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This is a list of the bird species recorded in Denmark. The avifauna of Denmark included a total of 504 species recorded in the wild by according to the Dansk Ornitologisk Forening (DOF; Danish Ornithological Society)'s DK listen[1] (this list uses only Danish names, with the English names below abstracted from the DOF's Western Palaearctic list.[2]) This list's taxonomic treatment (designation and sequence of orders, families and species) and nomenclature (English and scientific names) are those of the IOC World Bird List, 2022 edition.
Bird species admitted to the Danish List are included in the following categories A, B or C, with the same definitions as the British and other Western Palaearctic bird lists:
Order: Galliformes Family: Phasianidae
These are terrestrial species of game birds, feeding and nesting on the ground. They are variable in size but generally plump, with broad and relatively short wings.
Order: Anseriformes Family: Anatidae
Anatidae includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swans. These birds are adapted to an aquatic existence with webbed feet, flattened bills, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to an oily coating.
Order: Caprimulgiformes Family: Caprimulgidae
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal birds that usually nest on the ground. They have long wings, short legs, and very short bills. Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and long pointed wings. Their soft plumage is camouflaged to resemble bark or leaves.
Order: Caprimulgiformes Family: Apodidae
Swifts are small birds which spend the majority of their lives flying. They have very short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground, perching instead only on vertical surfaces. Swifts have long swept-back wings which resemble a crescent.
Order: Otidiformes Family: Otididae
Bustards are large terrestrial birds mainly associated with dry open country and steppes in the Old World. They are omnivorous and nest on the ground. They walk steadily on strong legs and big toes, pecking for food as they go. They have long broad wings with "fingered" wingtips and striking patterns in flight. Many have interesting mating displays.
Order: Cuculiformes Family: Cuculidae
The family Cuculidae includes cuckoos and allies. These birds are of variable size with slender bodies, long tails, and strong legs. The Old World cuckoos are brood parasites.
Order: Pterocliformes Family: Pteroclidae
Sandgrouse have small pigeon-like heads and necks, but sturdy compact bodies. They have long pointed wings and sometimes tails and a fast direct flight. Flocks fly to watering holes at dawn and dusk. Their legs are feathered down to the toes.
Order: Columbiformes Family: Columbidae
Pigeons and doves are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills with a fleshy cere.
Order: Gruiformes Family: Rallidae
Rallidae is a large family of small to medium-sized birds which includes the rails, crakes, coots, and moorhens. Typically they inhabit dense vegetation in damp environments near lakes, swamps, or rivers. Many are shy and secretive birds, making them difficult to observe. Most species have strong legs and long toes which are well adapted to soft uneven surfaces. They tend to have short, rounded wings and to be weak fliers.
Order: Gruiformes Family: Gruidae
Cranes are large, long-legged, and long-necked birds. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back. Most have elaborate and noisy courting displays.
Order: Podicipediformes Family: Podicipedidae
Grebes are small to medium-large freshwater diving birds. They have lobed toes and are excellent swimmers and divers. However, their feet are placed far back on the body, making them ungainly on land.
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Burhinidae
Stone-curlews and thick-knees are a group of waders found worldwide within the tropical zone, with some also breeding in temperate Europe and Australia. They are medium to large waders with strong black or yellow-black bills, large yellow eyes, and cryptic plumage. Despite being classed as waders, most species have a preference for arid or semi-arid habitats.
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Haematopodidae
The oystercatchers are large and noisy plover-like birds, with strong bills used for smashing or prising open molluscs.
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Recurvirostridae
Recurvirostridae is a family of large wading birds which includes the avocets and stilts. The avocets have long legs and long up-curved bills. The stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight bills.
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Charadriidae
The family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterels, and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short thick necks, and long, usually pointed, wings. They are found in open country worldwide, mostly in habitats near water.
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Scolopacidae
Scolopacidae is a large diverse family of small to medium-sized shorebirds including sandpipers, curlews, godwits, shanks, woodcocks, snipe, dowitchers, and phalaropes. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. Variation in length of legs and bills enables multiple species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Glareolidae
Glareolidae is a family of wading birds comprising the pratincoles, which have short legs, long pointed wings, and long forked tails, and the coursers, which have long legs, short wings, and long, pointed bills that curve downwards.
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Laridae
Laridae is a family of medium to large seabirds and includes gulls, terns, and allies. Gulls are typically white with grey wings, often with black markings on the wingtips, and the head white or dark in breeding plumage. They have stout, longish, bills and webbed feet. Terns are a group of generally smaller to medium seabirds typically white with grey wings, often with black cap on the head; some darker overall. Most terns hunt fish by diving but some pick insects off the surface of fresh water. Gulls and terns are generally long-lived birds, with several species known to live more than 30 years.
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Stercorariidae
The skuas are medium to large predatory or kleptoparasitic seabirds, typically with brown plumage, often with creamy-white underparts and white streaks on the primary feathers. They nest on the ground in subarctic and arctic regions and most are long-distance migrants.
Order: Charadriiformes Family: Alcidae
Alcidae is a family of seabirds which are superficially similar to penguins with their black-and-white colour, their upright posture, and some of their habits, but which can fly.
Order: Gaviiformes Family: Gaviidae
Divers or loons are a group of aquatic birds found in arctic and cool temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere. They are the size of large ducks or small geese, but to which they are completely unrelated. In particular, their legs are set very far back which assists in swimming underwater but makes walking on land extremely difficult.
Order: Procellariiformes Family: Oceanitidae
The austral storm petrels are relatives of the petrels and are the smallest seabirds. They feed on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, typically while hovering.
Order: Procellariiformes Family: Diomedeidae
The albatrosses are oceanic seabirds, among the largest of flying birds; the great albatrosses of the genus Diomedea have the largest wingspans of any extant bird.
Order: Procellariiformes Family: Hydrobatidae
Though the members of this family are similar in many respects to the southern storm petrels, including their general appearance and habits, there are enough genetic differences to warrant their placement in a separate family.
Order: Procellariiformes Family: Procellariidae
The procellariids are the main group of medium-sized petrels and shearwaters, characterised by united nostrils with medium septum and a long functional outer primary.
Order: Ciconiiformes Family: Ciconiidae
Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked, wading birds with long, stout bills. Storks are mute, but bill-clattering is an important mode of communication at the nest. Their nests can be large and may be reused for many years. Many species are migratory.
Order: Suliformes Family: Fregatidae
Frigatebirds are large seabirds usually found over tropical oceans. They are large, black, or black-and-white, with long wings and deeply forked tails. The males have coloured inflatable throat pouches. They do not swim or walk and cannot take off from a flat surface. Having the largest wingspan-to-body-weight ratio of any bird, they are essentially aerial, able to stay aloft for more than a week.
Order: Suliformes Family: Sulidae
The sulids comprise the gannets and boobies. Both groups are medium-large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish.
Order: Suliformes Family: Phalacrocoracidae
Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large aquatic birds, usually with mainly dark plumage and areas of coloured skin on the face. The bill is long, thin and sharply hooked. Their feet are four-toed and webbed.
Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Threskiornithidae
The family Threskiornithidae includes the ibises and spoonbills. They have long, broad wings. Their bodies tend to be elongated, the neck more so, with rather long legs. The bill is also long, decurved in the case of the ibises, straight and distinctively flattened in the spoonbills.
Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Ardeidae
The family Ardeidae contains the herons, egrets, and bitterns. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive. Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises and spoonbills.
Order: Pelecaniformes Family: Pelecanidae
Pelicans are very large water birds with a distinctive pouch under their beak. Like other birds in the order Pelecaniformes, they have four webbed toes.
Order: Accipitriformes Family: Pandionidae
Pandionidae is a family of fish-eating birds of prey, possessing a very large, powerful hooked beak for tearing fish apart, strong legs, powerful talons, and keen eyesight. The family is monotypic.
Order: Accipitriformes Family: Accipitridae
Accipitridae is a family of birds of prey and includes hawks, eagles, kites, harriers, and Old World vultures. These birds have very large powerful hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, powerful talons, and keen eyesight.
Order: Strigiformes Family: Tytonidae
Barn owls are medium to large owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long strong legs with powerful talons.
Order: Strigiformes Family: Strigidae
Typical owls are small to large solitary nocturnal birds of prey. They have large forward-facing eyes and ears, a hawk-like beak, and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk.
Order: Bucerotiformes Family: Upupidae
Hoopoes have black, white and orangey-pink colouring with a large erectile crest on the head.
Order: Coraciiformes Family: Coraciidae
Rollers resemble crows in size and build, but are more closely related to the kingfishers and bee-eaters. They share the colourful appearance of those groups with blues and browns predominating. The two inner front toes are connected, but the outer toe is not.
Order: Coraciiformes Family: Alcedinidae
Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long, pointed bills, short legs and stubby tails.
Order: Coraciiformes Family: Meropidae
The bee-eaters are a group of near passerine birds in the family Meropidae. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies and usually elongated central tail feathers. All have long downturned bills and pointed wings, which give them a swallow-like appearance when seen from afar.
Order: Piciformes Family: Picidae
Woodpeckers are small to medium-sized birds with chisel-like beaks, short legs, stiff tails and long tongues used for capturing insects. Some species have feet with two toes pointing forward and two backward, while several species have only three toes. Many woodpeckers have the habit of tapping noisily on tree trunks with their beaks.
Order: Falconiformes Family: Falconidae
Falconidae is a family of diurnal birds of prey. They differ from hawks, eagles and kites in that they often kill with their beaks instead of their talons.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Laniidae
Shrikes are passerine birds known for their habit of catching other birds and small animals and impaling the uneaten portions of their bodies on thorns. A shrike's beak is hooked, like that of a typical bird of prey.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Vireonidae
The vireos are a group of small to medium-sized passerine birds. They are typically greenish in colour and resemble wood warblers apart from their heavier bills.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Oriolidae
The Old World orioles are colourful passerine birds. They are not related to the New World orioles.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae
The family Corvidae includes crows, ravens, jays, choughs, magpies, and nutcrackers. Corvids are above average in size among the Passeriformes, and many of the species show high levels of intelligence.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Bombycillidae
The waxwings are a group of birds with soft silky plumage and unique red tips to some of the wing feathers; these tips look like sealing wax and give the group its name. These are arboreal birds of northern forests. They eat insects in summer and berries in winter.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Paridae
The Paridae are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Remizidae
The penduline tits are a group of small passerine birds related to the true tits. They are insectivores.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Panuridae
This species, the only one in its family, is found in reed beds throughout temperate Europe and Asia.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Alaudidae
Larks are small terrestrial birds with often extravagant songs and display flights. Most larks are fairly dull in appearance. Their food is insects and seeds.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Hirundinidae
The family Hirundinidae is adapted to aerial feeding. They have a slender streamlined body, long pointed wings, and a short bill with a wide gape. The feet are adapted to perching rather than walking, and the front toes are partially joined at the base.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Aegithalidae
Long-tailed tits are a group of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. They make woven bag nests in trees. Most eat a mixed diet which includes insects.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Phylloscopidae
Leaf warblers are a family of small insectivorous birds found mostly in Eurasia and ranging into Wallacea and Africa. The species are small to very small, often green-plumaged above and yellow below, or more subdued with greyish-green to greyish-brown colours.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Acrocephalidae
The members of this family are usually rather large for "warblers". Most are rather plain olivaceous brown above with much yellow to beige below. They are usually found in open woodland, reedbeds, or tall grass. The family occurs mostly in southern to western Eurasia and surroundings, but it also ranges far into the Pacific, with some species in Africa.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Locustellidae
Locustellidae are a family of small insectivorous songbirds found mainly in Eurasia, Africa, and the Australian region. They are smallish birds with tails that are usually long and pointed, and tend to be drab brownish or buffy all over.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Cisticolidae
The Cisticolidae are warblers found mainly in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They are generally very small birds of drab brown or grey appearance found in open country such as grassland or scrub.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Sylviidae
The family Sylviidae is a group of small insectivorous birds. They mainly occur as breeding species, as another common name (Old World warblers) implies, in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Most are of generally undistinguished appearance, but many have distinctive songs.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Regulidae
The crests and kinglets are a small family of birds which resemble some warblers. They are very small insectivorous birds in the single genus Regulus. The adults have a yellow to orange crown stripe, giving rise to their name.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Troglodytidae
The wrens are mainly small and inconspicuous except for their loud songs. These birds have short wings and thin down-turned bills. Several species often hold their tails upright. All are insectivorous.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Sittidae
Nuthatches are small woodland birds. They have the unusual ability to climb down trees head first, unlike other birds which can only go upwards. Nuthatches have big heads, short tails, and powerful bills and feet.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Certhiidae
Treecreepers are small woodland birds, brown above and white below. They have thin pointed down-curved bills, which they use to extricate insects from bark. They have stiff tail feathers, like woodpeckers, which they use to support themselves on vertical trees.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Sturnidae
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds. Their flight is strong and direct and they are very gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country. They eat insects and fruit. Their plumage is typically dark with a metallic sheen, but in some is brightly coloured.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Turdidae
The thrushes are a family of birds with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are plump, soft-plumaged, small-to-medium-sized insectivores or omnivores, often feeding on the ground. Many have attractive songs.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Muscicapidae
Old World flycatchers are a large group of birds which are mainly small arboreal insectivores. The appearance of these birds is highly varied, but they mostly have weak songs and harsh calls.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Cinclidae
Dippers are a group of perching birds whose habitat includes riverine environments in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. They are named for their bobbing or dipping movements.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Passeridae
In general, sparrows tend to be small, plump, brown birds with short tails and short powerful beaks. Sparrows are seed eaters, but they also consume small insects.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Prunellidae
The accentors and dunnocks are the only bird family which is endemic to the Palearctic. They are small, fairly drab species superficially similar to sparrows but with slender bills.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Motacillidae
Motacillidae is a family of small birds with medium to long tails which includes the wagtails and pipits. They are slender ground-feeding insectivores of open country.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Fringillidae
Finches are seed-eating birds that are small to moderately large and have a strong beak, usually conical and in some species very large. All have twelve tail feathers and nine primaries. These birds have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings, and most sing well.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Calcariidae
The Calcariidae are a family of birds that had been traditionally grouped with the buntings and New World sparrows, but differ in a number of respects and are usually found in open grassy areas.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Emberizidae
Emberizidae is a family of passerine birds containing a single genus. Until 2017, the New World sparrows, now Passerellidae, were also considered part of this family.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Passerellidae
Until 2017, these species were considered part of the family Emberizidae. Most of the species are known as sparrows, but these birds are not closely related to the Old World sparrows which are in the family Passeridae. Many of these have distinctive head patterns.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Parulidae
Parulidae are a group of small, often colourful birds restricted to the New World. Most are arboreal and insectivorous.
Order: Passeriformes Family: Cardinalidae
The cardinals are a family of robust seed-eating birds with strong bills. They are typically associated with open woodland. The sexes usually have distinct plumages.
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