Top 10 Birds With Amazing Tails

Birds are amazing in so many ways. Some birds have amazing beaks, some can fly faster than modern cars some can sing sweeter than most of us, and some others have spectacular tails. Here the list of top 10 birds with amazing tails.

10 Red-tailed Hawk

red tailed hawk

A beautiful common hawk found across North America. You may spot the magnificent red-tailed hawks soar high in the sky. If you did, you might have impressed by its beauty of tail apart from its broad wings. The tail of these hawks is short but wide. As the name suggests, the tail has beautiful brick like coloration.

The color of other parts of a red-tailed hawk is as beautiful as its tail. Their upper parts are a rich brown, and underparts are pale. Their belly also features stunning spots and bands.

9 Motmot

motmot

Motmots are a group of beautifully plumaged birds found in neotropical regions of South and Central America. Most species of motmots have a long tail with a racket like tipped long tail. It’s the most distinguishable feature of motmots. Hey also have a lovely plumage with shades of blue, green, turquoise, yellow and orange.

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8 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

scissor tailed flycather

Named after its long, forked tail, scissor-tailed flycatcher is a medium sized bird that found in Savannas and shrubs of North and Central America. Females are duller and have a shorter tail than males. The remarkable, long tail of male bird feature black upper part and white underpart. A matured scissor-tailed flycatcher has a gray head, white underparts, pink sides, and belly.

7 Long-tailed Tit

long tailed tit

Long-tailed tit is a tiny, round bodied bird found in the temperate regions of Europe and Asia. They grow only to a length of 13 to 15 cm. Surprisingly, almost 8 cm of this tiny bird is represented by its long, narrow tail. That’s the tail is longer than the body. It’s the most noticeable feature of this bird and also which after they named for

Long-tailed tit is not just known for its long tail but also for its lovely plumage. It displays eye catching shades of black, white and pink.

6 Golden Pheasant

golden pheasant

Golden pheasant is an exceptionally beautiful bird with bright coloration. The male golden pheasant is more colorful and beautiful than females. They have a golden crest, bright red underparts, green upper back, yellow wattle and a beautiful long brown colored tail. This long tail makes up almost two third of a total length of a male golden pheasant.

You may find golden pheasant as an easy to spot bird as they are very colorful. But contrary to this belief, it’s tough to spot this beautiful bird. Because for most time they remain hidden in their natural habitat of dense woodlands and forests.

5 Long-tailed Widowbird

long-tailed widowbird

From its name you can assume this bird has a long tail. But both beauty and length of its tail are beyond your imagination. The tail feather of this great bird measures up to 20 inches. That’s almost three times that of their body length. Only the male bird of this African species has such fascinating tail.

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The female has a short and narrow tail. The male’s tail is not just long but also wide. Most of a long-tailed widowbird is black except the orange shoulders. It’s so wonderful to watch a long-tailed widowbird on the flight by spreading its exceptionally long tail. This showy tail also the main deciding factor used by a female bird to find its mate.

4 Superb Lyrebird

superb lyrebird

Superb Lyrebird is a ground-dwelling bird with an extraordinarily long tail feathers. This magnificent bird is native to rainforests of Southeastern Australia. It’s a large bird where the male bird has an exceptionally long tail. It took seven years to reach the full length of the tail (up to 28 inches).

This amazing tail of superb lyrebird feature sixteen feathers. Interestingly, these long feathers form a lyre (stringed musical instrument) like shape. In courtship display, the male lyre bird flips these beautiful feathers to attract the female.

3 Indian Peafowl

indian peacock

Yes, most of us all this beautiful bird as peacock. But it’s actually the name of the male bird of peafowl family. Among this family, the best-known species is Indian peafowl. The other two species are Congo and green peafowl. As you know, peacocks are renowned for their magnificent courtship display by spreading their long, iridescent tail feathers.

Only the peacocks have the long, colorful tails, where the peahens are duller with mottled brown plumage. Surprisingly, the tail of a peacock makes up 60% of its total body length. Such an exceptionally long tail of peacock also features jaw droppingly beautiful eyespots. The number of eyespots and also the length of the tail varies across the peacocks.

2 Wilson’s Bird of Paradise

birds with amazing tails

Wilson’s bird of paradise is a stunningly colorful bird that renowned for its vibrant courtship display. This cute bird is endemic to lowland rainforests of Papua islands of Waigeo and Batanta. There are not many birds present such a magnificent mixture of colors as male Wilson’s bird of paradise.

Male paradise birds have a bluish head with beautiful black patterns, a turquoise crown, black upper wings, yellow mantle and blue feet. Their tail is not so long. But the curved shape and beautiful violet coloration are so unique among bird family.

The female bird of paradise has a brownish body compared to colorful male. To attract the female, the male bird performs an exceptional courtship display. At first, the male bird clears the ground to make this courtship display as colorful as possible. When the female paradise comes, the male bird starts the courtship display by exposing his bright feathers, head, tail and flashing his gorgeous green mouth.

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1 Ribbon-tailed Astrapia

Ribbon tailed astrapia

credit of image : By Markaharper1 on Flickr

Related to the body size, male Ribbon-tailed astrapia has the longest tail feather in bird family. Found only in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, a fully grown male astrapia has a length up to 1 feet. Surprisingly. Its ribbon like white tail feathers grows up to a length of 3 feet. That’s three times of their body length.

This unusually long tail gives a unique look to male astrapias. Their body feathers have an olive green and bronze coloration. The female astrapia hasn’t a lengthy tail and colorful plumage like a male bird. They have a less showy brownish plumage.