24 Bird Names That Start with E: From Backyard Eagles to Exotic Trogons
October 25, 2026
More than two dozen notable bird names that start with E span nearly every continent, every habitat, and nearly every branch of the avian family tree. Some, like the Eastern Bluebird and European Starling, show up at feeders across the United States. Others, like the Eared Pitta or Eared Poorwill, are so rarely seen that even experienced birders consider a sighting a career highlight.
This species-by-species reference works as both a casual reading list and a practical bird identification guide. Each entry below covers where a species lives, what makes it recognizable, and why it matters to the people who study it. Birds that start with E include eagle, egret, emu, eider, eurasian magpie, eastern bluebird, elephant bird (extinct), and emperor penguin, and the 24 species profiled here represent some of the most recognizable and biologically interesting members of that group.
1. Eagle
Eagle is not a single species but a broad common name applied to roughly 60 large birds of prey across several genera worldwide. In the United States, the most familiar representative is the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), the national bird that nests along rivers, lakes, and coastlines from Alaska to Florida. Eagles share a few traits regardless of species: powerful hooked beaks, broad wings built for soaring, and eyesight several times sharper than a human’s.
Wingspan varies enormously across the group. The Bald Eagle has a wingspan of 180 to 230 centimeters, while the Philippine Eagle and Harpy Eagle reach even greater sizes in their respective tropical forest habitats. Golden Eagles, meanwhile, favor open mountains and cliffs rather than water, hunting rabbits and ground squirrels instead of fish.
2. Egret
Egret refers to a group of herons known for their slender build and typically white plumage, with the Great Egret (Ardea alba) as the most widespread example across North American wetlands. The egret is a long-legged wading bird with elegant white plumage and a slender neck, built for stalking fish, frogs, and insects in shallow water.
During breeding season, Great Egrets grow long, wispy plumes that nearly drove the species to extinction in the late 1800s when the feathers were prized for women’s hats. Conservation efforts since then have allowed populations to recover across wetlands, rice fields, and coastal marshes. Anyone curious about other species with similarly pale plumage can browse this list of birds with white wings for comparison.
3. Emu
The Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) is Australia’s largest native bird and, after the ostrich, represents the second-largest living bird by height. Adults stand up to six feet tall, covered in shaggy, double-shafted feathers that give them a slightly unkempt look compared to most birds.
Emus cannot fly, but their long legs make up for it. They can sprint at speeds approaching 30 miles per hour and cover vast distances across grasslands and open woodland in search of seeds, fruit, and insects. Males, unusually among birds, take on full incubation duty, sitting on the nest without eating or drinking for roughly eight weeks.
4. Eastern Bluebird
The Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) is one of the most beloved backyard birds in the eastern and central United States, prized for its vivid blue back and rust-orange breast. According to the National Audubon Society, a high percentage of Eastern Bluebirds in North America today nest in birdhouses put up especially for them along “bluebird trails”.
Cornell’s All About Birds notes that these thrushes favor open country with patchy vegetation, where meadows, old fields, and golf courses are good places to spot them sitting on fence lines or power lines. Females lay three to seven pale blue eggs and typically raise two to three broods a year, with both parents feeding the nestlings until they leave the nest at around 18 to 19 days old.
Pro Tip: Eastern Bluebirds are secondary cavity nesters that cannot excavate their own holes, so a properly built nest box placed in open habitat is one of the most effective ways to attract them to a yard.
5. Emperor Penguin
The Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species, breeding exclusively on the sea ice surrounding Antarctica. The Emperor Penguin can survive the harshest winters on Earth, enduring temperatures that drop below negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit alongside winds that can exceed 100 miles per hour.
Males incubate a single egg on their feet for roughly two months through the darkest, coldest part of the Antarctic winter, huddling together in large groups to conserve heat. They do not eat during this entire period, relying on fat reserves built up before the breeding season began.
6. Eared Grebe
The Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) is a small waterbird found on lakes and reservoirs across western North America, instantly recognizable by its blood-red eyes. The Eared Grebe is a small waterbird that displays distinctive golden ear tufts during the breeding season, fanning out behind the eyes like fine wisps of straw.
Few birds undergo a transformation quite like this species before migration. Eared Grebes gorge on brine shrimp at staging lakes until they nearly double their body weight, then become briefly flightless as their flight muscles atrophy, before rebuilding muscle and shedding fat to complete one of the longest migratory flights of any grebe. Birders interested in other species with strikingly colored eyes can check this guide to birds with red eyes.
7. Eastern Phoebe
The Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) is a plain gray-brown flycatcher best identified by behavior rather than color: it perches upright and pumps its tail up and down almost constantly. This habit, combined with its raspy “fee-bee” call, makes it one of the easier flycatchers for beginners to learn.
Eastern Phoebes are among the earliest spring migrants to return to the northeastern and midwestern United States, often arriving while patches of snow still linger on the ground. They build mud-and-moss nests under bridges, eaves, and rock ledges, frequently reusing the same site in consecutive years.
8. Eastern Screech-Owl
The Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio) is a small, stocky owl with ear tufts and famously large, forward-facing eyes built for hunting in near darkness. This woodland species favors woodlands across North America, where it hunts small mammals along with insects, amphibians, and small birds.
Despite its name, the species does not screech; its actual call is a descending whinny or a soft trill, often mistaken for a small mammal rather than an owl. Eastern Screech-Owls come in two main color morphs, gray and reddish-brown, both of which provide excellent camouflage against tree bark. Readers who enjoy owl trivia may also like this roundup of birds with big eyes.
9. Eastern Imperial Eagle
The Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca) breeds across open plains and scattered woodlands from eastern Europe through central Asia, hunting ground squirrels, hares, and other mid-sized prey. Adults are dark brown with a pale golden-buff crown and nape that gives the species its regal appearance.
Important Note: The Eastern Imperial Eagle is classified as a globally threatened species due to habitat loss, power-line collisions, and poisoning, and conservation programs across its breeding range continue to monitor remaining populations closely.
10. Egyptian Vulture
The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is one of the few birds known to use tools in the wild. Across parts of Africa and southern Europe, this open-country scavenger feeds largely on carrion, but it is also famous for picking up stones and hurling them at ostrich eggs to crack the thick shells open.
Adults have a striking bare yellow face framed by white plumage and black flight feathers, a pattern that makes them easy to pick out as they circle on thermals searching for carcasses. Like many vulture species, Egyptian Vulture numbers have declined sharply in parts of their range due to poisoning and loss of food sources.
11. Elf Owl
The Elf Owl (Micrathene whitneyi) is the smallest owl species in the world, weighing barely more than an ounce and standing about the height of a sparrow. It nests almost exclusively in old woodpecker holes carved into saguaro cacti and other desert trees across the southwestern United States and Mexico.
Despite its tiny size, the Elf Owl is a capable nighttime hunter, specializing in moths, beetles, scorpions, and other desert invertebrates. Its diminutive stature and nocturnal habits make it one of the hardest North American owls to spot without a guided night walk.
12. European Starling
The European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) was introduced to North America in the 1890s and has since become one of the continent’s most widespread and controversial songbirds. In fresh winter plumage its glossy black feathers are covered in white speckles, while breeding adults show an oily green-purple sheen with a bright yellow bill.
- Native range: Europe, western Asia, and North Africa
- US introduction: released in New York City’s Central Park in 1890
- Diet: insects, fruit, seeds, and food scraps
- Nesting behavior: aggressively competes with native cavity nesters for holes
Because starlings compete with native cavity nesters such as bluebirds and woodpeckers for limited nest sites, many backyard bird enthusiasts install nest boxes with entrance holes too small for starlings to enter. Anyone curious about similarly dark-headed species can browse this list of birds with black heads.
13. Eurasian Magpie
The Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) is a bold, intelligent corvid found across Europe and Asia, recognized by its glossy black-and-white plumage and long, iridescent tail. The Eurasian Magpie is one of the few animals capable of recognizing itself in a mirror, a trait shared with great apes, dolphins, and elephants and considered a marker of advanced self-awareness.
Magpies are also notable hoarders, stashing surplus food in short-term caches and sometimes moving it later to foil potential thieves. Their bold white wing and belly patches make them easy to identify even in flight, a pattern worth comparing against this guide to birds with white wings.
14. European Robin
The European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) is a small, round songbird with an orange-red breast and face, instantly recognizable across gardens, parks, and hedgerows throughout the United Kingdom and continental Europe. Despite the name overlap, it is not closely related to the American Robin, which belongs to the thrush family rather than the Old World flycatcher group.
European Robins are fiercely territorial and will defend their patch year-round, including through winter, which has helped cement their reputation as a familiar garden companion. The species appears widely on European holiday cards, a tradition tied to its habit of staying visible and active even in the coldest months.
15. Eurasian Eagle-Owl
The Eurasian Eagle-Owl (Bubo bubo) ranks among the largest owl species on Earth, with a wingspan ranging from 155 to 188 centimeters and bright orange eyes that give it an especially fierce expression. It is found across a wide swath of Europe and Asia, favoring rocky outcrops, forest edges, and steppe habitat.
This powerful predator takes prey as large as foxes, young deer, and other birds of prey, making it one of the few animals capable of hunting other owls and hawks. Its deep, resonant hooting call can carry for more than a mile on a calm night.
16. Elegant Tern
The Elegant Tern (Thalasseus elegans) breeds in dense colonies along the Pacific coast of North America, nesting almost entirely at a handful of sites in California and the Gulf of California. The Elegant Tern is a graceful seabird identified by a long, yellow-orange bill and black crest that gives it a slightly punk-rock silhouette compared to other terns.
Because so much of the global population concentrates at so few breeding sites, Elegant Terns are considered vulnerable to disturbance, sea-level rise, and changes in fish availability near their colonies. Coastal conservation groups monitor these colonies closely during the spring and summer breeding months.
17. Emerald Toucanet
The Emerald Toucanet (Aulacorhynchus prasinus) lives in the cloud forests and highland woodlands of Central America and parts of South America, cloaked almost entirely in bright green plumage that blends seamlessly with rainforest foliage. Its oversized, partially yellow bill is lightweight despite its size, built from a honeycomb-like bone structure rather than solid material.
Like other toucans, Emerald Toucanets feed mainly on fruit but will also eat insects, small lizards, and eggs when the opportunity arises. Their loud, croaking calls often give away their presence in the canopy long before they come into view.
18. Eastern Kingbird
The Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) is a medium-sized flycatcher known for its fearless defense of nesting territory, readily attacking crows, hawks, and even humans that stray too close to the nest. Its dark gray back, white underparts, and distinctive white-tipped tail make it easy to pick out on fence lines and open fields across much of the United States and Canada in summer.
Eastern Kingbirds spend their winters in South America, where their behavior shifts dramatically: instead of defending territory aggressively, they travel in loose flocks and feed heavily on fruit rather than the insects that dominate their summer diet.
19. Eastern Meadowlark
The Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) is a grassland songbird with a bright yellow breast crossed by a bold black V, closely related to blackbirds and orioles despite its lark-like name and habits. Its flutelike, whistled song is one of the signature sounds of open pastures and hayfields across the eastern and central United States.
Eastern Meadowlark populations have declined in many regions as grassland and pasture habitat has been converted to row-crop agriculture or development. Conservation groups increasingly work with ranchers and farmers to manage hayfields in ways that protect nesting meadowlarks during the breeding season.
20. Eared Dove
The Eared Dove (Zenaida auriculata) is one of the most abundant and widespread doves in South America, found from Colombia and Venezuela south to Argentina and Chile. Small black crescent marks below each eye give the species its common name, resembling tiny ear-like flourishes against the bird’s soft gray-brown plumage.
Eared Doves thrive in agricultural landscapes, where seed crops provide abundant food, and in some regions their large flocks are considered an agricultural pest around grain fields. They are closely related to the Mourning Dove familiar to birders across the United States.
21. Eared Pitta
The Eared Pitta (Hydrornis phayrei) is a shy, ground-dwelling forest bird found in Southeast Asia, named for the short black ear-like tufts that project from the sides of its head. Its brown, black, and buff plumage provides near-perfect camouflage against the leaf litter where it forages for insects, worms, and small invertebrates.
Because it spends nearly all its time on the forest floor under dense cover, the Eared Pitta is rarely seen even by experienced birders working its range in Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Its odd, almost storybook name places it among a handful of species collected in this guide to birds with weird names.
22. Eared Poorwill
The Eared Poorwill (Nyctiphrynus mcleodii) is a nocturnal nightjar found in pine-oak forests across the mountains of western Mexico, named for small feather tufts near the ears that are usually visible only at close range. Like other nightjars, its mottled gray-brown plumage renders it almost invisible against bark and leaf litter during the day.
Comparing the three “eared” species profiled in this guide highlights just how differently the same descriptive word can play out across unrelated bird families.
| Species | Region | Habitat | Source of “Eared” Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eared Dove | South America | Open country, farmland | Dark crescent marks below the eyes |
| Eared Pitta | Southeast Asia | Dense forest floor | Short feather tufts on the head |
| Eared Poorwill | Western Mexico | Pine-oak mountain forest | Small feather tufts near the ears |
23. Eastern Rosella
The Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius) is a brightly colored Australian parrot with a red head, white cheeks, and a body patterned in yellow, green, and blue. Native to woodlands and open grassy country in southeastern Australia, it has also established feral populations in New Zealand and parts of Europe after escaping from captivity.
Eastern Rosellas are popular aviary birds around the world thanks to their calm temperament and striking colors, though they require careful dietary management in captivity. Owners who keep aviaries or allow supervised outdoor time should check this reference on plants that are poisonous to birds before adding greenery to an enclosure or yard.
24. Elegant Trogon
The Elegant Trogon (Trogon elegans) is a sought-after birdwatching target in the canyons of southeastern Arizona, where it represents the northernmost edge of a range that extends south through Mexico into Central America. Males show a coppery-green back, a bright red belly, and a yellow bill, while a distinctive white breast band separates the two colors.
Because the species barely reaches the United States, dedicated birders often travel specifically to sky-island canyons near the Arizona-Mexico border each summer hoping to hear its rough, croaking call echo through sycamore-lined streams.
From the six-foot-tall Emu to the ounce-sized Elf Owl, bird names that start with E cover an unusually wide range of sizes, habitats, and behaviors for a single letter of the alphabet. Many of these species, like the Eastern Bluebird and Eastern Meadowlark, are worth watching for in a backyard or local park, while others, like the Eared Pitta or Elegant Trogon, reward dedicated travel and patience. Readers building out a broader ornithology reference may also enjoy continuing the alphabetical journey with birds that start with I, K, Q, or even the shorter lists for X and Z.