Birds that start with H include the only raptor that hunts in packs, a bird that leads people to beehives, and one that digests leaves like a cow. Herons, hummingbirds, hoopoes, hornbills, harriers and house sparrows are all here.
This guide covers 28 birds beginning with H, with scientific names, range, diet and what makes each one distinctive.
Birds Starting With H: Complete List
| Bird | Scientific Name | Where It Lives | Diet | Notable For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harris’s Hawk | Parabuteo unicinctus | SW US, Americas | Small mammals | The only raptor that hunts in packs |
| Harris’s Sparrow | Zonotrichia querula | Central N. America | Seeds | Canada’s only endemic breeding bird |
| Hawfinch | Coccothraustes coccothraustes | Eurasia | Hard seeds | Bill can crack a cherry stone |
| Hermit Thrush | Catharus guttatus | North America | Insects, berries | Song follows harmonic ratios |
| Hoary Redpoll | Acanthis hornemanni | Arctic | Seeds | Survives temperatures below −50 °C |
| Hoatzin | Opisthocomus hoazin | Amazon basin | Leaves | Ferments food like a cow; chicks have wing claws |
| Hooded Merganser | Lophodytes cucullatus | North America | Fish | Serrated bill; raises a fan-like crest |
| Hooded Oriole | Icterus cucullatus | SW US, Mexico | Nectar, insects | Nests sewn to the underside of palm fronds |
| Hooded Warbler | Setophaga citrina | E. North America | Insects | Flicks its tail to flush prey |
| Horned Grebe | Podiceps auritus | N. hemisphere | Fish | Eats its own feathers to protect its gut |
| Horned Lark | Eremophila alpestris | N. hemisphere | Seeds, insects | Tiny feather “horns” raised in display |
| House Finch | Haemorhous mexicanus | North America | Seeds, fruit | Male’s red comes entirely from diet |
| House Sparrow | Passer domesticus | Worldwide | Seeds, scraps | Followed human settlement across the planet |
| House Wren | Troglodytes aedon | Americas | Insects | Fills rival nest cavities with sticks |
| Hamerkop | Scopus umbretta | Africa | Amphibians, fish | Builds a nest over a metre across |
| Heron | Ardeidae | Worldwide | Fish, amphibians | Neck kinks into an S to strike |
| Hummingbird | Trochilidae | The Americas | Nectar, insects | Only bird that can fly backwards |
| Hoopoe | Upupa epops | Eurasia, Africa | Insects | Fanned crest; nest defended by foul secretion |
| Hornbill | Bucerotidae | Africa, Asia | Fruit, small animals | Female seals herself into the nest cavity |
| Harrier | Circus spp. | Worldwide | Small mammals | Owl-like facial disc for hunting by ear |
| Hobby | Falco subbuteo | Eurasia, Africa | Dragonflies, swifts | Fast enough to catch swifts in flight |
| Honeyguide | Indicatoridae | Africa, Asia | Beeswax | Leads humans to bees’ nests |
| Honeyeater | Meliphagidae | Australasia | Nectar | Brush-tipped tongue; key pollinators |
| Hoopoe Lark | Alaemon alaudipes | Desert Africa, Asia | Insects | Song flight with a vertical tumble |
| Hooded Crow | Corvus cornix | Europe, W. Asia | Omnivorous | Grey-and-black; splits from carrion crow |
| Hen Harrier | Circus cyaneus | N. hemisphere | Voles, birds | Males and females look strikingly different |
| Herring Gull | Larus argentatus | N. hemisphere | Omnivorous | Red bill spot triggers chick begging |
| Hummingbird Hawk-moth | — (not a bird) | Eurasia | Nectar | Frequently mistaken for a hummingbird |
Birds of Prey
Harris’s Hawk
The only bird of prey known to hunt cooperatively in organised groups. Family parties of up to six work together — some flushing prey from cover while others wait in ambush — and they will stand on each other’s backs to gain height on a cactus or pole where there is no other perch. That sociability makes them unusually trainable, which is why they are the most common hawk in modern falconry.
Harrier
Harriers hunt low and slow over open ground, quartering back and forth rather than soaring or stooping. Uniquely among hawks they have a pronounced facial disc like an owl’s, which channels sound to the ears — they locate voles by hearing as much as sight, which is why they can hunt effectively over dense grass where nothing is visible.
Hen Harrier
Males are pale grey and females brown and streaked, so different that they were long described as separate species — the male was called the blue hawk and the female the ringtail. The species remains at the centre of a long-running conservation conflict in Britain over grouse-moor management.
Hobby
A small falcon fast and agile enough to catch swallows, martins and even swifts in open flight — which is a remarkable claim, since swifts are among the fastest birds in level flight. It also takes dragonflies on the wing and eats them in flight, transferring the prey from foot to bill without landing.
Distinctive Tropical Species
Hoatzin
One of the strangest birds alive. It is a foregut fermenter — it digests leaves using bacterial fermentation in an enlarged crop, essentially the same strategy as a cow, and unique among birds. The process gives it a strong manure-like smell, hence the nickname stinkbird. Chicks are born with functional claws on their wings, which they use to climb back up branches after dropping into water to escape predators, then lose as they mature.
Hornbill
In most species the female seals herself inside a tree cavity using mud and droppings, leaving only a narrow slit, and remains walled in while she incubates and the chicks grow. The male feeds her through the gap for the entire period. If he dies, she and the brood usually die too — a reproductive strategy with an unusually high dependency on a single individual.
Hoopoe
Unmistakable, with a black-tipped fanned crest raised in display and strongly barred wings. Its nest defence is chemical: the female and chicks produce a foul-smelling secretion from the preen gland, and chicks can also direct faeces at an intruder. The smell deters predators effectively and makes the nest cavity distinctly unpleasant.
Honeyguide
The greater honeyguide leads humans to wild bees’ nests, calling and flying short distances to be followed, and waits for the person to open the hive so it can eat the wax. This is one of very few documented mutualisms between a wild animal and humans, and in parts of Africa people and honeyguides use specific calls to signal to each other. It is learned on both sides. The bird is also a brood parasite whose chicks kill their nestmates.
Honeyeater
A large Australasian family with brush-tipped tongues for taking nectar, and among the most important pollinators in Australia — many native plants are bird-pollinated rather than insect-pollinated. Some species are aggressive enough to exclude other birds from flowering trees entirely.
Water Birds
Heron
A heron’s neck has a specially modified sixth vertebra that lets it fold into a tight S and then straighten explosively, which is how it strikes at fish faster than the eye can follow. Herons hunt by standing still for long periods rather than by pursuit. Many species also produce powder down — feathers that crumble into powder, used to absorb fish slime from the plumage.
Horned Grebe
Grebes regularly eat their own feathers, and feed them to their chicks. The feathers form a plug in the stomach that appears to protect the gut lining from sharp fish bones and may help form indigestible material into pellets. No other bird group does this.
Hooded Merganser
A fish-eating duck with a narrow serrated bill for gripping slippery prey, and a crest that can be raised into a striking white fan or flattened almost invisibly. It has a transparent third eyelid that acts as a lens underwater, correcting for the refraction that would otherwise blur its vision while hunting.
Hamerkop
An African bird that builds one of the most extraordinary nests of any species — a domed structure of sticks and mud over a metre across, strong enough to hold an adult human, with an enclosed chamber reached by a tunnel. A pair may build several in a season. The nests are so substantial that other species move in afterwards.
Herring Gull
The subject of one of the foundational experiments in animal behaviour. Niko Tinbergen showed that chicks beg by pecking at the red spot on the parent’s yellow bill, and that a simple stick with a red mark triggers the response just as well — demonstrating that the behaviour keys on a specific sign stimulus rather than on recognising the parent.
Songbirds and Garden Birds
House Sparrow
One of the most widely distributed wild birds on earth, having followed human settlement to almost every continent. It is also a conservation puzzle: numbers have collapsed in some cities — London and parts of northern Europe especially — while remaining abundant elsewhere, and the cause is still debated between insect availability for chicks, nest-site loss and air quality.
Hummingbird
The only birds capable of true sustained hovering and of flying backwards, achieved by rotating the wing at the shoulder so it generates lift on both the forward and backward stroke. Heart rates exceed 1,200 beats per minute in flight, and they enter torpor overnight — dropping body temperature dramatically to survive until morning, since they would otherwise starve before dawn.
Hermit Thrush
Its song has been analysed as following the harmonic series — the same mathematical relationships underlying human musical scales — which is unusual among birds and has attracted attention from both ornithologists and musicologists. It sings from deep cover and is far more often heard than seen.
House Finch
The male’s red colouring comes entirely from carotenoid pigments in his diet, so intensity is an honest signal of feeding success, and females prefer the reddest males. Birds on poor diets are noticeably paler orange or yellow. The eastern North American population descends from caged birds released in New York in the 1940s.
House Wren
Tiny and disproportionately aggressive. Males build several dummy nests for the female to choose from, and they routinely fill nearby cavities with sticks to deny them to rivals — and will puncture the eggs of other species nesting close by. For a bird weighing around ten grams it exerts considerable control over its immediate neighbourhood.
Hawfinch
Has the most powerful bill of any European finch, with jaw muscles and internal bill structure capable of exerting enough force to crack cherry and olive stones — loads measured in the region of 50 kg. It is shy and canopy-dwelling, so despite the size it is difficult to see well.
Hoary Redpoll
Breeds in the high Arctic and survives winter temperatures below −50 °C, partly by storing seed in a throat pouch to digest overnight in shelter rather than feeding in the open. Whether it is a genuinely separate species from the common redpoll has been debated for decades and recent genetic work suggests they may not be.
Horned Lark
The “horns” are small tufts of black feathers raised during display. It is the only true lark native to North America, and it favours the most barren ground available — ploughed fields, tundra, airfields and desert — avoiding anything with substantial vegetation.
Other Species in This Group
Hooded Oriole
Icterus cucullatus is its scientific name. The Hooded Oriole, often called the palm-leaf oriole due to their propensity to construct their nests on palm trees, is a bird that inhabits the southwestern regions of the United States, specifically Nevada, California, and Arizona. They are known for being quiet birds and share the same love of sweets as other orioles, but if you look closely enough, their vivid colors may reveal them.
Hooded Warbler
Setophaga citrina is its scientific name. Similar to Kentucky and Prothonotary Warblers, hooded warblers have vivid yellow plumage. Their faces are covered in a broad band of yellow, but their heads are all black. Discover them among the woodland undergrowth.
Harris’s Sparrow
Zonotrichia querula is its scientific name. During the breeding season, the Harris’s sparrow can be found as far north as the Northwest Territories of Canada and as far south as Southern Texas. These tiny birds are brown and black with a black bib, somewhat larger than song sparrows. You must reside in a state like Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, or one of the surrounding states that are within its winter range to see this bird in the United States.
Frequently Asked Questions
What birds start with the letter H?
Twenty-eight are covered here, including heron, hummingbird, hoopoe, hornbill, harrier, hen harrier, hobby, Harris’s hawk, honeyguide, honeyeater, hoatzin, hamerkop, herring gull, hooded merganser, horned grebe, house sparrow, house finch, house wren, hawfinch, hermit thrush, hooded oriole, hooded warbler, hooded crow, horned lark, hoary redpoll, Harris’s sparrow and hoopoe lark.
Which bird hunts in packs?
Harris’s hawk — the only raptor known to hunt cooperatively in organised family groups, with some birds flushing prey while others wait in ambush. They will even perch on each other’s backs where no other vantage point exists.
Is it true a bird leads humans to honey?
Yes. The greater honeyguide guides people to wild bees’ nests and waits for the hive to be opened so it can eat the wax. In parts of Africa specific calls are used by both people and birds, and the behaviour is learned on both sides — one of very few genuine wild-animal mutualisms with humans.
Can hummingbirds really fly backwards?
Yes, and they are the only birds that can sustain it. They rotate the wing at the shoulder so that lift is generated on both the forward and backward stroke, which also allows true hovering.
Why does the hoatzin smell?
Because it ferments leaves in an enlarged crop using bacteria — essentially the same digestive strategy as a cow, and unique among birds. The fermentation produces the manure-like odour that gives it the nickname stinkbird.
Why do female hornbills seal themselves in?
It is a defence against predators. She walls up the nest cavity leaving only a narrow slit and stays inside through incubation and chick-rearing, fed by the male through the gap. It is highly effective, but it means the whole brood depends on one bird surviving.
Sources
Classifications and ranges follow current ornithological references. Hoatzin foregut fermentation and honeyguide–human mutualism: peer-reviewed behavioural and physiological research. Tinbergen’s herring gull sign-stimulus experiments: foundational ethology literature. Redpoll taxonomy remains under active revision.
This article is for general information. Do not disturb nesting birds — many species are legally protected during the breeding season.
