Birds of Afghanistan

Afghanistan is home to a variety of avian species that complement its geologically-diverse terrain, which contains central highlands, steppes, southern deserts, and tropical dry forests. While the variety of bird life is astounding, only the Afghan Snowfinch is endemic to Afghanistan. However, the nation’s lack of security and human rights violations makes it a hard place to visit for bird enthusiasts.

The Golden Eagle is the national bird of Afghanistan, a title it also holds for Albania, Mexico, Scotland, and Germany.

Birds of Afghanistan

List of Birds Found in Afghanistan

Native Birds

Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl

Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies

  • Black Francolin
  • Cheer Pheasant
  • Chukar
  • Common Quail
  • Gray Francolin
  • Gray Partridge
  • Himalayan Monal
  • Himalayan Snowcock
  • Koklass Pheasant
  • Ring-necked Pheasant
  • See-see Partridge
  • Tibetan Snowcock

Flamingos

Grebes

  • Eared Grebe
  • Great Crested Grebe
  • Little Grebe
  • Red-necked Grebe

Pigeons and Doves

  • Common Wood-pigeon
  • Eurasian Collared-Dove
  • European Turtle-dove
  • Hill Pigeon
  • Laughing Dove
  • Oriental Turtle-dove
  • Rock Pigeon

Snow Pigeon

  • Yellow-eyed Pigeon

Sandgrouse

  • Black-bellied Sandgrouse
  • Crowned Sandgrouse
  • Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse
  • Pin-tailed Sandgrouse
  • Tibetan Sandgrouse

Bustards

  • Great Bustard
  • Little Bustard
  • Macqueen’s Bustard

Cuckoos

  • Asian Koel
  • Common Cuckoo
  • Lesser Cuckoo

Nightjars and Allies

  • Egyptian Nightjar
  • Eurasian Nightjar
  • Indian Nightjar
  • Sykes’s Nightjar

Swifts

  • Alpine Swift
  • Common Swift
  • Little Swift

Rails, Gallinules and Coots

  • Baillon’s Crake
  • Corn Crake
  • Eurasian Coot
  • Eurasian Moorhen
  • Gray-headed Swamphen
  • Little Crake
  • Spotted Crake
  • Water Rail

Cranes

  • Demoiselle Crane
  • Common Crane

Thick-knees

  • Eurasian Thick-knee

Stilts and Avocets

  • Black-winged Stilt
  • Pied Avocet

Oystercatchers

  • Eurasian Oystercatcher

Plovers and Lapwings

  • Black-bellied Plover
  • Caspian Plover
  • Common Ringed Plover
  • Greater Sand-plover
  • Kentish Plover
  • Lesser Sand-plover
  • Little Ringed Plover
  • Northern Lapwing
  • Red-wattled Lapwing
  • Sociable Lapwing
  • White-tailed Lapwing

Painted-snipes

  • Greater Painted-snipe

Jacanas

  • Pheasant-tailed Jacana

Sandpipers and Allies

  • Bar-tailed Godwit
  • Black-tailed Godwit
  • Common Greenshank
  • Common Redshank
  • Common Sandpiper
  • Common Snipe
  • Curlew Sandpiper
  • Dunlin
  • Eurasian Curlew
  • Eurasian Woodcock
  • Green Sandpiper
  • Jack Snipe
  • Little Stint
  • Red-necked Phalarope
  • Ruddy Turnstone
  • Ruff
  • Sanderling
  • Solitary Snipe
  • Spotted Redshank
  • Temminck’s Stint
  • Terek Sandpiper
  • Whimbrel
  • Wood Sandpiper

Pratincoles and Coursers

  • Cream-colored Courser

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

  • Slender-billed Gull
  • Black-headed Gull
  • Pallas’s Gull
  • Lesser Black-backed Gull
  • Little Tern
  • Gull-billed Tern
  • Caspian Tern
  • White-winged Tern
  • Common Tern

Storks

Cormorants and Shags

  • Great Cormorant
  • Pygmy Cormorant

Pelicans

  • Dalmatian Pelican
  • Great White Pelican

Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns

  • Great Bittern
  • Little Bittern
  • Gray Heron
  • Purple Heron
  • Great Egret
  • Black-crowned Night-heron

Ibises and Spoonbills

  • Glossy Ibis
  • Eurasian Spoonbill

Osprey

  • Osprey

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

  • Bearded Vulture
  • Black Kite
  • Black-winged Kite
  • Booted Eagle
  • Cinereous Vulture
  • Common Buzzard
  • Egyptian Vulture
  • Eurasian Griffon
  • Eurasian Marsh-harrier
  • Eurasian Sparrowhawk
  • Golden Eagle
  • Greater Spotted Eagle
  • Hen Harrier
  • Himalayan Griffon
  • Imperial Eagle
  • Long-Legged Buzzard
  • Montagu’s Harrier
  • Northern Goshawk
  • Oriental Honey-buzzard
  • Pallas’s Fish-eagle
  • Pallid Harrier
  • Rough-legged Hawk
  • Shikra
  • Short-toed Snake-eagle
  • Steppe Eagle
  • White-tailed Eagle

Owls

Hoopoes

  • Eurasian Hoopoe

Kingfishers

  • Common Kingfisher
  • Crested Kingfisher
  • Pied Kingfisher
  • White-throated Kingfisher

Bee-eaters

  • Blue-cheeked Bee-eater
  • European Bee-eater

Rollers

Woodpeckers

  • Brown-fronted Woodpecker
  • Eurasian Wryneck
  • Himalayan Woodpecker
  • Scaly-bellied Woodpecker
  • Speckled Piculet
  • White-winged Woodpecker

Falcons and Caracaras

  • Eurasian Hobby
  • Eurasian Kestrel
  • Laggar Falcon
  • Lesser Kestrel
  • Merlin
  • Peregrine Falcon
  • Red-footed Falcon
  • Saker Falcon

Old World Parrots

  • Slaty-headed Parakeet

Cuckooshrikes

  • Long-tailed Minivet

Old World Orioles

  • Eurasian Golden Oriole
  • Indian Golden Oriole

Drongos

  • Ashy Drongo
  • Black Drongo

Monarch Flycatchers

  • Indian Paradise-flycatcher

Shrikes

  • Bay-backed Shrike
  • Great Gray Shrike
  • Isabelline Shrike
  • Lesser Gray Shrike
  • Long-tailed Shrike
  • Red-tailed Shrike

Crows, Jays, and Magpies

  • Black-headed Jay
  • Brown-necked Raven
  • Carrion Crow
  • Common Raven
  • Eurasian Jackdaw
  • Eurasian Magpie
  • Eurasian Nutcracker
  • Hooded Crow
  • Kashmir Nutcracker
  • Large-billed Crow
  • Red-billed Chough
  • Rook
  • Yellow-billed Chough

Tits, Chickadees, and Titmice

  • Azure Tit
  • Black-crested Tit
  • Cinereous Tit
  • Coal Tit
  • Great Tit
  • Ground Tit
  • Rufous-naped Tit

Penduline-tits

  • Black-headed Penduline-tit
  • Eurasian Penduline-tit
  • White-crowned Penduline-tit

Larks

  • Bar-tailed Lark
  • Bimaculated Lark
  • Calandra Lark
  • Crested Lark
  • Desert Lark
  • Eurasian Skylark
  • Greater Hoopoe-lark
  • Greater Short-toed Lark
  • Horned Lark
  • Hume’s Lark
  • Oriental Skylark
  • Turkestan Short-toed Lark

Bearded Reedling

  • Bearded Reedling

Cisticolas and Allies

  • Delicate Prinia
  • Himalayan Prinia
  • Zitting Cisticola

Reed Warblers and Allies

  • Blunt-winged Warbler
  • Blyth’s Reed Warbler
  • Booted Warbler
  • Clamorous Reed Warbler
  • Eurasian Reed Warbler
  • Great Reed Warbler
  • Large-billed Reed Warbler
  • Moustached Warbler
  • Paddyfield Warbler
  • Sykes’s Warbler
  • Upcher’s Warbler

Grassbirds and Allies

Swallows

  • Asian House-martin
  • Bank Swallow
  • Barn Swallow
  • Common House-martin
  • Eurasian Crag-martin
  • Gray-throated Martin
  • Pale Sand Martin
  • Red-rumped Swallow
  • Rock Martin
  • Streak-throated Swallow
  • Wire-tailed Swallow

Bulbuls

  • Black Bulbul
  • Himalayan Bulbul
  • Red-vented Bulbul
  • White-eared Bulbul

Leaf Warblers

  • Brooks’s Leaf Warbler
  • Common Chiffchaff
  • Green Warbler
  • Greenish Warbler
  • Hume’s Warbler
  • Lemon-rumped Warbler
  • Mountain Chiffchaff
  • Pallas’s Leaf Warbler
  • Plain Leaf Warbler
  • Radde’s Warbler
  • Sulphur-bellied Warbler
  • Tytler’s Leaf Warbler
  • Western Crowned Warbler
  • Willow Warbler

Bush Warblers and Allies

  • Cetti’s Warbler
  • Scrub Warbler

Long-tailed Tits

  • White-cheeked Tit

Sylviid Warblers, Parrotbills, and Allies

  • Asian Desert Warbler
  • Eastern Orphean Warbler
  • Greater Whitethroat
  • Lesser Whitethroat
  • Menetries’s Warbler

White-eyes, Yuhinas, and Allies

  • Indian White-eye

Laughingthrushes

  • Afghan Babbler
  • Streaked Laughingthrush
  • Variegated Laughingthrush

Kinglets

  • Goldcrest

Wallcreeper

  • Wallcreeper

Nuthatches

  • Eastern Rock Nuthatch
  • Eurasian Nuthatch
  • Kashmir Nuthatch
  • White-cheeked Nuthatch

Treecreepers

  • Bar-tailed Treecreeper

Wrens

Dippers

  • Brown Dipper
  • White-throated Dipper

Starlings

Thrushes and Allies

  • Black-throated Thrush
  • Chestnut Thrush
  • Eurasian Blackbird
  • Mistle Thrush
  • Redwing
  • Tickell’s Thrush

Old World Flycatchers

  • Black Redstart
  • Blue Rock-thrush
  • Blue Whistling-thrush
  • Blue-capped Redstart
  • Blue-capped Rock-thrush
  • Blue-fronted Redstart
  • Bluethroat
  • Common Nightingale
  • Common Redstart
  • Dark-sided Flycatcher
  • Desert Wheatear
  • Finsch’s Wheatear
  • Himalayan Bluetail
  • Himalayan Rubythroat
  • Hooded Wheatear
  • Hume’s Wheatear
  • Indian Blue Robin
  • Isabelline Wheatear
  • Little Forktail
  • Northern Wheatear
  • Persian Wheatear
  • Pied Bushchat
  • Pied Wheatear
  • Plumbeous Redstart
  • Red-breasted Flycatcher
  • Rufous-backed Redstart
  • Rufous-tailed Rock-thrush
  • Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin
  • Rusty-Tailed Flycatcher
  • Siberian Stonechat
  • Spotted Flycatcher
  • Spotted Forktail
  • Taiga Flycatcher
  • Ultramarine Flycatcher
  • Variable Wheatear
  • White-capped Redstart
  • White-throated Robin
  • White-winged Redstart

Hypocolius

  • Hypocolius

Sunbirds and Spiderhunters

  • Purple Sunbird

Accentors

  • Alpine Accentor
  • Altai Accentor
  • Black-throated Accentor
  • Brown Accentor
  • Dunnock
  • Rufous-breasted Accentor

Old World Sparrows

  • Afghan Snowfinch
  • Dead Sea Sparrow
  • Eurasian Tree Sparrow
  • House Sparrow
  • Rock Sparrow
  • Russet Sparrow
  • Spanish Sparrow
  • White-winged Snowfinch
  • Yellow-throated Sparrow

Wagtails and Pipits

  • Citrine Wagtail
  • Gray Wagtail
  • Long-billed Pipit
  • Olive-backed Pipit
  • Paddyfield Pipit
  • Red-throated Pipit
  • Richard’s Pipit
  • Rosy Pipit
  • Tawny Pipit
  • Tree Pipit
  • Upland Pipit
  • Water Pipit
  • Western Yellow Wagtail
  • White Wagtail
  • White-browed Wagtail

Finches, Euphonias, and Allies

  • Black-headed Mountain Finch
  • Blyth’s Rosefinch
  • Brambling
  • Common Chaffinch
  • Common Rosefinch
  • Crimson-winged Finch
  • Desert Finch
  • Eurasian Bullfinch
  • Eurasian Linnet
  • European Goldfinch
  • European Greenfinch
  • Fire-fronted Serin
  • Great Rosefinch
  • Hawfinch
  • Himalayan White-browed Rosefinch
  • Mongolian Finch
  • Pale Rosefinch
  • Plain Mountain Finch
  • Red-fronted Rosefinch
  • Red-mantled Rosefinch
  • Trumpeter Finch
  • Twite
  • White-winged Grosbeak

Old World Buntings

  • Corn Bunting
  • Gray-necked Bunting
  • Little Bunting
  • Ortolan Bunting
  • Pine Bunting
  • Red-headed Bunting
  • Reed Bunting
  • Rock Bunting
  • Rustic Bunting
  • Striolated Bunting
  • White-capped Bunting

Non-native Birds

Accentors

  • Radde’s Accentor

Barn-owls

Cisticolas and Allies

  • Plain Prinia

Cormorants and Shags

  • Indian Cormorant
  • Little Cormorant

Cranes

  • Siberian Crane

Crows, Jays, and Magpies

  • House Crow

Cuckoos

  • Pied Cuckoo

Cuckooshrikes

  • Rosy Minivet

Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl

  • Baikal Teal
  • Falcated Duck
  • Red-breasted Merganser
  • Velvet Scoter

Falcons and Caracaras

Finches, Euphonias, and Allies

  • Black-and-yellow Grosbeak
  • Eurasian Siskin
  • Red Crossbill

Flamingos

  • Lesser Flamingo

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

  • Black Tern
  • Brown-headed Gull
  • Common Gull
  • Little Gull
  • River Tern
  • Whiskered Tern

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

  • Bonelli’s Eagle
  • European Honey-buzzard
  • Levant Sparrowhawk
  • Tawny Eagle
  • White-eyed Buzzard
  • White-rumped Vulture

Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns

  • Cattle Egret
  • Cinnamon Bittern
  • Little Egret
  • Squacco Heron

Ibisbill

  • Ibisbill

Larks

  • Sand Lark
  • Wood Lark

Laughingthrushes

  • Common Babbler

Leaf Warblers

  • Arctic Warbler
  • Wood Warbler

Old World Buntings

  • Black-headed Bunting
  • Chestnut-eared Bunting
  • Yellowhammer

Old World Flycatchers

  • European Pied Flycatcher
  • European Robin
  • Indian Robin
  • Oriental Magpie-robin
  • Siberian Rubythroat
  • Thrush Nightingale
  • Whinchat
  • White-browed Bushchat

Old World Parrots

  • Alexandrine Parakeet
  • Rose-ringed Parakeet

Old World Sparrows

  • Pale Rockfinch
  • Saxaul Sparrow

Owls

  • Boreal Owl
  • Pallid Scops-owl

Pigeons and Doves

  • Speckled Pigeon
  • Spotted Dove
  • Stock Dove

Plovers and Lapwings

  • Pacific Golden-plover

Pratincoles and Coursers

  • Collared Pratincole
  • Small Pratincole

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots

  • Ruddy-breasted Crake

Reed Warblers and Allies

  • Eastern Olivaceous Warbler

Sandgrouse

  • Spotted Sandgrouse

Sandpipers and Allies

  • Broad-billed Sandpiper
  • Far Eastern Curlew
  • Marsh Sandpiper
  • Pin-tailed Snipe

Shrikes

  • Brown Shrike
  • Red-backed Shrike
  • Woodchat Shrike

Starlings

  • Bank Myna

Swifts

  • White-throated Needletail

Sylviid Warblers, Parrotbills, and Allies

  • Barred Warbler
  • Garden Warbler

Thrushes and Allies

  • Fieldfare
  • Red-throated Thrush

Wagtails and Pipits

  • American Pipit
  • Meadow Pipit

Waxbills and Allies

  • Red Avadavat
  • Scaly-breasted Munia

There are several spots where tourists can experience the avian diversity of Afghanistan, like the Band-e-Amir National Park, home to the Afghan Snowfinch, or the Wakhan Corridor, where a lot of rare species reside. However, many of the world’s governments, including Australia, the U.K., and the U.S., discourage their citizens from visiting Afghanistan because of the political unrest in the region. If one were to travel there, it is imperative to have the proper paperwork handy at all times and strictly follow the guidelines set by local authorities.

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