Birds beginning with V

Van Dam's Vanga - Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Vanellus malarbaricus - The Yellow-wattled Lapwing, Vanellus malabaricus, is a lapwing, a group of medium sized waders in the family Charadriidae. It is a non-migratory breeder restricted to the Indian Subcontinent and is found on the dry plains. Although they do not migrate, they are known to make seasonal movements in response to rains. Like other lapwings and plovers, they are ground birds and their nest is a mere collection of tiny pebbles within which their well camouflaged eggs are laid. The chicks are nidifugous, leaving the nest shortly after hatching and following their parents to forage for food.

Vanikoro Flycatcher - The Vanikoro Flycatcher is a small passerine, 13 cm long and weighing around 13 g. It has a large, slightly hooked black bill and black legs. The plumage varies between the sexes; the male has dark blue-black plumage over the head and throat, back, tail and wings, and a washed out red belly with a white rump. The pattern for the female is similar, but paler overall and with the orange of the belly also coming up the throat as far as the bill. There is some variation based on subspecies; the female of the race dorsalis of the northern Lau Group has a white throat, whereas the male of kandavensis has much richer orange underparts. The juvenile birds resemble females but also have white scalloping on the wings.

Variable Antshrike - The Variable Antshrike is a thickset bird with a total length of approximately 14-16 cm . The male has black wings with grey edging to the remiges , and white wing-bars that may appear spotty, especially on the lesser wing coverts. The tail is black with white tips . In the eastern, central and southern subspecies, the chest and most of the head are grey, the back is grey with variable amounts of black , a semi-concealed white interscapular patch, and the crown is black . The variation in the colour of the belly and crissum is highly complex, ranging from white in some subspecies, over grey in others, to deep cinnamon. The male of the western subspecies melanochrous from the Andes of Peru is strikingly different, being overall black except for the white in its wings and tail. The male of the subspecies aspersiventer of the Andes in north-western Bolivia and adjacent Peru approaches melanochrous in colour, but has dense white barring to the belly.

Variable Hawk - The Variable Hawk is a polymorphic species of bird of prey in the Accipitridae family. It is widespread and often common in open habitats in western and southern South America, including the Falkland Islands. Its taxonomy is disputed, with some splitting it into the widespread Red-backed Hawk and the Puna Hawk of the central and north Andean highlands, but the differences between the two are unclear, and consequently recent authorities have recommended treating them as a single species.

Variable Oystercatcher - "Variable" refers to the frontal plumage, which ranges from pied through mottled to all black. They are polymorphic meaning they have different genetic variants. They can open a shellfish by either hammering a hole in it or getting the bill between the two shells and twisting them apart. They breed in North Island, South Island, Stewart Island, and Chatham Islands. They do not breed inland or beside rivers although the SIPO does.

Variable Seedeater - It has a total length of approximately 11 cm . Adult males have a relatively heavy black bill. The upperparts are black, except for a greyish rump and two distinct white wing-bars . The underparts are white, except for a broad black pectoral collar and blackish mottling to the upper flanks. The far duller female has a brownish bill, dull buffy-olive upperparts and pale olive-ochre underparts. Juveniles resemble adult females.

Variable Seedeater - The Variable Seedeater, Sporophila corvina, is a passerine bird which breeds from southern Mexico through Central America to the Chocó of north-western South America. The taxonomy is confusing, and it was formerly considered a subspecies of Sporophila americana . Even within the Variable Seedeater as presently defined, there are great variations in its plumage.

Variable Sunbird - The Variable Sunbird is a fairly common resident breeder in equatorial Africa. Two eggs are laid in a suspended nest in a tree. This species is found in open woodland and cultivation.

Variable Wheatear - Its natural habitat is hot deserts.

Varied bunting - The range of the Varied Bunting stretches from the southern parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas in the United States south throughout Mexico as far as Oaxaca. Small disjunct populations occur in the state of Chiapas in Mexico and southeastern Guatemala.

Varied Honeyeater - The Varied Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.

Varied Lorikeet - The Varied Lorikeet is 19 cm long. It is mainly green with short yellow longitudinal streaks. The lores, forehead, and crown are red. The beak is red, the bare eye-rings are white, the lores are bare, and the irises are orange-yellow. The upper breast is mauve with longitudinal yellow streaks. The legs are bluish-grey. In the female the red on the head is less extensive, and the breast has duller colours. Juveniles are much duller and are mainly green with an orange forehead, pale-brown irises, and a brown beak that is orange at the base.

Varied Sittella - The Varied Sittella, Daphoenositta chrysoptera is a small, around 10-11 cm long, songbird native to Australia and New Guinea. Its crown is white, grey, black or a mixture of the three, and its body is whitish, grey or brown, sometimes streaked with black. Its wings are black, with a broad bar in either white or cinnamon.

Varied Thrush - The Varied Thrush is a member of the thrush family Turdidae.

Varied Triller - Common to very common in the north, they are uncommon to rare in the colder south. Typical habitat is rainforest, vine forest, riverine thickets, eucalypt forest and woodland, with a particular preference for the border areas between closed and open forests.

Variegated Antpitta - Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montanes.

Variegated Bristle-Tyrant - The Variegated Bristle-tyrant is a species of bird in the Tyrannidae family. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

Variegated Fairy-wren - Like other fairywrens, the Variegated Fairywren is a cooperative breeding species, with small groups of birds maintaining and defending small territories year-round. Groups consist of a socially monogamous pair with several helper birds who assist in raising the young. Male wrens pluck yellow petals and display them to females as part of a courtship display. These birds are primarily insectivorous and forage and live in the shelter of scrubby vegetation across 90% of continental Australia, which is a wider range than that of any other fairywren.

Variegated flycatcher - The Variegated Flycatcher is a species of bird in the Tyrannidae family. With the Crowned Slaty Flycatcher being moved to its own genus, this is now the only species remaining in Empidonomus.

Variegated Fulvetta - Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Variegated Tinamou - Crypturellus is formed from three Latin or Greek words. kruptos meaning covered or hidden, oura meaning tail, and ellus meaning diminutive. Therefore Crypturellus means small hidden tail.

Varzea Piculet - Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical swamps, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest.

Vasa Parrot - There are three subspecies:

Vaurie's Nightjar - Its natural habitat is cold desert. It is threatened by habitat loss. This bird is only known from a single 1929 specimen from Xinjiang, China. It has never been found again, and it is quite possibly invalid as it has not yet been compared to the similar subspecies of the European Nightjar, C. europaeus plumipes, which occurs at the locality where C. centralasicus was found.

Vaux's Swift - Vaux's Swift builds a cup nest of twigs and saliva on a vertical surface in a dark cavity, such as a tree hole, cliff crevice or attic. It lays three white eggs between March and July. It breeds in the mountains and foothills, mainly above 700 m, and forages over forests and more open areas, including towns.

Veery - The Veery, Catharus fuscescens, is a small thrush species. It is occasionally called Willow Thrush or Wilson's Thrush. It is a member of a close-knit group of migrant Catharus species, which also includes the cryptotaxa Grey-cheeked Thrush and Bicknell's Thrush .

Vegetarian Tree Finch - The Vegetarian Finch is a species of bird in the Darwin's finch group of the tanager family Thraupidae. It is monotypic within the genus Platyspiza. It is endemic to the Galapagos Islands.

Velvet Asity - Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Velvet Dove - The Whistling Dove, Ptilinopus layardi is a small fruit dove from Fiji. The species is endemic to the islands of Kadavu and Ono in the Kadavu Group in the south of Fiji. It is the most primitive of the "golden doves" a small subgroup of the genus Ptilinopus which includes two other small Fijian fruit doves, the Golden Dove and the Orange Dove. The group was once split into its own genus, Chrysoenas. The species has two other common names, the Velvet Dove and the Yellow-headed Dove.

Velvet Scoter - It winters further south in temperate zones, Europe as far south as Great Britain, and on the Black and Caspian Sea. Small numbers reach France and northern Spain. It forms large flocks on suitable coastal waters. These are tightly packed, and the birds tend to take off together.

Velvet-fronted Euphonia - It is endemic to Colombia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and heavily degraded former forest.

Velvet-fronted Grackle - The Velvet-fronted Grackle is a species of bird in the Icteridae family. It is monotypic within the genus Lampropsar. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical swamps and heavily degraded former forest.

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch - It is a resident breeder of all types of woods, although open evergreen forest is the optimal habitat.

Velvet-purple coronet - The Velvet-purple Coronet is a species of hummingbird in the Trochilidae family. It is found in humid foothill forest on the West Andean slope in western Colombia and north-western Ecuador. Its highly iridescent plumage is striking, being largely bluish-purple below and on the crown, greenish-blue on the back, green on the upperwing coverts, and rufous on the underwing coverts. In poor light it may appear all black, except for the strongly contrasting white outer rectrices.

Velvety Black Tyrant - Its natural habitats are temperate forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, and subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland.

Venezuela Wood Quail - The Venezuelan Wood-quail is a species of bird in the Odontophoridae family. It is found only in Venezuela. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Venezuelan Bristle-Tyrant - Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Venezuelan Flowerpiercer - Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Venezuelan Flycatcher - It breeds in forest and deciduous woodland in northeastern Colombia, northern Venezuela and Tobago. The nest is built in a tree cavity.

Veniliornis lignarius - This species was long placed in the genus Picoides where it was, together with its sister species, considered something of an oddball. In 2006, Moore et al. published research on mtDNA COI and Cyt b sequences which suggests that the Striped and Checkered Woodpeckers are actually most closely related to the White-spotted Woodpecker, Veniliornis spilogaster, a peculiar Picoides-like species which also was hitherto unique in its genus.

Veniliornis mixtus - The Checkered Woodpecker, Veniliornis mixtus, is a woodpecker found in eastern South America.

Verdin - The Verdin is a very small bird. At 4.5 inches in length, it rivals the Bushtit as one of the smallest passerines in North America. It is gray overall, and adults have a bright yellow head and rufous "shoulder patch" . Unlike the tits, it has a sharply pointed bill.

Vermiculated Screech-Owl - The Guatemalan Screech-owl is a species of owl in the Strigidae family. A number of its subspecies are often separated as Vermiculated Screech-owl , and occasionally even additional species such as the Rio Napo Screech-Owl, M. napensis. If only a single species is recognized, the common name "Vermiculated Screech-owl" applies, but the scientific name remains the older M. guatemalae

Vermilion Cardinal - Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.

Vermilion Flycatcher - The species grows to about seven inches in length, and is strongly dimorphic; males are bright red in color, with dark brown plumage. Females have a peach-colored belly with a dark grey upperside, and are somewhat similar to Say's Phoebe .

Vermilion Tanager - It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes.

Vernal Hanging Parrot - Vernal Hanging Parrot is a bird of dry jungle and cultivation. It nests in holes in trees, laying 2-4 white eggs.

Verreaux's Coua - Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Verreaux's Eagle - It is about 75 to 95 cm tall. The average weight for males is 3.7kg and for females is 4.5kg . It has a wingspan of up to 2.2 m . Juveniles are usually light and dark brown with a black face. Structurally, it is very similar to the Golden Eagle of the Northern Hemisphere, and the Wedge-tailed Eagle of Australia.

Verreaux's Eagle-Owl - Verreaux's Eagle-owl ranges from 66–75 cm in length. This species can attain a wingspan 2 m and weighs from 1600 to 3115 grams , orange eyes and two feather tufts on their ears. Their feathers are dark brown on top and light grey below.

Versicolor Teal - The Silver Teal's range includes southern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands. The southernmost birds migrate to southern Brazil in the winter.

Versicoloured Barbet - The Versicoloured Barbet is a very colourful species of bird in the Capitonidae family. It is found in humid Yungas forest growing on the east Andean slopes in Peru and Bolivia.

Versicoloured Emerald - The Versicoloured Emerald , sometimes placed in the genus Agyrtria, is a species of hummingbird from central and eastern South America.

Vervain Hummingbird - The Vervain Hummingbird is a species of hummingbird in the Trochilidae family. It is found in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica, and is a vagrant to Puerto Rico. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forest.

Vesper Sparrow - Adults have light brown upperparts and light underparts, both with darker streaking. They have a white eye ring and a long dark brown tail which shows white outer feathers in flight.

Victoria Crowned Pigeon - One of three superficially similar species of crowned pigeons , the Victoria Crowned Pigeon is distributed in the lowland and swamp forests of northern New Guinea and surrounding islands. Its diet consists mainly of fruits, figs, seeds and invertebrates. The female usually lays a single white egg.

Victorin's Scrub Warbler - It is found only in South Africa; its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist shrubland.

Vidua maryae - Its natural habitats are dry woodland and shrubland in rocky areas. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Vieillot's Barbet - The Vieillot's Barbet is a resident breeder in the African scrubland on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert from Senegal to Ethiopia. It is an arboreal species of savannah and farmland which eats insects and fruit, especially figs. It nests in a tree hole, laying three eggs.

Vietnamese pheasant - The Vietnamese Pheasant is a species of gallopheasant. Discovered in 1964, it is endemic to central Vietnam. Its range concentrates around Ke Go Nature Reserve in Ha Tinh Province.

Vilcabamba brush-finch - Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes.

Vilcabamba tapaculo - This tapaculo was formerly considered to be a subspecies of Magellanic Tapaculo, Scytalopus magellanicus, but is now treated as a separate species based on differences in voice.

Vilcabamba Thistletail - Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montanes and subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland.

Village Indigobird - This indigobird is found in many open habitats including open woodland, scrub and cultivation, but, as its name implies, it is most readily seen near villages.

Village Weaver - This often abundant species occurs in a wide range of open or semi-open habitats, including woodlands and human habitation, and frequently forms large noisy colonies in towns, villages and hotel grounds.

Vinaceous Dove - This species is abundant in scrub and savannah. It builds a stick nest in a tree, often an acacia, and lays two white eggs. Its flight is quick, with the regular beats and an occasional sharp flick of the wings which are characteristic of pigeons in general.

Vinaceous Rosefinch - It is found in China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Taiwan. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical dry forests.

Vinaceous-breasted parrot - Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, and plantations. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Violaceous Euphonia - It occurs in forests, second growth and plantations of cocoa and citrus fruit. The ball nest is built on a bank, tree stump or cavity and the normal clutch is four, sometimes three, red-blotched white eggs, which are incubated by the female.

Violaceous Jay - It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forest.

Violaceous Quail-Dove - The Violaceous Quail-dove is a species of bird in the Columbidae family. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forest.

Violaceous Trogon - It is a resident of moist tropical forests, where it nests in a wasp, ant or termite nest or a hole in a rotten tree, with a typical clutch of two or three white eggs.

Violet Coucal - Formerly classified as a Species of Least Concern by the IUCN.

Violet Sabrewing - It is a species of the understory and edges of mountain forests, especially near streams. The female Violet Sabrewing lays its two white eggs in a relatively large cup nest on a low horizontal branch, usually over a stream.

Violet Turaco - These are unmistakable birds, although often inconspicuous in the treetops. They are 45 cm long, including a long tail. Their plumage is glossy violet except for the thick red bill, yellow forehead and chestnut crown. In flight, Violet Turaco's crimson primary flight feathers contrast with the violet plumage.

Violet-bellied Hummingbird - Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, and heavily degraded former forest.

Violet-capped Hummingbird - Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Violet-capped Woodnymph - Male

Violet-crowned hummingbird - The Azure-Crowned Hummingbird is a species of hummingbird in the Trochilidae family. It is found in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes.

Violet-crowned hummingbird - The bird is best distinguished by its violet-colored cap, from where it gets its name. Adults are colored predominantly a dark olive green for their upperparts and tail. The underparts are predominantly white. The bill of the male is straight and very slender. It is red in coloration, and shows a black tip. The female is less colorful than the male.

Violet-crowned Woodnymph - The Violet-crowned Woodnymph is a common to abundant bird of wet lowlands and foothills to 2500 m, and may move higher when not breeding. The female Violet-crowned Woodnymph is entirely responsible for nest building and incubation. She lays two white eggs in a plant-fibre cup nest 1-5 m high on a horizontal branch. Incubation takes 15-19 days, and fledging another 20-26.

Violet-eared Waxbill - It is found in subtropical/ tropical dry shrubland and savanna habitats in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The status of the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Violet-fronted Brilliant - The Violet-fronted Brilliant is a species of hummingbird in the Trochilidae family. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes.

Violet-green swallow - Adults are velvet green on their upperparts with white underparts and a forked tail; they have white patches on the side of the rump. The head is usually more coppery or brownish than the back, and the rump is a glossy violet color. In adult males, the white throat area extends behind and above the eyes; adult females are duller. Immature birds are brown on the upperparts.

Violet-headed Hummingbird - It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montanes, and heavily degraded former forest.

Violet-necked Lory - Front

Violet-tailed Sylph - "...a rapid, double-sounding tez-it at 1 per sec for up to several minutes..."

Violet-throated Starfrontlet - The Violet-Throated Starfrontlet is a species of hummingbird in the Trochilidae family. It is found in Bolivia and Peru. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes.

Virginia Rail - Adults are mainly brown, darker on the back and crown, with orange-brown legs. They have long toes, a short tail and a long slim reddish bill. Their cheeks are grey, with a light stripe over the eye and a whitish throat.

Virginia's warbler - Despite what its name may suggest, Virginia's warbler is not actually named after the American State of Virginia, which makes sense as the birds range only reaches as far east as the state of Texas. The bird's common eastern range is central and southern mountains of Colorado, central Wyoming, and central and western New Mexico. The bird was named for Virginia Anderson, the wife of an army surgeon who discovered the bird at Fort Burgwin, New Mexico, in 1858. When Spencer Fullerton Baird of the Smithsonian Institution fully described the bird for science in 1860 he honored the wishes of the warbler's discoverer and designated Virginia to be both the bird's common and scientific name.

Viridian Dacnis - Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Viridian Metaltail - It is found in Colombia and Ecuador. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland.

Visayan flowerpecker - Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, and rural gardens. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Vitelline Warbler - It is found in the Cayman Islands and on the Swan Islands in Honduras. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and urban areas. It is becoming rare due to habitat loss.

Vogelkop Bowerbird - The birds are about 25 cm in length, with the females being slightly smaller. They are mainly olive brown in colour, though somewhat paler below, with no ornamental plumage. This makes the species one of the dullest-coloured members of the bowerbird family with, however, one of the largest and most elaborate bowers.

Vogelkop Melidectes - Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes.

Vogelkop Scrubwren - It is endemic to Indonesia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

Vogelkop Whistler - Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes.

Volcano Hummingbird - This tiny endemic bird inhabits open brushy areas, paramo, and edges of elfin forest at altitudes from 1850 m to the highest peaks. It is only 7.5 cm long. The male weighs 2.5 g and the female 2.8 g. The black bill is short and straight.

Volcano Junco - This junco breeds above the timberline, typically at altitudes above 3000m, but there is an isolated population at 2100 m on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica, and forest clearance on Cerro de la Muerte has allowed this species to descend to 2600 m. The habitat is open grassy or brushy areas with some stunted scrubs. The nest is a neat lined cup constructed on the ground under a log, bush or rock, or in a cavity on a vegetated bank. The female lays two brown-spotted pale blue eggs.

Von der Decken's Hornbill - This species is a small hornbill which has mainly whitish underparts and head and blackish upperparts. It has a long tail and a long curved bill which lacks a casque. It is similar to the Red-billed Hornbill except for the bill colour, and the lack of spotting on the wing coverts in both male and female.

Vulturine Guineafowl - It breeds in dry and open habitats with scattered bushes and trees, such as savannah or grassland. It lays its usually 4-8 cream-coloured eggs in a well-hidden grass-lined scrape.