Birds at the National Zoo

Greater Rhea
Range: lowlands to 2000 meters of southcentral South America (Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina)
Habitat: grassy plains, open brush

Double-wattled Cassowary
Range: lowlands and mountains to 3300 meters of australian region (New Guinea, Aru Is., northeastern Australia)
Habitat: humid forest, edge, especially near streams

Emu
Range: Australia
Habitat: plains, scrub, open woodland, coastal heath, alpine pastures, semi-desert

Brown Kiwi
Range: New Zealand
Habitat: forest, scrub, overgrown farmland

Elegant Crested-Tinamou
Range: Argentina and Chile
Habitat: dry savanna, open woodland, dry steppes

Brown Pelican (off exhibit)
Now common in coastal areas of the southern United States, the fish-eating brown pelican was decimated by pesticide poisoning in the 1960s.
Range: coasts of americas (California to Ecuador and Maryland to Venezuela)
Habitat: seacoasts, estuaries, bays, islands

Double-crested Cormorant
A fish-eating bird, the double-crested cormorant needs to dry its wings after swimming since it lacks the waterproof oil that most waterbirds protect their feathers with.
Range: North America
Habitat: lakes, rivers, swamps, seacoasts

Cattle Egret
Common in Africa, and recently colonizing North America, the aptly-named cattle egret follows livestock.
Range: Worldwide, except polar regions
Habitat: wet fields, marshes, swamps, pastures, grassland, often associated with grazing large animals

Boat-billed Heron
Range: Mexico to northern Argentina
Habitat: ponds and streams in humid forest, marshes, mangroves

Little Blue Heron
Young Little Blue Herons are completely white, resembling an egret, but molt into their more familiar blue and purple adult feathers.
Range: Northern United States to Uruguay
Habitat: marshes, ponds, lakes, meadows, streams, mangroves

Black-crowned Night-Heron (wild residents at the Zoo)
Range: Worldwide
Habitat: wetlands

Hamerkop
The hamerkop is an unusual bird, related to herons but placed in a family and genus all its own.
Range: Sub-saharan Africa, Madagascar, southern Arabian Peninsula
Habitat: lakes, ponds, swamps, marshes

White Stork
Range: Europe, the Middle East and West-central Asia
Habitat:

Scarlet Ibis
Range: Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Venezuela, Guianas, Brazil
Habitat: coastal swamps, mangroves, lagoons, tidewater rivers

White-faced Ibis
The white-faced ibis has a long, decurved beak.
Range: locally in western Nearctic (United States to Argentina)
Habitat: marshes, swamps, lagoons, lakes

Roseate Spoonbill
The bizarre spoon-shaped beak of the roseate spoonbill allows it to strain invertebrates from the water.
Range: Coastal southern United States through South America
Habitat: marshes, swamps, ponds, rivers, lagoons, mangroves

Flamingo
The Zoo exhibits flamingos from the Caribbean region.
Range: locally in southern palearctic and southern Asia (southern Europe, India, Africa, West Indies, Mexico,…)
Habitat: salt lakes, brackish shallow lagoons, mudspits

Crested Screamer
Range: lowlands of southern South America (Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina)
Habitat: marshes, wet savanna, edge of lagoons, river banks

Plumed Whistling-Duck
Range: lowlands of northeastern Australia
Habitat: margins of swamps, marshes, mangroves, grassland, scrub

White-faced Whistling-Duck
Range: Sub-saharan Africa, Madagascar, Caribbean islands, Central and South America
Habitat: marshes, swamps, lagoons, rivers

Mandarin Duck
Range: China, Japan, eastern Siberia, introduced into Great Britain
Habitat: forest

Wood Duck
Wood Ducks inhabit wooded swamps and riparian areas throughout North America.
Range: North America
Habitat: wooded swamps, streams, marshes, in migration also flooded fields and brackish coastal marshes

White-cheeked Pintail
Range: Caribbean islands and South America
Habitat: ponds, lakes, lagoons, inlets, usually with emergent vegetation

Green-winged Teal
The tiny Green-winged Teal is quite common across North America. The green wing patches are usually only visible when the bird is flying.
Range: Europe, Asia, North America
Habitat: lakes, marshes, ponds, shallow streams, farmlands, in migration also streams and brackish marshes

Mallard (wild)
The familiar mallard with its green head, yellow bill, brown chest and gray body, is quite common across North America.
Range: palearctic (Europe, Asia, North America, Australia)
Habitat: ponds, lakes, marshes, flooded fields, streams, farmlands, seacoasts, bays

Ringed Teal
Range: Central and southern South America
Habitat: ponds, marshes, often in forested areas

Smew
Range: Europe and Asia
Habitat: lakes, ponds, in migration also rivers and bays

Hooded Merganser
Unlike most ducks, this fish-eating duck has a thin serrated bill.
Range: North America
Habitat: swamps, streams, lakes, marshes, in migration also rivers and brackish coastal areas

King Vulture
Range: lowlands to 1500 meters from Mexico to Argentina
Habitat: forest, savanna

Bald Eagle
Pesticide poisoning endangered the survival of the national bird of the United States. In recent years this eagle has made a strong comeback.
Range: locally in North America
Habitat: lakes, rivers, seacoasts

Pygmy Falcon
Range: Eastern and southern Africa
Habitat: acacia savanna, thornbush, semi-desert, usually closely associated with colonial sparrow-weavers

Great Argus
Range: Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Brunei
Habitat: forest, especially dipterocarp

Indian Peafowl
Range: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
Habitat: open forest, edge, second growth

Mountain Bamboo-Partridge
Range: India, Bangladesh, China, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam
Habitat:

Temminck's Tragopan
Range: India, China, Burma, Vietnam
Habitat: evergreen or mixed forest, dense rhododendron, bamboo

Blue-billed Curassow
Range: Colombia
Habitat: tropical forest

Stanley Crane
Range: locally in southern Africa (Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa)
Habitat: grasslands, veld, savanna

Wattled Crane
Range: Africa
Habitat: swamps, marshes, reedbeds

White-naped Crane
Range: eastcentral Eurasia (Siberia, China)
Habitat: swamps, marshes, lakes, especially along river valleys

Whooping Crane
Range: upper Midwest and lower Canada (historically)
Habitat: northern tallgrass prairie and aspen parklands

Guam Rail
Guam rails are a small flightless bird that lived only on the island of Guam in the Mariana Archipelago in the Pacific. They are omnivorous, which means they eat leaves, seeds, fruits, small lizards, bird eggs, small mammals, and carrion.
Range: Guam and nearby Rota
Habitat: various

Black Crake
Range: Sub-saharan Africa
Habitat: freshwater wetlands

Sunbittern
Range: Central America through Brazil
Habitat: wooded swamps, humid forest along streams

Red-legged Seriema
Range: lowlands of southeastern South America (Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay, Argentina)
Habitat: shrubby plains

Kori Bustard
During the breeding season, males perform “balloon” displays to attract females. Displays can occur throughout the day, but are usually most intense in the early morning and late afternoon/evening. During the height of the male display, the esophagus inflates to as much as four times its normal size and resembles a balloon. This display may be seen up to one kilometer (.62 miles) away. With the neck expanded, the tail and wing feathers pointed downward, and the crest erected, the male emits a low-pitched booming noise as he snaps his bill open and shut.
Range: The nominate subspecies A. k. kori occurs in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, southern Angola, South Africa and Mozambique (Johnsgard 1991), and prefers wooded grassland areas and dry savannas. In arid grassland areas it is found along dry watercourses where patches of trees offer shade during the heat of the day. In eastern Africa, A. k. struthiunculus occurs in Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan, Kenya and Tanzania in areas of open grasslands including karoo, bushveld, thornveld, scrubland and savanna habitats (del Hoyo 1996). The miombo woodland of Central Africa separates the two populations.
Habitat: grasslands and lightly wooded savannas of southern and eastern Africa

Nicobar Pigeon
Range: Southeast Asia, Malay archipelago, New Guinea region
Habitat: bushes, thick forest, mangroves

Sulawesi Ground Dove
Range: Sulawesi (an island of Indonesia)
Habitat: dense humid forest

Pheasant Pigeon
Range: New Guinea region
Habitat: forest

Guira Cuckoo
Range: Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, northeastern Argentina
Habitat:

Derbyan Parakeet
Range: Himalayan mountains of southwestern China
Habitat: pine and rhododendron forest

Green-winged Macaw
Range: eastern Panama to northern Argentina
Habitat: rain forest and dry woodland

Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrot
Range: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei
Habitat: forested lowlands

Red-fan Parrot
The hawk-headed parrot is a beautiful species named for the blue and red feathers around their head that are raised when they become excited.
Range: Amazon River region of northern South America
Habitat: tropical forests and savanna

Eclectus Parrot
Range: New Guinea and nearby islands
Habitat: lowland forests

Burrowing Owl
Range: Western and central North America to South America
Habitat: grassland, savanna, desert, farmlands

Mottled Owl
Range: Mexico to northeastern Argentina
Habitat: dense forest, open woodland, second growth

Barred Owl
Bon appetit! The striking hoot of a barred owl—“Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?”—makes this owl sound as if he’s looking for someone to fix a meal. But barred owls probably use this call to define their territory. These noisy owls use other calls as nestlings, fledglings or courting pairs.
Range: East and central US and Canada; Pacific Northwest; western Mexico
Habitat: Forests and wooded swamps

Micronesian Kingfisher
Range: Extinct in the wild. (Originally Guam, Palau Islands, Micronesia.)
Habitat: mangroves, woodland

Lilac-breasted Roller
Range: Sub-saharan Africa
Habitat: savanna, woodland, farmlands, towns

Von der Decken's Hornbill
Range: eastern Africa
Habitat: dry savanna, arid steppe

Red-billed Hornbill
Range: Sub-saharan Africa
Habitat: dry savanna

Blue-crowned Motmot
Range: Mexico to South America
Habitat: open woodland, humid forest edge, second growth, scrub

Keel-billed Toucan
Range: Central America
Habitat: tropical rainforests

Asian Fairy-bluebird
Range: through Malay archipelago
Habitat: forest, edge

Red-crested Cardinal
Range: lowlands to 500 meters of southeastern South America
Habitat: wet scrub, shrubbery

Silver-beaked Tanager
Widespread in the amazon region of South America, this tanager lives in small groups and eats insects and fruit.
Range: Widespread in northern South America
Habitat: open woodland and edge

Rufous-crowned Tanager
Lives in semiopen habitats in South America.
Range: South America
Habitat: open habitas in dry areas

Blue-gray Tanager
Lives in semiopen habitats from southern Mexico to central South America.
Range: Mexico through Amazonian Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago
Habitat: semiopen areas

Swamp Sparrow
Range: North America
Habitat: wet areas

Southern Masked-Weaver
Range: Southern Africa
Habitat: acacia woodland, dry savanna

Bali Myna
Sometimes referred to as the Rothschild's mynah.
Range: North coast of Bali (an island in Indonesia)
Habitat: open country

Blue-naped Mousebird
Range: Africa
Habitat: scrub

Crested Oropendola
Range: Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago and throughout South America
Habitat: forest