Whether it's with their brightly coloured plumage, elegant demeanour or melodic song, birds bring an undeniable beauty to our world and are an irresistible source of joy when spotted in the wild. They are an essential cog in the biodiversity of our planet too.
In our opinion, these are the most beautiful birds in the world. Click through this gallery to see how we've ranked them...
With their doleful eyes and multicoloured beaks, the Atlantic puffin is often referred to as the clown of the sea. But, smartly kitted out in black and white, we think there is a certain beauty in this bird's infinite sadness. We’re not the only ones either. Visitors to puffin hotspots across Canada, Scotland, Greenland, Norway and especially Iceland return with a memory card full of these cute, endearing birds. Especially in the mating season when the beaks of males become even more intensely colourful.
Splendid fairywrens are small fidgety birds with long blue tails that they always hold cocked. The males are almost completely blue, save for a black line that goes around the backs of their heads from one side of the beak to the other. Females, like the one pictured, have more russet-toned bodies, perfect camouflage for the semi-arid regions of Australia they thrive in. Females also have to bend their tails when they’re incubating eggs because their nests are so small.
With a spectacular head of golden feathers, the grey crowned crane brings beautiful regal presence to the grasslands and wetlands of eastern and southern Africa. Legend has it that the golden crown was bestowed upon the birds by a grateful African king after they brought water to him (all the other animals had refused). Today they are renowned for their spectacular mating dances and the fact that they are the only species of crane that roosts in trees. It is also the national bird of Uganda, featuring on the country’s official coat of arms.
You’ll find this adorable, active little bird flitting amongst the hedgerows, woodlands and gardens of Europe across to Japan. It has a cute stubby beak and a long thin tail that distinguishes it from other tits, and from which it takes its name. Its attractive pinkish, black and white plumage is lighter in northern climes, especially in winter when it puffs out its feathers to keep warm. Its calls are high-pitched and fussy, a reflection of the bird's restless demeanour.
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The resplendent quetzal is found from Mexico to Bolivia and is indeed resplendent. Its striking red belly contrasts delightfully with its blue and gold back, while the long blue-green plumes that cover its tail trail magnificently in flight. Both the Maya and Aztecs worshiped it as a sacred bird and in modern times it has become the national symbol of Guatemala. It also gives its name to the national currency, the quetzal.
With its regal bearing and equally regal plumage, it's easy to imagine the striking mandarin duck floating on ponds in the manicured gardens of Imperial China where it originated. These ducks were first introduced to Britain in the mid-18th century, but it wasn’t until a breeding pair escaped in the 1930s that they began appearing in the wild. They favour small, wooded ponds and, unlike other ducks, prefer to roost at night in trees. In China they are regarded as symbols of fidelity, with pairs given to brides on their wedding days.
Sometimes a bird’s beauty comes in the way it holds itself and, with that in mind, there isn't a creature more graceful than the swan. With their elegant long necks held high, they glide effortlessly across water with their wings tucked unobtrusively at their sides. Such is their stately beauty that they have long been associated with class, wealth and status. In England, the monarch retains the right to claim ownership of any unmarked swan swimming in open waters. And until a 12th-century law was finally repealed in 1998, it was considered treason to kill one.
The mountain bluebird is the state bird of Idaho and Nevada and the perfect example of the idea that when it comes to beauty, sometimes less is more. Known as 'the bluest of the bluebirds' its striking turquoise blue plumage is unadulterated by any other shade. They are more adventurous than their other bluebird cousins, ranging across all of western North America, from Mexico to Alaska. You’ll spot them perched on wires and fence posts, a vibrant splash of colour in otherwise drab landscapes.
There are about 45 different species of bird-of-paradise found in New Guinea, each strikingly beautiful in their own way. At first glance, the Vogelkop superb bird-of-paradise – a matte black bird with little to distinguish it – seems the plainest of them. But its true beauty is revealed when the male’s elaborate courtship ritual begins. As it begins to dance, gently swaying side-to-side, it fans out its feathers to reveal an eye-catching band of electric-blue feathers. Truly mesmerising.
There’s no mistaking how Australia’s rainbow lorikeets got their name. With their striking red beaks and blue, green, orange and yellow plumage, they are an absolute riot of colour. Their behaviour is equally riotous. They move about in large noisy flocks, screeching and chattering as they feast on nectar and pollen. They are particularly fond of the fruit from Moreton Bay fig trees, especially after the fruit has fermented in the nooks and crannies of their giant boughs. It goes without saying that drunk rainbow lorikeets are even more raucous.
With its vivid plumage of red, yellow and blue, the brightly coloured scarlet macaw is one of the most spectacular parrots in the world. It is also the biggest, measuring as long as 33 inches (84cm) from beak to tail. With a strong beak perfect for cracking open nuts, it forages in forests from southern Mexico to Peru. Sadly, its striking appearance has made it a target for the illegal pet trade, with smuggled baby macaws fetching as much as £3,100 ($4,000).
With its magnificent orange quiff, the male cock-of-the-rock is the Elvis of the Andes. This incredible bird spends most mornings jumping and dancing in front of females and squealing like a pig. While they spend much of their time feasting on fruit in the forest, they prefer to build their nests on large rocks or cliff faces. Underneath the beautifully coordinated orange and black plumage you’ll find a pair of sturdy legs and strong claws, perfect for gripping onto steep cliffs.
The paradise tanager has a lime-green mask that contrasts vividly with the red, blue and black colours of its body, giving this gorgeous little Latin American bird the look of an avian superhero. The bold colouring actually helps the paradise tanager blend in with the dark forest canopy, where they flit about foraging for insects as well as fruit and nectar. Tanager means 'one who skips and turns like a dancer' in the local Tupi language, capturing this bird’s restless energy perfectly.
With its distinctive crest and vivid red plumage, the northern cardinal is easily one of North America’s most recognisable birds. It got its name because its bright red plumage reminded early European settlers of the robes worn by Roman Catholic bishops. It is the official state bird for no fewer than seven US states. The crest and black mask give the cardinal a slightly aggressive demeanour but, despite this, it is a deceptively sweet singer. Male and female cardinals sing duets during courtship, and females continue to sing as they are nesting, primarily to tell the male to bring her food.
The striking lilac-breasted roller roams the open savannahs of eastern and southern Africa. It takes its name from the distinctive colour of its breast feathers and equally distinctive habit of rolling from side-to-side as it flies. The feather coat you can see is in fact made up of eight different colours including green, white, black, yellow, turquoise, dark blue, reddish-brown and lilac. In Kenya, some say that the colours represent the multitude of tribes that make up the country's population.
With their snow-white stomachs and pitch-black heads, backs, tails and wings, emperor penguins look like they're waddling off to a fancy black-tie party. The reality is that they're simply trying to get by in one of the harshest environments on Earth – the great southern continent of Antarctica – where temperatures can drop to as low as -60°C (-140°F). Their babies are even more adorable – little balls of grey downy feathers topped with cute black and white faces.
The spectacularly colourful European bee-eater ranges across Europe and East Africa in search of insects, particularly flying ones. It prefers to catch its prey while on the wing, eating up to 250 bees a day after thrashing them against branches or rubbing them with twigs to remove their stingers. Such is their taste for bees that they can often be found congregating around fields where beehives are used for pollination, infuriating farmers in the process.
Ungainly and with an unfortunately curved beak, flamingos have one major thing going for them in the beauty stakes – they are pink. Just what shade of pink depends on what they’ve been eating. The colour comes from a red-orange pigment called beta-carotene that’s found in the algae, brine fly larvae and shrimp they eat in their wetland environments. Food sources vary from habitat to habitat, so the shade of pink absorbed by their livers and deposited into their feathers does too.
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With its feathers as white as the driven snow and piercing yellow eyes, the snowy owl is one of the most elegantly beautiful birds on the planet. But underneath that serene beauty lies one of the world’s most ruthless birds of prey. Snowy owls patrol the frozen wastelands of the Arctic regions of North America and Eurasia, using their extraordinary eyesight and keen sense of hearing to locate rodents, particularly lemmings, hiding under snow. Once they spot their prey, they let their razor-sharp talons do the rest.
There are 366 species of hummingbird flitting around the nectar-filled blossoms of the Americas and the Caribbean, but the most incandescently beautiful must be the fiery-throated hummingbird. Found mainly in Costa Rica, its iridescent feathers sparkle in the light, with those around its neck and breast exploding into a rainbow of colour when the sun catches them. A certain entitlement comes with that beauty it seems. Fiery-throated hummingbirds are unusually pugnacious and are notorious for aggressively seeing off any other hummingbirds that venture into their feeding territories.
Also known as the red-breasted robin, this little fluffy ball of cuteness has been a staple of Christmas card illustrations since Victorian times. Back then British Royal Mail postmen wore bright-red uniforms and were nicknamed 'robins'. Illustrators soon started drawing the little brown, red-chested birds delivering letters and parcels, and the tradition stuck. To this day, the sight of a robin puffing up its feathers to insulate its body against the cold is a sign – at least in Europe – that the festive season is just around the corner.
There is no more breathtaking sight in the avian world than an Indian peacock, with its magnificent tail feathers fanned out, attempting to impress a peahen. Each tail feather features an iridescent 'eye' that the ancient Greeks believed offered protection. In Hinduism, a peacock’s tail feather signifies wealth as well as luck (you’ll see them adorning royal thrones). In Buddhism, they represent wisdom. Such beauty and wisdom come at a cost. A peacock’s tail feathers make up 60% of its body weight, strongly impacting its ability to fly.
The elegant trogon is found from Arizona to Costa Rica and is renowned as much for its impeccable posture as its fetching plumage of green and vivid red, stylishly separated by a mid-chest white collar. It is considered a 'sit and wait' predator because its erect stance allows it to spend much of its time perched quietly at mid-canopy level, ready to pounce on passing insects. Once seen widely across Arizona, their numbers have plummeted because of the heatwaves and droughts afflicting the state.
Don’t let the ostentatious golden plume and rich warm colourings fool you – this regal-looking Chinese native is actually a timid bird that's wary of the limelight. Golden pheasants prefer dark, dense forests with lots of places to hide, and tend to roost as high as possible despite being terrible at flying. In Britain their population is no longer regarded as ‘self-sustaining’, meaning that catching sight of one of these stunning birds is even more of a rare treat.
With their technicolour beaks and faces, every one of the 50 different species of toucan adds a splash of excitement to the jungles of Latin America. But there’s something about the plate-billed mountain toucan’s more subdued colourings that bring a certain sense of sophistication to the cloud forests of northwestern Ecuador and the very southwest of Colombia. They move among bromeliads and moss-covered canopy in pairs or small groups, but chances are you’ll hear them well before you see them. Their metallic wail carries far in the forest.
The Nicobar pigeon’s understated beauty lies in its shawl of long trailing plumage that shimmers and sways as it feasts on fallen fruit on the floors of small, densely forested islands across Southeast Asia. The colour of the feathers changes as the light catches them, shifting from dark green and grey to blue and a bronzy orange. It has a white tail too, but you’ll only see that when this shy bird is startled and flies up into the thick canopy to escape.
Bohemian waxwings may call the northern United States and Canada home, but their understated reddish-brown plumage emanates a certain Scandi cool. The accents are subtle too – a black mask over a 'blushing' peach face and red and yellow waxy tips caused by carotenoid pigments found in the fruit they feast on. Their addiction to fruit sees them ranging far and wide in large flocks, filling the skies with their high-pitched trills as they look for their next meal. It could be a solitary shrub in a desert, such is the dedication of their quest.
With its striking black mask, piercing scarlet eyes and lacy feathered crown, this native of northern New Guinea’s lowland swamps cuts quite the dashing figure. Weighing in at just over three kilogrammes (7lbs), it’s big for a pigeon and is more akin to a turkey in size. It spends most of its time on the ground foraging for fruits and berries, only flying up to trees at night to roost. Males court females by bowing, wagging their tail feathers and letting out a booming 'whoom-whoom-whoom-whoom' sound.
Elegant and graceful, Japanese red-crowned cranes are the largest crane species in the world but hold themselves with incredible poise. Symbolising longevity, they have been a muse to Japanese watercolourists and ceramicists for centuries. In origami form they are a symbol of peace and folding 1,000 of them is believed to grant wishes. Their balletic dances in the snowy fields of northern Japan are breathtakingly poetic, and are designed to strengthen the bond between pairs that usually mate for life.
The stunning Wilson’s bird-of-paradise takes our top spot. The male sports more colours than any other species in the famously colourful bird-of-paradise family, and was only filmed for the first time in 1996 when David Attenborough went to New Guinea to film the BBC documentary, Attenborough in Paradise. Its remarkably flattened, curly tail feathers resemble an elaborate hat that a lady might wear to the races, and reflects shades of blue as it moves in the light. It's a truly beautiful bird, especially during courtship when the male arranges his feather into an elaborate ornamentation.