Desert Birds

While deserts are considered barren wastelands, they are also biomes with a wealth of wildlife. Naturally, some birds can also adapt to the harsh conditions of the desert.

List of Desert Birds

American Kestrel
American White Pelican
Anna’s Hummingbird
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Bearded Vulture
Bendire’s Thrasher
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Black-throated Sparrow
Broad-billed Hummingbird
Brown Pelican
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Brown-necked Raven
Burrowing Owl
Cactus Wren
Canyon Wren
Common Ostrich
Common Raven
Cooper’s Hawk
Costa’s Hummingbird
Cream-colored Courser
Crowned Sandgrouse
Curve-billed Thrasher
Desert Sparrow
Egyptian Nightjar
Egyptian Vulture
Elf Owl
Eurasian Bittern
European Starling
Ferruginous Hawk
Ferruginous Pygmy Owl
Gambel’s Quail
Gila Woodpecker
Gilded Flicker
Golden Eagle
Great Horned Owl
Great Reed Warbler
Greater Roadrunner
Great-tailed Grackle
Harris’s Hawk
House Finch
House Sparrow
Hwamei
Inca Dove
Indigo Bunting
Inyo California Towhee
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
LeConte’s Thrasher
Lesser Goldfinch
Lesser Nighthawk
Lucifer Hummingbird
Marsh Hawk
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Northern Flicker
Northern Goshawk
Northern Harrier
Northern Mockingbird
Osprey
Pallid Swift
Phainopepla
Pharoah Eagle-owl
Pin-tailed Sandgrouse
Pinyon Jay
Purple Martin
Pyrrhuloxia
Red-tailed Hawk
Rosy-faced Lovebird
Scott’s Oriole
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Steller’s Jay
Swainson’s Hawk
Transvolcanic Jay
Tristram’s Warbler
Turkey Vulture
Verdin
Vermilion Flycatcher
Western Kingbird
Western Screech-owl
Western Scrub-jay
White-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Wheatear
White-winged Dove
Yellow-billed Stork

How do birds adapt to the lack of water in the desert?

Birds that live in the desert still require water to live. Some species, like the verdin and the Lucifer hummingbird, get all the water they need from the plants they feed on. Other birds, like the indigo bunting, can migrate a long distance, searching for a water source.

There have been some other behavioral and physical features that are common to most birds in the desert. Their kidneys excrete very little water as waste to conserve resources efficiently. They will also stay in the shade during the day as much as possible to avoid losing water by panting.