30 Animals That Eat Cicadas: From Backyard Robins to Mediterranean Falcons
October 25, 2026
Animals that eat cicadas have one thing in common: they show up when the buffet opens. Cicadas have no defenses except their sheer number. They are slow, clumsy fliers that do not sting, bite, or hide. That makes them easy pickings for any bird with a taste for large insects.
The story is old. Periodical cicadas were known to Native peoples of North America for centuries before European settlers first recorded them in 1634, according to UMass Amherst. Ornithologists have been writing about the feasting ever since. Birds are the major predators of adult periodical cicadas, as an Arkansas study of Brood XIX put it.
The 30 birds below range from familiar US yard visitors to falcons that nest on Mediterranean cliffs. Some of them eat other insects too, so the animals that eat crickets will sound familiar. Each entry notes where US readers can look for the bird or its closest American counterpart.
| Bird Group | Birds on This List | US Connection |
|---|---|---|
| Swifts and terns | Common Swift, Alpine Swift, Gull-billed Tern, Roseate Tern | Chimney Swift inland; terns along Gulf and Atlantic coasts |
| Gulls, herons, and waders | Mediterranean Gull, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Common Moorhen, Green Heron | Wetlands and coasts nationwide |
| Raptors | Eleonora’s Falcon, Peregrine Falcon, Red-footed Falcon, Little Owl, Plumbeous Kite, Mississippi Kite | Peregrines in cities; Mississippi Kites in the Plains and South |
| Songbirds and perching birds | Common Grackle, Blue Jay, American Robin, Common Starling, Drongo, Oriental Magpie-Robin, Noisy Miner, Australian Magpie | Grackles, jays, robins, and starlings in nearly every yard |
| Cuckoos and others | European Bee-eater, African Hoopoe, Woodland Kingfisher, Smooth-billed Ani, Guira Cuckoo, Squirrel Cuckoo | Mostly Old World and tropical American species |
Important Note: Many birds in the first half of this list eat annual cicadas in Europe and Africa, not North American periodical broods. Knowledge of bird predation on annual cicadas in the Western Palearctic is dispersed and incomplete, so some entries rest on scattered field records.
1. Common Swift
The Common Swift (Apus apus) spends nearly its whole life in the air, feeding, drinking, and even sleeping on the wing. Cicadas drifting through warm summer air suit that hunting style, and swifts turn up among the aerial insect hunters tied to cicada predation in Europe.
Americans will not see this species at home. The Chimney Swift fills the same niche across the eastern US, and swifts are one of many animals that start with S worth watching at dusk.
2. Alpine Swift
The Alpine Swift (Tachymarptis melba) is the larger, heavier cousin of the Common Swift. It nests on cliffs and old stone buildings around the Mediterranean, where cicadas are loud through summer afternoons.
Its bulk lets it take bigger prey than most swifts can manage. For a bird this size, a cicada is a meal worth the chase.
3. Gull-Billed Tern
The Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) breaks the usual tern habit of diving for fish. It hunts over marshes, fields, and dunes, plucking insects and small animals from the ground or the air. In the US, small colonies nest along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.
The tern-and-cicada link goes back a long way. A 1924 paper by Edward Howe Forbush in The Auk, titled “Gulls and Terns Feeding on the Seventeen-Year Cicada,” appears in the reference list of the Brood XIX study. Terns are also among the animals that start with T that surprise newcomers with their varied diets.
4. Roseate Tern
The Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) is mainly a fish eater. It is a graceful, pale seabird with a long tail, and it nests on a few islands along the Northeast coast. The northeastern US population is protected as endangered.
Old World reviews list five tern species as cicada eaters, and records place at least one within the Western Palearctic, in Ukraine. For Roseate Terns, cicadas are likely an occasional bonus rather than a staple.
5. Mediterranean Gull
The Mediterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus) has a jet-black hood in summer and a bill that looks painted red. A review of Western Palearctic birds records it eating cicadas in Greece, citing a 1994 study by Goutner. The paper behind that record is the Avian Research review.
Once rare outside southeastern Europe, the species now shows up in small numbers on the Atlantic coast of North America. Birders along the East Coast scan winter gull flocks for its black-hooded head.
6. Eleonora’s Falcon
Eleonora’s Falcon (Falco eleonorae) nests on Mediterranean islands and sea cliffs, and it breeds late in summer on purpose. That timing lines its chicks up with the autumn songbird migration across the sea.
Before and around that peak, the adults also hunt large insects, and cicadas fit the menu. The bird is a European specialty with no US range, but it shows how adaptable falcons are.
7. Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) is famous as the fastest animal on Earth in a dive. It lives on every continent except Antarctica, including US cities where it nests on skyscraper ledges and bridges.
Cicadas are small fare for a bird built to strike pigeons and ducks. Even so, reviews of Old World cicada predators place falcons among the groups known to take them, because a slow, droning insect is hard to ignore.
8. Red-Footed Falcon
The Red-footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus) is a small, sociable raptor that breeds in eastern Europe and Asia. It spends much of its time hovering over fields and snatching large insects such as beetles, grasshoppers, and dragonflies.
That insect-heavy habit makes cicadas a natural target. Its American counterpart is the American Kestrel, which can also eat cicadas, alongside hawks, according to the Chicago Bird Alliance.
9. Little Owl
The Little Owl (Athene noctua) is a small, flat-headed owl that hunts at dusk and dawn, and often in daylight. It is a rare nymph hunter among the owls. One review found ten bird species that eat cicada nymphs, and the Little Owl was one of them, citing a 2003 record.
Nymphs live underground, so an owl taking them is likely catching freshly emerged insects crawling up from the soil.
10. Little Egret
The Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) is a slim white wader with black legs and yellow feet. It stirs up shallow water to flush prey, but it also walks fields and meadows.
The review lists the Little Egret among the species that eat cicada nymphs, citing a 2009 record from Privileggi and colleagues. American birders should look for the similar Snowy Egret, one of the many animals that live in water and the edges of wetlands.
11. Great White Egret
The Great White Egret (Ardea alba) is the same species US birders call the Great Egret. It stands more than three feet tall and ranges across wetlands from Maine to Mexico and well beyond.
The same 2009 record that covers its smaller cousin also lists the Great White Egret as a nymph eater. Large waders will take almost any animal they can swallow, and a fat cicada nymph is easy to swallow.
12. Grey Heron
The Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) is Europe’s answer to the Great Blue Heron. It stalks ponds, rivers, and fields with a patience that makes cicada hunting look simple.
Herons are among the large birds linked to cicada predation, and they are known to tackle prey from frogs to rodents. They share that nerve with other animals that eat snakes, so a slow, buzzing insect is an easy catch.
13. Common Moorhen
The Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) is a dark, chicken-like marsh bird with a red-and-yellow bill. In the US, the same bird is called the Common Gallinule.
The cicada record for this species comes from Brazil, not Europe. The review notes that the moorhen record, from Sazima in 2009, was made in Brazil. That makes it a useful reminder that a bird’s cicada habit can show up wherever its range does.
14. European Bee-Eater
The European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster) is a rainbow-colored bird that catches bees, wasps, and dragonflies in flight and beats them against a branch before swallowing. Bee-eaters are on the list of relatively large birds that eat cicadas, along with raptors, herons, gulls, cuckoos, and rollers.
A bee-eater can tackle a stinging insect without flinching, so a harmless cicada is no challenge. The species breeds in southern Europe and Africa, with no regular range in the US.
15. Common Grackle
The Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) is a glossy, long-tailed blackbird common across the eastern US. It is bold, loud, and happy to eat anything from corn to crickets.
During the 2021 emergence of Brood X, a University of Maryland researcher told Audubon magazine that grackles were among the birds gorging on cicadas. The windfall helps parents too: the vast food source lets birds such as grackles fledge extra chicks.
16. Blue Jay
The Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) is a clever, noisy forest bird of the eastern and central US. It is known for caching acorns, but it takes insects readily, and robins, blue jays, and woodpeckers are among the birds that eat cicadas.
The effects ripple outward. According to Britannica, some birds lay larger clutches during emergence years, when cicadas feed adults and nestlings alike.
17. American Robin
The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is the bird most US residents think of when a lawn comes alive after rain. It hops across the grass, cocks its head, and stabs at earthworms and insects.
It is a regular at cicada emergences, and these ground-hopping foragers are among the animals that hop in search of food. In 2021, the Smithsonian’s Migratory Bird Center noted that local songbirds would take advantage of the abundance, something its scientists were eager to study.
18. Common Starling
The Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is an Old World bird that now lives across North America. Its US story began around 1890, when about 100 birds were released in New York’s Central Park, and descendants have spread coast to coast.
Starlings are loud, adaptable, and always looking for protein. Starlings are on the list of birds that feast on cicadas, along with robins, blue jays, northern cardinals, and sparrows. Few birds are better placed to join an emergence.
19. Drongo
Drongos are glossy black birds with forked tails, found across Africa and Asia. The black drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) perches on wires and fence posts, then darts out to snatch large insects from the air.
Cicadas fit that style neatly, and drongos are bold enough to chase them in open country. If you enjoy lists of animals that start with D, the drongo is among the more entertaining ones.
20. Oriental Magpie-Robin
The Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis) is a black-and-white songbird of South and Southeast Asia, with a tail it cocks high over its back. It forages on lawns and garden paths, hunting insects on the ground.
It is common near people and a familiar singer in tropical neighborhoods. Cicadas, which also fill those gardens with noise, are a natural addition to its menu.
21. African Hoopoe
The African Hoopoe (Upupa africana) wears a crest that fans open when it lands, and it probes soft soil with a long, curved bill. That probing takes it to many of the same insects as animals that eat ants.
A hoopoe working a patch of ground is well placed to catch cicada nymphs as they surface. It is a sub-Saharan bird with no US range, but its relatives in Europe also feed on large insects.
22. Woodland Kingfisher
The Woodland Kingfisher (Halcyon senegalensis) is a bright blue African bird that spends most of its time away from water. It sits on a perch, watches the ground, then drops on grasshoppers, beetles, and other large insects.
That perch-and-pounce routine also takes it to swarming prey. Like many animals that eat termites, it benefits when insects gather in dense numbers, and cicadas are another such gathering.
23. Noisy Miner
The Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) is a gray honeyeater from eastern Australia. Colonies defend their territory aggressively, and they chase away birds much larger than themselves.
The miner feeds on nectar and fruit, but also takes insects, which makes cicadas a seasonal protein boost. Australia has its own cicada fauna, and its local species have plenty of bird predators.
24. Australian Magpie
The Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) is a black-and-white songbird famous for its flute-like call and for swooping at passersby during nesting season. It strides across lawns on strong legs, much like other animals that walk on two legs.
It hunts mostly on the ground, listening for larvae and probing the soil. During cicada season it also picks up emerging nymphs and adults, which makes it one of the more dependable cicada eaters in Australian suburbs.
25. Plumbeous Kite
The Plumbeous Kite (Ictinia plumbea) is a gray, slender raptor of tropical Central and South America. It is a close relative of the Mississippi Kite and hunts much the same way, catching large insects in flight.
Cicadas are a natural target for a kite that soars over forest edges. In the US, the species is a rare vagrant at best, so Americans meet its cousin instead.
26. Smooth-Billed Ani
The Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani) is a black, lanky cuckoo with a high-ridged bill that lives in family groups. It has a history in southern Florida, and it is common across the Caribbean and tropical Americas.
Anis follow cattle and grab insects stirred up from the grass, and they have a long reputation for picking ticks off livestock. Fans of animals that eat ticks know them well, and cicadas are another large insect they can take.
27. Guira Cuckoo
The Guira Cuckoo (Guira guira) is a South American cuckoo with a shaggy orange crest and a pale body. It travels in noisy flocks, and several females often lay eggs in a single communal nest.
That group lifestyle suits an insect feast. When cicadas emerge, a flock can work through a field or tree line quickly, each bird taking its share.
28. Squirrel Cuckoo
The Squirrel Cuckoo (Piaya cayana) is a chestnut-colored, long-tailed cuckoo that runs along branches like its namesake. It hunts caterpillars, grasshoppers, and other large insects in the canopy.
Cuckoos in general are on the lists of cicada eaters, and this species is a tree specialist that can reach them. It occasionally crosses into southern Texas, but is mostly a bird of the tropics.
29. Green Heron
The Green Heron (Butorides virescens) is a small, dark heron that lives along ponds and streams across much of the US. It is one of the few birds known to use bait. It drops insects or bread on the water to lure fish.
A bird that clever will not pass up an easy meal. Green Herons stalk the margins of wooded wetlands, exactly where cicadas drop after molting and where nymphs often emerge near the water’s edge.
30. Mississippi Kite
The Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis) is a sleek gray raptor of the Great Plains and Southeast, and it may be the best American example of a bird built for cicada season. It catches large flying insects, including cicadas and dragonflies, in midair and often eats on the wing.
Its timing matches the insects’ timing too. Kites arrive in the US for the summer, when cicadas are loud, and nesting pairs raise young on an insect-heavy diet.
Pro Tip: To see these birds feed, visit a wooded park, yard, or river corridor during a periodical cicada emergence. Watch low branches and sidewalks, where freshly molted cicadas are soft and slow. In 2021, one University of Maryland researcher asked birders to log what they saw through an observation protocol called the Brood X Bird Feast.
The pattern behind all 30 birds is the same. When cicadas appear in vast numbers, predators eat their fill and leave most of them behind. Scientists call this predator satiation, and the animals that eat cicadas, from backyard robins to Mediterranean falcons, are the reason emerging in force works.