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In general, all birds are fascinating, yet some blow us away more than others. Narrowing a list down to twenty cool birds is nearly impossible to do, but our team has done the impossible!

Let’s not waste any time! Here are, in our opinion, the twenty coolest birds in the world and why. We hope you have the pleasure of spotting some of them in the wild.

Here Are the Top 20 Coolest Birds in the World

20. Gurney’s Pitta (a Cool but Shy Bird)

A Gurneys Pitta, a shy and secretive bird with cool colors.
Image by Somchai Kanchanasut via Flickr.

The Gurney’s Pitta of Southeast Asia ranks as one of the most beautiful birds in the world. It is also one of the most elusive and rare birds in the world.

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The behavior of this ground-dwelling bird has been described as secretive and shy. Once considered extinct with no sightings in decades, we finally found it again in the 1980s in Thailand. The Gurney’s Pitta is highly sought after in the illegal bird trade due to its beauty. This placed the bird on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, along with habitat destruction and degradation. 

19. Greater Bird of Paradise (This Cool Bird is the Most Beautiful)

A Greater Bird of Paradise, one of the most beautiful birds in the world.
Image by Dustin Chen via Flickr.

The Greater Bird of Paradise is another bird found on many of the ‘most beautiful’ lists, likely due to its exuberantly long and vibrant tail feathers used in courtship displays.

It is the largest member in the genus Paradisaea. The male performs his courtship dance for hours in hopes of attracting a mate. Click here for a video of their dance- we promise you won’t be disappointed! 

18. Blue Jay (Coolest Coloration Hack)

Blue Jay With Crest
Image by Steve Jones via Flickr.

Blue Jays are often overlooked when talking about cool birds. However, they shouldn’t be!

For starters, Blue Jays, similar to Corvids, are highly intelligent and capable of mimicry. It memorizes the locations of vast food caches, up to hundreds of acorns a season. It acts as an alarm bird for other prey animals, signaling the arrival of the Red-Shouldered Hawk. And finally, its blue coloration is an illusion. It is not a pigment but rather comes from the internal structure of the bird’s feathers.

17. Lilac-breasted Roller (Cool For its Aerial Acrobatics)

A Lilac-breasted Roller, a bird known for its acrobatic moves.
Image by Ted Smith via Flickr.

The Lilac-breasted Roller is a cool bird found in eastern and southern Africa. Its most fascinating feature is its performance of aerial acrobatics in flight including rolling motions and shallow dives.

It is easily identified by its twelve feather colors. This bird is beautiful, but we value it for so much more than its looks. 

16. Kakapo (Coolest Bird with Freaky Looks)

A Kakapo
Image by Jake Osborne via Flickr.

The beloved Kakapo is definitely not the most beautiful bird in the world – but it is one of the coolest birds! For starters, its freaky looks beg a double take from observers. That is, those that spot this master of camouflage.

The Kakapo is clumsy and flightless, spending its days sleeping (nocturnal) and its nights stumbling upon the forest floor. What’s more – it only mates three times every ten years!

15. King of Saxony Bird of Paradise (a Bird with Amazing Plumes)

A King of Saxony Bird of Paradise, a cool bird with two long plumes from its head.
Image by Nick Athanas via Flickr and Website.

Spot the Saxony Bird of Paradise easily – find its two scalloped plumes often standing erect or dancing in rhythm with the bird’s melodic song. These grow up to twenty inches long each!

The King of Saxony is the only bird in its scientific family – a unique rarity. As with the Greater Bird of Paradise, the King of Saxony puts on quite the show during courtship. This consists of dances and vocalizations. 

14. Shoebill (The Evilest Bird in the World)

A Shoebill, perhaps the evilest bird in the world.
Image by Marigold27 via Flickr.

The Shoebill is allegedly the evilest bird in the world due to the prolific murdering of its siblings as chicks and its profuse hunting methods. However, it is fairly friendly with humans.

It has prehistoric features, such as its oversized beak and rare blue eyes. Its oversized beak is in fact the third largest in the world, which enables feeding on unthinkable prey. While the bird is not prehistoric, sightings are reported dating back as far as Ancient Egyptian times. Once thought a stork, it is now classified as a member of the Pelecaniformes order, placing it closer genetically to pelicans and herons. Its conservation status is vulnerable due to habitat destruction and hunting. 

13. White-Necked Raven (This Cool Bird Talks)

A White-necked Raven, a bird that can talk.
Image by Paul Ellis via Flickr.

The White-Necked Raven is truly a cool bird to observe. It is the largest of the African Corvids. It has a notably sized brain to match with intelligence equal to that of a chimpanzee or dolphin.

White-Necked Ravens are masters of mimicry, meaning they can be taught to talk similarly to parrots. The White-Necked Raven, and Ravens in general, have playful behavior and love games. This species is also known symbolically as a symbol of wisdom or omen of change.

12. Frigatebird (Cool Bird or Pirate?)

A Frigatebird, a bird known for its piracy behaviors.
Image by Melissa Jernakoff via Flickr.

The Frigatebird lands its spot on the list of cool birds due to its drastically oversized, bright-red, inflatable gular pouch.

Another bewildering fact – it forces other birds to regurgitate food, allowing it to easily feast without a hunt by vigorously shaking the bird until exhaustion during flight. It gets its name from the Frigate Pirate Ships, being described as the ‘pirate of the sky’ thanks to its aggressive robberies. It also has the largest wingspan to body weight ratio of any bird species in the world.

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11. Flamingo (Bird with Coolest Colors)

Two Flamingos, birds known for their cool orange/pink coloration.
Image by Dominic Escamilla via Flickr.

Don’t be fooled, the Flamingo, easily recognized by its vibrant color and slender legs, is often overlooked but worthy of a spot of this list. The Flamingo has many fascinating tricks, including filtering water in its beak, coloring its own feathers via dietary choices, and regulating its own temperature by standing on one leg.

Another interesting Flamingo fact – they eat with their heads upside down in the water! And finally, don’t overlook its courtship display, consisting of loud calls, eccentric head-waving, and, coordinated wing-flapping.

10. California Condor (Coolest Bird Story)

The California Condor, a Critically Endangered Species
Image by Dorothy Sutherland via Flickr.

The California Condor is the favorite comeback story of the North American west. But this isn’t its most interesting feature. It isn’t that it is the largest flying bird in North America, either.

We think what makes this a cool bird is its brain structure, similar to that of an octopus. It is incredibly intelligent. Our favorite story is a California Condor that was captured and put in captivity. She escaped and rode a thermal over one-hundred miles back to the exact location she was captured. 

9. Cassowary (Most Dangerous Bird in the World)

A Cassowary, perhaps the most dangerous bird in the world.
Image by Franca Glenzer via Flickr.

We consider the Cassowary the most dangerous bird in the world, which we think is pretty cool!

This bird species is taller than the average human and weighs up to one-hundred and sixty-five pounds. It is the second heaviest bird in the world, after the ostrich. It is flightless but makes up for it with its ability to hop seven feet vertically. Uniquely, the male bird raises the chicks and is especially protective of them. 

8. Malleefowl (Unique Egg-Laying Technique)

A Malleefowl, a bird with a unique egg-laying technique.
Image by Patrick Kavanagh via Flickr.

The Malleefowl is a ground-dwelling Australian bird similar in size to a chicken. What makes the Malleefowl a cool bird, similar to the Dwarf Kingfisher, is its egg-laying techniques.

The male builds a large mound of leaf litter over the eggs. As the litter composts, its temperature rises, acting as an incubator for the eggs. Once hatched, the birds must dig their way out! This is not an easy task and leads to an eighty percent mortality rate in the first ten days of life. 

7. Lyrebird (An Emblem of Australia)

A Lyrebird, an emblem of Australia.
Image by Alan Daniel via Flickr.

Lyrebirds are large, ground-dwelling songbirds in southeastern Australia. This species is known for its ornate tail resembling a lyre and giving the bird its name.

It is a master of mimicry, displays profound dances during courtship, and has a high cognitive ability. They are an emblem in Australia and their beloved tail won them a spot on the back of the one-hundred dollar note.

6. Arctic Tern (Coolest Migration)

An Arctic Tern, a cool bird known for their epic migrations.
Image by Lindsay Robinson via Flickr.

The Arctic Tern is one of the top cool birds of the world due to its epic migration – the longest in all the animal kingdom. This medium-sized bird breed originates in the Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. Yet, it sees two summers each year and enjoys more daylight than any other animal in the world.

The Arctic Tern lives a long-life of nearly thirty years. The bird is made for flight and returns to ground to breed. 

5. Dancing Red-Capped Manakin (This Bird has the Coolest Moves!)

A Red-capped Manakin, a bird with the coolest moves.
Image by Digital Plume Hunter via Flickr.

The name gives this one away. The Dancing Red-Capped Manakin is best known for its stylish moves on the dance floor. Large groups of males perform a frenzied dance, dazzling the female counterparts.

Its favorite move? The moonwalk, of course. There are varying types of Manakins, and each boasts its own style of dance.

4. Emperor Penguin (Coolest Bird in the Antarctic)

Two adult Emperor Penguins with their chick.
Image by Hendrick Ebbers via Flickr.

Any animal that can survive in the tundra of the Antarctic is cool in our opinion, making the Emperor Penguin one cool bird. It is the largest bird in the Antarctic with a unique incubation technique. The male places the egg on its feet, waddling around with it throughout the incubation period. The egg is kept warm by the bird’s tummy resting securely above it.

The Emperor Penguin is flightless and eats plenty of fish to keep a thick layer of fat as insulation from the bitter cold climate in which it lives. It is an excellent diver, able to swim 1,850 feet below surface and stay submerged for over twenty minutes. Its air-filled bones help ward off the dangers of the deep-water pressure. 

3. Peacock (Coolest Bird Tail)

A peacock, a bird that definitely has the coolest tail.
Image by George Ornbo via Flickr.

The Peacock is another often-overlooked bird, yet a cool bird nonetheless. Its tail takes years to grow and is an exuberant mix of vibrant greens, blues, and browns at maturity.

The male Peacock shakes its tail during courtship creating a sound similar to a rain stick. Males also molt their feathers each year after mating season and regrow them in time for next year’s courtship. And, last but not least, contrary to popular belief, Peacocks can fly!

2. Dwarf Kingfisher (Cool but Rare Bird)

A Dwarf Kingfisher, a cool but equally rare bird.
Image by Senthil Kumar Damodaran via Flickr.

The Dwarf Kingfisher is not only a cool bird, it is one of the rarest birds in the world. It is a tiny bird, only slightly bigger than a hummingbird.

The most fascinating aspect of the Dwarf Kingfisher is its reproductive behaviors. In particular, the fact that it builds its nest in underground tunnels leading to inclined egg chambers. The Dwarf Kingfisher is endangered and faces many conservation complications. 

1. Rufous Potoo (Most Camouflaged Bird)

A Rufous Potoo, a cool bird that can completely camouflage itself.
Image by Thiemo Karwinkel via Flickr.

The Rufous Potoo’s strangest feature is its uncanny ability to resemble a leaf when hiding from prey. It even rocks back and forth to appear to be moving in the wind. This is sure to make it a difficult bird to spot!

It is the smallest of the Potoos, weighing only fifty grams. It is the main character of many South American myths due to its ghoul-like night-time calls. And it has eyes to match this ghoulish behavior, huge and bulging from their small heads. 

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