Birds of Albania

Situated in southeastern Europe, surrounded by Italy, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Greece, Albania is a nation in the Balkans with the Adriatic Sea bordering it. It is famous for its biodiversity, with hundreds of bird species living in the country’s wide variety of habitats, including mountains, estuaries, and wetlands. Even the nation’s flag has an image of a double-headed eagle on it. Photographers and other enthusiasts regularly travel from October to February to see the different birds of Albania, including the elusive Dalmatian Pelican.

Albania’s national bird is the Golden Eagle, though its population is currently in decline. Other at-risk species include the Long-legged Buzzard and the Egyptian Vulture.

Birds of Albania

List of Birds Found in Albania

Native Birds

Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl

Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies

  • Common Quail
  • Gray Partridge
  • Rock Patridge
  • Western Capercaillie
  • Black Grouse
  • Hazel Grouse

Flamingos

Grebes

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

Pigeons and Doves

  • Common Wood-pigeon
  • Eurasian Collared-Dove
  • European Turtle-dove
  • Rock Pigeon
  • Stock Dove

Bustards

  • Great Bustard
  • Little Bustard

Cuckoos

  • Common Cuckoo
  • Great Spotted Cuckoo

Nightjars and Allies

  • Eurasian Nightjar

Swifts

  • Alpine Swift
  • Common Swift
  • Pallid Swift

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots

  • Baillon’s Crake
  • Corn Crake
  • Eurasian Coot
  • Eurasian Moorhen
  • Little Crake
  • Spotted Crake
  • Water Rail

Cranes

  • Common Crane

Thick-knees

  • Eurasian Thick-knee

Stilts and Avocets

  • Black-winged Stilt
  • Pied Avocet

Oystercatchers

  • Eurasian Oystercatcher

Plovers and Lapwings

  • Black-bellied Plover
  • Common Ringed Plover
  • Kentish Plover
  • Little Ringed Plover
  • Northern Lapwing
  • European Golden-plover
  • Eurasian Dotterel

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
  • Ruddy Turnstone
  • Ruff
  • Sanderling
  • Spotted Redshank
  • Temminck’s Stint
  • Terek Sandpiper
  • Whimbrel
  • Wood Sandpiper
  • Red Knot
  • Broad-billed Sandpiper
  • Great Snipe
  • Marsh Sandpiper

Pratincoles and Coursers

  • Cream-colored Courser

Skuas and Jaegers

  • Parasitic Jaeger

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

  • Slender-billed Gull
  • Black-headed Gull
  • Lesser Black-backed Gull
  • Little Tern
  • Gull-billed Tern
  • Caspian Tern
  • White-winged Tern
  • Common Tern
  • Little Gull
  • Mediterranean Gull
  • Audouin’s Gull
  • Common Gull
  • Herring Gull
  • Yellow-legged Gull
  • Caspian Gull
  • Great Black-backed Gull
  • Black Tern
  • Whiskered Tern
  • Sandwich Tern

Loons

Northern Storm-petrels

  • European Storm-petrel

Shearwaters and Petrels

  • Cory’s Shearwater
  • Yelkouan Shearwater

Storks

Cormorants and Shags

  • Great Cormorant
  • Pygmy Cormorant
  • European Shag

Boobies and Gannets

  • Northern Gannet

Pelicans

  • Dalmatian Pelican
  • Great White Pelican

Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns

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

Ibises and Spoonbills

  • Glossy Ibis
  • Eurasian Spoonbill
  • Northern Bald Ibis

Osprey

  • Osprey

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

  • Bearded Vulture
  • Black Kite
  • Booted Eagle
  • Cinereous Vulture
  • Common Buzzard
  • Egyptian Vulture
  • Eurasian Griffon
  • Eurasian Marsh-harrier
  • Eurasian Sparrowhawk
  • Golden Eagle
  • Greater Spotted Eagle
  • Hen Harrier
  • Imperial Eagle
  • Long-legged Buzzard
  • Montagu’s Harrier
  • Northern Goshawk
  • Pallid Harrier
  • Rough-legged Hawk
  • Short-toed Snake-eagle
  • White-tailed Eagle
  • European Honey-buzzard
  • Lesser Spotted Eagle
  • Bonelli’s Eagle
  • Levant Sparrowhawk
  • Red Kite

Barn-owls

Owls

Hoopoes

  • Eurasian Hoopoe

Kingfishers

  • Common Kingfisher

Bee-eaters

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

Rollers

  • European Roller

Woodpeckers

  • Eurasian Wryneck
  • Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker
  • Middle Spotted Woodpecker
  • White-backed Woodpecker
  • Great-spotted Woodpecker
  • Syrian Woodpecker
  • Lesser-spotted Woodpecker
  • Gray-headed Woodpecker
  • Eurasian Green Woodpecker
  • Black Woodpecker

Falcons and Caracaras

  • Eurasian Hobby
  • Eurasian Kestrel
  • Lesser Kestrel
  • Merlin
  • Peregrine Falcon
  • Red-footed Falcon
  • Saker Falcon
  • Eleonar’s Falcon
  • Lanner’s Falcon

Old World Orioles

Shrikes

  • Great Gray Shrike
  • Lesser Gray Shrike
  • Red-backed Shrike
  • Masked Shrike
  • Woodchat Shrike

Crows, Jays, and Magpies

  • Common Raven
  • Eurasian Jackdaw
  • Eurasian Magpie
  • Eurasian Nutcracker
  • Hooded Crow
  • Red-billed Chough
  • Rook
  • Yellow-billed Chough
  • Eurasian Jay

Tits, Chickadees, and Titmice

  • Coal Tit
  • Great Tit
  • Crested Tit
  • Sombre Tit
  • Marsh Tit
  • Willow Tit
  • Eurasian Blue Tit

Penduline-tits

  • Eurasian Penduline-tit

Larks

  • Calandra Lark
  • Crested Lark
  • Eurasian Skylark
  • Greater Short-toed Lark
  • Horned Lark
  • Wood Lark

Bearded Reedling

  • Bearded Reedling

Cisticolas and Allies

  • Zitting Cisticola

Reed Warblers and Allies

  • Eurasian Reed Warbler
  • Great Reed Warbler
  • Moustached Warbler
  • Eastern Olivaceous Warbler
  • Olive-tree Warbler
  • Melodious Warbler
  • Icterine Warbler
  • Aquatic Warbler
  • Sedge Warbler

Grassbirds and Allies

  • Common Grasshopper-warbler
  • River Warbler
  • Savi’s Warbler

Swallows

  • Bank Swallow
  • Barn Swallow
  • Common House-martin
  • Eurasian Crag-martin
  • Red-rumped Swallow

Leaf Warblers

  • Common Chiffchaff
  • Willow Warbler
  • Wood Warbler
  • Western Bonelli’s Warbler
  • Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler

Bush Warblers and Allies

  • Cetti’s Warbler

Long-tailed Tits

  • Long-tailed Tit

Sylviid Warblers, Parrotbills, and Allies

  • Greater Whitethroat
  • Lesser Whitethroat
  • Eurasian Blackcap
  • Garden Warbler
  • Barred Warbler
  • Western Orphean Warbler
  • Eastern Orphean Warbler
  • Rüppell’s Warbler
  • Eastern Subalpine Warbler
  • Sardinian Warbler
  • Spectacled Warbler
  • Dartford Warbler

Kinglets

  • Common Firecrest
  • Goldcrest

Wallcreeper

  • Wallcreeper

Nuthatches

  • Eurasian Nuthatch
  • Western Rock Nuthatch

Treecreepers

  • Eurasian Treecreeper
  • Short-toed Treecreeper

Wrens

Dippers

  • White-throated Dipper

Starlings

Thrushes and Allies

  • Eurasian Blackbird
  • Mistle Thrush
  • Redwing
  • Song Thrush
  • Fieldfare
  • Ring Ouzel

Old World Flycatchers

  • Black Redstart
  • Blue Rock-thrush
  • Common Nightingale
  • Common Redstart
  • European Pied Flycatcher
  • Northern Wheatear
  • Red-breasted Flycatcher
  • Rufous-tailed Rock-thrush
  • Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin
  • Spotted Flycatcher
  • European Robin
  • Semicollared Flycatcher
  • Collared Flycatcher
  • Whinchat
  • European Stonechat
  • Eastern Black-eared Wheatear

Waxwings

  • Bohemian Waxwing

Accentors

  • Alpine Accentor
  • Dunnock

Old World Sparrows

  • Eurasian Tree Sparrow
  • House Sparrow
  • Rock Sparrow
  • Spanish Sparrow
  • White-winged Snowfinch

Wagtails and Pipits

  • Citrine Wagtail
  • Gray Wagtail
  • Red-throated Pipit
  • Richard’s Pipit
  • Tawny Pipit
  • Tree Pipit
  • Water Pipit
  • Western Yellow Wagtail
  • White Wagtail
  • Meadow Pipit

Finches, Euphonias, and Allies

  • Brambling
  • Common Chaffinch
  • Eurasian Bullfinch
  • Eurasian Linnet
  • European Goldfinch
  • European Greenfinch
  • Hawfinch
  • Red Crossbill
  • European Serin
  • Eurasian Siskin

Old World Buntings

  • Corn Bunting
  • Ortolan Bunting
  • Pine Bunting
  • Reed Bunting
  • Rock Bunting
  • Black-headed Bunting
  • Cirl Bunting
  • Yellowhammer
  • Cretzschmar’s Bunting

Non-native Birds

  • Pacific Golden-plover
  • Thrush Nightingale
  • Velvet Scoter
  • Pink-footed Goose
  • Red-breasted Goose
  • Common Scoter
  • Ring-necked Pheasant
  • Slender-billed Curlew
  • Semipalmated Sandpiper
  • Black-legged Kittiwake
  • Pallas’s Leaf Warbler
  • Dusky Warbler
  • Bluethroat
  • Isabelline Wheatear
  • Common Redpoll
  • Little Bunting

Birdwatchers love visiting the lakes and lagoons of Albania, some of the best places to see these birds in their natural habitats. Popular sites include Karavasta Lagoon, Narta Lagoon, and Shkodra Lake.

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