

Snail Kite

A medium-sized raptor with a deeply hooked, slender bill, which is a highly specialized tool. It feeds almost exclusively on apple snails, expertly extracting the snail from its shell without breaking it.

Keel-billed Toucan

An unmistakable, large bird with a huge, rainbow-colored bill featuring shades of green, blue, orange, and yellow. Despite its size, the bill is mostly hollow and lightweight. They travel in small flocks and feed on fruit.

Magnificent Frigatebird

A huge, dark seabird with long, pointed wings and a deeply forked tail. Males are famous for their giant, inflatable scarlet throat pouch, which they puff up like a balloon during courtship displays. They are masterful aerial pirates.

Brown Pelican

A large seabird easily identified by its enormous throat pouch, which it uses as a net to scoop up fish. They are famous for their spectacular head-first plunge dives from high above the water.

American Flamingo

A large, unmistakable pink wading bird with an incredibly long neck and legs, and a unique, bent bill used to filter-feed on small invertebrates. Their pink color comes from pigments in the algae and crustaceans they eat.

Black-headed Siskin

A small, active finch. Males have a bright yellow body, black head and wings, and prominent yellow patches in the wings and tail. They are often found in flocks, feeding acrobatically on seeds, often hanging upside down.

Cassin’s Kingbird

A large, pugnacious flycatcher with a grayish head, olive-brown back, and yellow belly. Best told from similar kingbirds by its slightly darker chest and a sharp, high-pitched ‘chi-beer’ call. Fiercely territorial.

Red-crowned Parrot

A medium-sized green parrot with a brilliant red crown and a small red patch on the wing. Wild populations are threatened by habitat loss and the illegal pet trade. Escaped birds have formed feral flocks in US cities.

Lilac-crowned Parrot

A green parrot distinguished by its maroon forehead and a soft, lilac-blue crown and neck. Like its relatives, it faces severe threats from poaching for the pet trade and the destruction of its forest habitat.

Yucatan Jay

A striking social jay that undergoes a remarkable color change with age. Juveniles have white heads and yellow bills and eye-rings, which gradually turn completely black over several years. They live in noisy, cooperative family groups.

Yucatan Wren

A large, bold wren found only in a tiny coastal strip. It has a heavily streaked back and a pale, unstreaked belly. Its survival is tied to the threatened coastal dune habitat where it forages for insects.

Mexican Sheartail

A tiny, endangered hummingbird with a long, deeply forked tail. Males have a glittering magenta throat. Its populations are small and fragmented, threatened by development and habitat loss in its coastal scrub home.

Bumblebee Hummingbird

One of the world’s smallest birds, scarcely larger than a bumblebee. Males have a brilliant magenta-purple gorget. Its tiny size and bee-like flight make it a truly remarkable sight as it buzzes between flowers.

Russet-crowned Motmot

A medium-sized motmot with a rufous head, green body, and the characteristic racket-tipped tail. It is more common in drier habitats than its relatives and can often be found nesting in earth banks along rivers and roads.

Buff-collared Nightjar

A nocturnal, cryptically-camouflaged bird with a distinctive buff or tawny collar across its nape. Its loud, rhythmic ‘cuk, cuk, cuk, cuk-a-chee-a’ call is a characteristic sound of the desert night.

Happy Wren

A small, cheerful wren with a warm brown back, white belly, and a bold black-and-white striped face. Its name reflects its bubbling, enthusiastic song, which is often delivered as a duet between a mated pair.

Sinaloa Wren

A relatively plain wren with warm brown upperparts and a crisp white eyebrow stripe. It is known for its loud, complex, and melodious song, a common sound in the dry forests of the Pacific slope.

Citreoline Trogon

A striking trogon where the male has a gray head and chest, a green back, and a bright, lemon-yellow belly. The female is duller brown. Its call is a long series of rapid, cooing notes that accelerate.

West Mexican Chachalaca

A large, plain, chicken-like bird with a small head and long tail. Best known for its incredibly loud, raucous, and rhythmic ‘cha-cha-lac’ chorus, usually given by a group at dawn and dusk.

Rufous-backed Robin

A handsome thrush with a gray head, bright rufous-orange back and wings, and a yellow bill and eye-ring. It is the familiar “garden robin” in much of western Mexico, analogous to the American Robin further north.

Golden Vireo

A stunning, bright yellow-and-olive vireo, far more colorful than most of its relatives. It forages actively in the mid-canopy, constantly singing its cheerful, repetitive song. It is a jewel of the western dry forests.

Black-throated Magpie-Jay

Similar to its southern relative but with a solid black throat and a different crest structure. These magnificent, long-tailed jays are intelligent, social, and a spectacular sight as they fly across forest clearings.

Green Parakeet

A medium-sized, entirely green parakeet, often seen in large, noisy flocks. Their screeching calls are a common sound. Though widespread, some populations are threatened by capture for the pet trade.

Golden-crowned Emerald

A small, beautiful hummingbird. The male has a glittering golden-green crown, an emerald green body, and a coppery, forked tail. It is a common species in the dry forests of western Mexico.

Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo

A chunky, colorful, and unique bird that is difficult to see high in the canopy. It has a bold head pattern, green back, yellow belly, and rich chestnut “whiskers” and flanks. Its persistent, ringing song is often the only clue to its presence.

Blue Mockingbird

A large, secretive mockingbird of a deep, uniform slaty-blue color with a striking red eye and a black mask. It is a fantastic mimic, weaving other birds’ songs into its own rich, complex phrases, but it is often very shy.

Worthen’s Sparrow

A small, plain sparrow with a gray head, rufous crown, and a distinct pink bill. It has a very small and declining population due to the conversion of its native grassland habitat to agriculture. A high conservation priority.

Sierra Madre Sparrow

A secretive, ground-dwelling sparrow with a heavily streaked, buffy-brown appearance. It is restricted to a few isolated patches of bunchgrass habitat, which are threatened by burning, overgrazing, and development.

Maroon-fronted Parrot

A close relative of the Thick-billed Parrot, this large green parrot is distinguished by its dark maroon forehead. It nests in limestone sinkholes and cliffs and is critically dependent on mature forests with specific pine species.

Black-polled Yellowthroat

A small warbler with a yellow belly, olive back, and a black mask that extends up onto the crown. It is critically endangered due to the draining and degradation of the high-altitude wetlands it depends on.

Dwarf Jay

The smallest of the Mexican jays, with a dusky blue body and a sharply defined black throat and mask. It lives in small, quiet flocks and is threatened by logging and habitat fragmentation in its restricted mountain range.

Altamira Oriole

The largest oriole in Mexico, with brilliant orange-and-black plumage. It is renowned for building an incredibly long, woven, hanging sack-like nest, which can be up to two feet long and is a remarkable feat of engineering.

Northern Jacana

A bizarre wader with incredibly long toes and claws that allow it to walk on lily pads, earning it the nickname “lily-trotter.” It has a reddish-brown body, yellow-green wings, and a bright yellow frontal shield on its face.

Russet-naped Wood-Rail

A secretive, chicken-sized rail with a gray head, olive back, rufous neck, and bold black-and-white barring on its flanks. Though shy, its loud, percussive duets and calls are a common sound in wetland habitats.

Clay-colored Thrush

A plain, uniformly brownish thrush with a slightly paler belly and a yellowish bill. Despite its drab appearance, its rich, melodic, and varied song is one of the most beloved bird sounds across its range.

Common Pauraque

A nocturnal nightjar often seen sitting on quiet roads at night, its eyes reflecting brightly in headlights. Its camouflage is superb, making it nearly invisible during the day. Its call is a loud, whistled ‘pur-WEEE-eer’.

Groove-billed Ani

A strange, all-black cuckoo with a massive, curved bill marked with grooves. They are highly social, living in groups that feed, roost, and even lay their eggs in a single communal nest, sharing incubation and feeding duties.

Lineated Woodpecker

A large, powerful, black-and-white woodpecker with a striking red crest. It strongly resembles the Pileated Woodpecker but has a white stripe on its face that extends down its neck. It excavates large rectangular holes in trees searching for insects.

Baltimore Oriole

A familiar migrant from eastern North America. Males are a brilliant fiery orange and black. Females are duller yellow-brown. They are common winter residents, feeding on fruit and nectar, often visiting feeders.

American Redstart

A very active warbler that rarely sits still, often fanning its tail to flash its colorful patches. Males are black with bright orange patches on the wings, sides, and tail. Females are gray-brown with yellow patches.

Magnolia Warbler

A beautiful migratory warbler. Breeding males have a yellow belly with heavy black streaks, a gray crown, and a black mask and back. They are common in forest understory during the winter, often joining mixed-species flocks.

Wilson’s Warbler

A tiny, bright yellow warbler. The male is easily identified by his neat, jet-black cap. They are extremely active and constantly flick their tails as they forage for insects in dense vegetation.

Summer Tanager

A medium-sized songbird. Males are a uniform, striking rosy-red all over. Females are a mustard-yellow. Unlike other tanagers in Mexico, they have a pale, not dark, bill. They are often seen foraging for fruit and insects.

Indigo Bunting

A small seed-eating bird. Breeding males are a brilliant, deep blue that can look black in poor light. Winter males and females are plain brown, often found in large, mixed flocks with other sparrows and finches.

Painted Bunting

The male is often called the most beautiful bird in North America, with a blue head, green back, and red belly. Females are a uniform, soft lime green. The beautiful plumage has unfortunately made them a target for the illegal cage bird trade.

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

A tiny, common owl that is often active during the day (diurnal). It has a streaked crown and false “eyespots” on the back of its head to deter predators. Its call is a long series of monotonous, high-pitched toots.

Least Grebe

A tiny, dark, duck-like diving bird with a fluffy rear end, a thin bill, and brilliant yellow eyes. It is the smallest grebe in the world and can be surprisingly secretive, often diving at the slightest disturbance.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

A small black-and-white woodpecker adapted to dry environments. It has a barred or “ladder-like” pattern on its back and a speckled face. Males have a red crown. It is the desert counterpart to the similar Downy Woodpecker.

Couch’s Kingbird

A large flycatcher nearly identical to the Tropical Kingbird. It is best and most reliably identified by its voice: a sharp, squeaky ‘kip’ and a ‘breeer’ call, different from the twittering of the Tropical Kingbird.

Green-breasted Mango

A large, dark hummingbird. The male is iridescent dark green with a velvety black throat and a purplish tail. It is often seen at flowering trees, aggressively defending its territory from other hummingbirds.

White-bellied Emerald

A small hummingbird with a glittering green throat and back that contrast sharply with its pure white belly. It is a common but not spectacular hummingbird of forest interiors, feeding at all levels of the forest.

Plain Chachalaca

A chicken-like bird of the Gulf lowlands, known for its extremely loud, raucous dawn chorus of ‘cha-cha-lac’ calls. It is a social bird, usually found in noisy flocks as they move through the trees feeding on fruit and leaves.

Yellow-throated Euphonia

A small, stubby finch-like tanager. The male is a beautiful glossy blue-black above and brilliant yellow below, including the throat. They travel in pairs or small groups, feeding primarily on mistletoe berries.

Red-legged Honeycreeper

A stunning small tanager. The breeding male is a brilliant violet-blue with black wings, a turquoise crown, and shockingly bright red legs. Females are dull green. They use their thin, decurved bill to probe flowers for nectar.

Masked Tityra

A chunky, whitish bird with a black mask around a red-based bill, black wings and tail. They look like a cross between a flycatcher and a dove. They often perch conspicuously high on dead snags and have a distinct, buzzing call.

Crimson-collared Tanager

A spectacular tanager. It is velvety black with a brilliant crimson-red head, neck, and breast, forming a complete “hood.” The bill is pale blue. They are social and often found in pairs or small family groups.

Golden-hooded Tanager

An unbelievably colorful small bird. It has a golden-yellow head, pale blue cheeks, a black back, and bright blue-and-green wings and belly. A true jewel of the rainforest, usually found foraging for fruit high in the canopy.

Black-headed Saltator

A large, noisy, olive-green finch-like bird with a black head, white throat, and a long tail. They are very social and vocal, known for their loud, accelerating series of whistles, often given in a group chorus.

Social Flycatcher

A medium-sized, noisy flycatcher very similar to the Great Kiskadee but smaller, with a smaller bill and less bold head pattern. As its name implies, it is often found in noisy, sociable groups.

Birds of Other Countries