A crown is always seen as a sign of regality, even if it’s placed upon an avian by mother nature. Size doesn’t matter in this case, because every shape of birds with crowns tend to radiate a similar, royal effect!
The feathery family is a gigantic one, containing birds that you can barely count with every type of data that might aid in your way.
But to know which birds have crested extruded out of their head is much simpler because not a lot of species are endowed with such a characteristic.
That’s why, my goal here is to make sorting easier for you by discussing 14 species and their traits while addressing 6 more akin to the ones that are mentioned.
Keep reading for intel on our illustrious friends, their habitats and much more!
Contents
- Identifying Birds with Beautiful Crowns
Identifying Birds with Beautiful Crowns
Now we’ll start our journey toward the identification of bodily features as well as a few innate traits about these crowned birds to enrich our knowledge.
Amazonian Royal Flycatcher
Source: @rosaines.aguilar
- Scientific Name: Onychorhynchus coronatus
- Size: 15 cm (5.9 in)
- Locality: Northern South America
- Status: Least Concern
- Breeding Season: Unidentified
The Tityridae family is one that contains some magnificent birds with crowns. The likes of Northern Royal Flycatcher and the species in concern here, Amazonian Royal Flycatcher, flaunt erectile crests on their nape that increases their visual aesthetics. Their name discloses the food habit of insect consumption which makes up for 100% of their diet.
Recognition
Amazonian Royal Flycatchers have a slightly red highlight on their chest but the rest of the feathers are shades of golden and brown. The crown on top of the head is made up with tiny crests of reds with black stripes. These can remain flat or stand upright depending on their preferred season and occasion.
Habitat
Another thing to pick up from the name is the spread of habitation for the species. The Amazonian basin territories through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and so on are the localities with a high density of these birds. You’ll have to search in the subsiding forests or humid lowlands to locate them.
Eurasian Hoopoe
Source: @bartlomiej_moskal
- Scientific Name: Upupa epops
- Size: 25 to 32 cm (9.8 to 12.6 in)
- Locality: Europe, Asia, and North Africa and northern Sub-Saharan Africa
- Status: Least Concern
- Breeding Season: Winter
Eurasian Hoopoes have always held cultural significance through the course of history. From Ancient Egyptian remarks on the temple walls to the mention of them in the Holy Quran, you can realize the extent of symbolism it carries on its wings. It’s protected by laws in different countries due to the help it provides in controlling certain pests.
Recognition
The feathers from this species are mostly caramel brown, more vibrant on the crown and a washed out tone across the body. Their wings seem like zebra skins, stripes of whites over blacks. Such repetition of colors are mimicked by the crown feather ends as well. A long beak and grayed out feathers around the feet complete the visuals for this bird.
Habitat
Eurasia and sub-Saharan belts of Africa host almost the entire population of Eurasian Hoopoes but a few stray colonies may be located outside of these designated lands. Grounds with slight vegetation surrounded by trees with cavities are the two checkboxes these birds need to fill before inhabiting a region. They do migrate during night for winter breeding, but the African birds are exempted from this movement.
Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo
Source: @oz_bird_photography
- Scientific Name: Lophochroa leadbeateri
- Size: 36 cm (14 in)
- Locality: Australia
- Status: Least Concern
- Breeding Season: August to October
Due to the color of the feathers, Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo is widely popular among bird lovers as the ‘pink cockatoo’. Although the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos are more common as pets, Major Mitchell’s Cockatoos aren’t captured or preserved as much, moving them toward the ‘Endangered’ status rapidly. The bird was named this way in honor of Major Thomas Mitchell, who was the first to describe it.
Recognition
Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo is a delicate looking bird with pink-tinted white feathers, but the pink gains more ground from the neck and upward. The abdomen follows the same baby pink path but the tail feathers are prone to yellow-ish highlights. Their crown is however quite tall and places a yellow stripe between the two reds, peaking with white tips.
Habitat
It’s a bird completely native to the interiors of Australia. The demands for habitat zones are quite precise and crucial for this species to survive. It needs dense woodlands that are extended with a sizable periphery because one pair prefers not to nest closer to another pair. These along with manmade deforestation are the major reasons for the decline of the species.
Grey Crowned Crane
Source: @hasanuddinahamid
- Scientific Name: Balearica regulorum
- Size: 1 m (3 ft 3 in)
- Locality: Eastern and southern Africa
- Status: Endangered
- Breeding Season: October to April
Grey Crowned Crane is the national bird of Uganda and has inspired the local culture in more ways one can count. It’s even embedded in the middle of the country’s flag and featured in the coat of arms. While its cousin Black Crowned Crane is in ‘Vulnerable’ status, the gray-plumaged bird is categorized under ‘Endangered’.
Recognition
The species’ feathers are painted with black, white and gray where the former is the predominant one. Whites are mostly over the wings and the gray covers up the chest. Long legs and golden crests indeed pose the bird in a kingly manner. As per the face, either side is patched with white and red down to the neck pouch.
Habitat
The roaming and foraging extents of Grey Crowned Crane ranges out to the dryer savannahs. But these aren’t ideal conditions for them to nest and breed. To achieve that, more moist territories are required for them. Such lands can be marshes, harvesting zones or even grass-infested riverbanks.
Victoria Crowned Pigeon
Source: @shotzbytysh
- Scientific Name: Goura victoria
- Size: 73 to 75 cm (29 to 30 in)
- Locality: New Guinea
- Status: Near Threatened
- Breeding Season: June to September
Victoria Crowned Pigeons are ‘Near Threatened’ species, named after the British Queen Victoria as a tribute to her crown. The more common of the crown pigeons is actually the Western one, having almost uncanny resemblances in physicality. However, out of all the crown pigeons, the Victorian species is the least found species out in the wilderness.
Recognition
The feather colors on this species exist within the gradients of blue and gray. Blue is more apparent around the head, neck and lower belly. Deep purple chest and grayed out blue paints out the wings. There’s also a white stripe with outlines at the wing roots. The crowns match the vibrant blue of the neck tipped with whites.
Habitat
It’s a bird endemic to New Guinea and a couple of islands surrounding the place. Their placements are usually far from the ocean, within lowlands or forested swamps. The nests are crafted up in the trees using dry materials like sticks and twigs. Such sturdy nests help them through the incubation, until the youngling is old enough to leave home.
Great Blue Turaco
Source: @bert_is_on_the_road
- Scientific Name: Corythaeola cristata
- Size: 70 to 76 cm (28 to 30 in)
- Locality: African tropical rainforest
- Status: Least Concern
- Breeding Season: Varies based on location
Almost all of the genera under the turaco family present some of the most colorful birds with crowns! From the Guinea Turaco to the Great Blue, a wide array of crown patterns are located in different forms. Out of them all, Great Blue Turaco is the largest and probably the most common in the tropical rainforests of Africa.
Recognition
These tall birds span up to 30 inches in length, presenting a long and gracious tail of blue with some greenish-yellow underneath. While the same color is reflected on the belly region, the remaining body feathers are a solid blue. However, the thigh muscles are covered with red tones, much like the tip of the yellow beak. Lastly, you’ll identify the blue-black crest from far off.
Habitat
One of the major reasons for this bird’s survival is its adaptive nature to almost any condition, even if it’s man-made deforestation. Mostly, their habitation zones are spreaded across the tropical and gallery forests of Africa. Nests made of sticks high above the ground give room for breeding in such fitting areas for survival.
White-Crowned Sparrow
Source: @atwaite.photo
- Scientific Name: Zonotrichia leucophrys
- Size: 15 to 16 cm (5.9 to 6.3 in)
- Locality: Northern Canada and western United States
- Status: Least Concern
- Breeding Season: Early fall
White-Crowned Sparrows carry a crest on top of their head lasting till the neck which is almost invisible to the naked eyes due to the absence of extruded feathers. The passerine species complies with most other generic sparrow behaviors like foraging and dietary preference. A recent study claims that the singing of these birds have been negatively affected by human-made sound pollution.
Recognition
Most of the featherings fit the perfect sparrow descriptions for the bird. Brown and white accented wings along with grayed out abdomen color combinations are extended to the tail as well. Starting from the face, black and white stripes are observed to extend over the head, encompassing their miniscule crowns under the color in the process.
Habitat
It’s a highly common bird in all parts of North America and the five subspecies are distributed across the continents. Bushy areas within nature are the common foraging grounds for the birds but a knack for breeding around the Rocky Mountains as well as coastal territories is also observed. The northern population migrates toward the south during winter for food scarcity.
Crested Partridge
Source: @ingridgarden8
- Scientific Name: Rollulus rouloul
- Size: 25 cm (9.8 in)
- Locality: South Burma, south Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo
- Status: Vulnerable
- Breeding Season: Depends on the range
If you want to see a real-life consequence of wood logging on nature, the ‘Vulnerable’ status of Crested Partridges is a prime example of this. These pheasants find it hard to cope with the cleared grounds and are prone to captivity. Carrying on at such a pace would see to the extinction of such innocent and alluring birds.
Recognition
The male and female birds of this species look completely different. Former is the bird with a crown between the two and is draped in black feathers. These thin, hairline crests are crimson dyed, of which a much brighter shade surrounds the eyes on both sexes. Female birds are usually moss-green with brown patches over the wings.
Habitat
Southeastern Asian fringes are where all the Crested Partridge of the world are located. In countries like Myanmar, Thailand or Malaysia, lowland forests cover up the inhabiting grounds for the species. There, these birds scrape the grounds and use leaves to create the breeding nest before concealing it with leaf heaps.
Kagu
Source: @fascinatingbirds
- Scientific Name: Rhynochetos jubatus
- Size: 55 cm (21.5 in)
- Locality: New Caledonia
- Status: Endangered
- Breeding Season: June to August
Kagu is the only surviving species from the Rhynochetidae family, of which only one other member has been detected from fossil records. These birds fly rarely and are located on a single island of the Melanesian subregion. Currently ‘Endangered’, this species has been facing challenges for the past century and conservation plans are in action at the moment.
Recognition
These bluish-white birds with light gray wings walk the face of the earth in a sublime manner. It’s further reinforced by their gray-blue crests that are usually laid back over the shoulder. Orange bills and a pair of the same colored legs paint a picture in your head that you simply can’t miss in their local habitats.
Habitat
New Caledonian shrubs and forested lands mark the endemic sites for the Kagu species. They can adapt to different categories of forests if there’s enough food sources for them to thrive successfully. Since foraging is a key trait for this bird, grounds that prevent them from doing so find it absent from those terrains.
Black-Crowned Night Heron
Source: @p.downing.photo
- Scientific Name: Nycticorax nycticorax
- Size: 58 to 66 cm (22.8 to 26 in)
- Locality: Eurasia
- Status: Least Concern
- Breeding Season: Mid-March to late April
Black-Crowned Night Herons are referred to just as ‘Night Herons’ in short and they’re used synonymously among bird experts for convenience. While most of the herons are usually quite large in size, Night Herons in such cases fall in the medium category. Due to their nocturnal lurking and red eyes, former philosophers considered these birds to be “bad omens”.
Recognition
Ones with feeble hearts might find it terrifying to look at Night Herons because of their imposing stature, bloodshot eyes and black bills. Over white feathers, the wings remain black like their beaks. This darkness has spreaded over to the top of the head as well, covering up the crown extended into white spikes.
Habitat
Habitat zones for this species is spreaded all over the world, mostly concentrated around fresh salt water lands. Their nesting habits see the birds creating a home using dried out twigs over branched platforms. Even inland grounds are inhabitable if those are concealed enough for maximum safety. Only the birds from cooler regions migrate and the others remain stationary.
Polish Chicken
Source: @fluffyfeetandfeathers
- Scientific Name: Gallus gallus domesticus
- Size: 30.5 to 28 cm (12 to 15 in)
- Locality: Europe
- Status: Endangered
- Breeding Season: All year round
Crested chickens are widely available in almost every part of the world, signified by the red crest placed on top of their heads. Polish Chicken is basically one of the breeds of the mentioned bird which presumably originated from the Netherlands. These aren’t bred for poultry purposes, rather ornamentation is the main reason for artificially expanding the numbers in captivity.
Recognition
The visuals on Polish Chickens might remind you of someone with bleached braids because that’s how their crows are spreaded over the head. These crests even cover up almost half of their body following the same color as the crown. There are many varieties to this bird, some of which goes an extra distance of growing beards underneath the face as well.
Habitat
These are mostly captive breeds who aren’t usually seen in the wilderness since they can’t survive on their own. Thus, the species is categorized as ‘Endangered’. As pets, these birds require some open space for roaming around and a shelter to lay their eggs in. No matter how they look, Polish Chicken are delicate and usually frightened, so a gentle approach should always be taken around them.
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Source: @f.miller_98
- Scientific Name: Regulus satrapa
- Size: 8 to 11 cm (3.1 to 4.3 in)
- Locality: North America
- Status: Least Concern
- Breeding Season: June and July
One of North America’s very own natives, the Golden-Crowned Kinglet is a songbird of a very minute size. It lives up to the name ‘kinglet’ with the golden crown, whereas another variant with a red crest also exists in the world, namely Ruby-Crowned Kinglet. There have been reports of hybridization between these two songbirds since they share no resemblance to catbirds or mockingbirds.
Recognition
A dirty white belly with gray neck feathers are the primary color tones for the species. These grays are corrupted with a tinge of yellow, which is also accented over the black & white striped wings, tail as well as the black crown on the nape. This tiny size with the unique colorization presents it to be easily recognizable, but you might require a sharp pair of eyes for locating one.
Habitat
This species is fairly common all across the continent, from the northern parts of Canada to the southern parts of the USA, all the way up to Texas. Coniferous forests are the natural habitat zones for birds as such because of safe shelter and limitless food. They migrate in winter toward temperate places, usually from Canada to the States.
Orange-crowned Warbler
Source: @v21earth
- Scientific Name: Leiothlypis celata
- Size: 12 to 13 cm (4.8 to 5.3 in)
- Locality: Canada, Alaska and western United States
- Status: Least Concern
- Breeding Season: Early May to mid-August
The cousin of Yellow Warblers, paying homage to the New World warbler family, stands the Orange-crowned Warbler with its distinctive properties in my list of birds with crowns. It has sprouted out four subspecies, basically depending on the breeding habitats and timelines. This species doesn’t have any year round residence because migrating based on season is a common practice.
Recognition
When this bird forages over shrubs or remains perched up behind leaves, it becomes very tricky to locate one due to the light mossy tone of the feathers. This color begins from the face and continues on to cover up the entire abdomen. Gray wing edges take prominence up to the tail feathers. The heat pushes up the crown in orange but not in the extreme manner.
Habitat
All of the shrubby terrains between Canada and western parts of the USA are the natural areas for Orange-crowned Warblers to live in. During winter migration, they move toward the middle parts of the continent for warmer inhabitations. The mentioned shrubs are picked by the species for planting their cup-sized nests. There are cases of egg-laying on the grounds or inside bushes.
Pileated Woodpecker
Source: @briankeenanphotography
- Scientific Name: Dryocopus pileatus
- Size: 40 to 49 cm (16 to 19 in)
- Locality: North America
- Status: Least Concern
- Breeding Season: Late March and early April
There are way too many woodpeckers to list down under birds with crowns because it’s a regular aspect for a large portion of this bird group. Pileated Woodpeckers among them have the most sizable crest, thus it’s the one highlighted in this list. Even its name derives from the red crown on top, coming from the Latin word pileatus translating into ‘cap’.
Recognition
If I have to give you only one piece of advice for a spot on identification for Pileated Woodpeckers, I’d tell you to look at its nape to find a red crown standing upright like spiky hair. Otherwise, it’s a black bird showing white patches and thin stripes over wings and abdomen. Even the face bears similar textures and a hint of red beside the narrow beak.
Habitat
This species is generally spreaded in certain parts of North America, ranging to the north from southern Canada. Then it extends slightly toward the western Rocky Mountains and consumes a larger territory toward the east, covering states like Florida, Wisconsin and touching down on the Pacific coast. Forests with dense trees in these localities are their favorite habitat zones.
Thoughts
One thing that has been made apparent from studying the list of birds with crowns is that a lot of the species are threatened or endangered in terms of their conservation status.
Apart from habitat loss by man-made causes, a common reason behind it is their physical beauty which leaves them vulnerable to captivity.
Even in some parts of the world, such crests have been abducted from dead birds in order to be sold in the community.
No matter how pretty you might find them or want to possess a crown from a majestic bird, it’s totally unfair to these animals and we should know better to leave them alone.
Rather, ensuring their safety should be our first priority, because extending these practices might leave our crowned species extinct from the earth real soon!
Similar Post:
- Small Birds with Long Beaks: 14 Smart Avians
- 20 Black Birds with White Stripes on Wings [Unique Species]
Audio Credits: xeno-canto, wikimedia
