Bird Species Name Generator

Real bird names follow a surprisingly strict grammar, and copying it is what makes an invented species feel like it belongs in a field guide. The common name is usually a descriptor plus a bird type: the descriptor is a plumage feature (Rufous-capped, White-throated, Black-bellied, Chestnut-winged), a habitat or range (Marsh, Scrub, Cloud-forest, Island), a size or rank (Greater, Lesser, Dwarf, Giant), or a person the bird was named after (Hartley's, Okonkwo's, Vasquez's). The type word comes from real families: wren, warbler, thrush, finch, honeyeater, kingfisher, nightjar, petrel, rail and so on. Hyphenate color-plus-bodypart compounds, capitalize every word and keep it to two to four words.

Scientific names give a second layer. A binomial is a capitalized genus followed by a lowercase species epithet, usually Latin or Greek for a feature (aurifrons, golden-fronted), a place (insularis, of islands) or a person (hartleyi). You do not need to know Latin, only to keep the endings consistent: -us, -a, -um for adjectives, -i or -ae for people, -ensis for places.

The list below mixes all of these styles, from plain Pale Reed Warbler to Hartley's Cloud-forest Tanager to Aulacorhynchus veliferus, so you can populate a coastline, a rainforest or an alien moon with birds that sound like someone went out and counted them.