Birds by Name – B

Bittern

The Bittern, Botaurus stellaris, is part of the heron family, Ardeidae, and is a very shy and elusive bird. It is heavy bodied and, unlike the Grey Heron, has short legs and very long toes.

It is a patterned black and buff colour and blends in well in its only habitat, wet reed beds. It skulks about in the reeds, catching fish with a stabbing motion.

Bitterns grow to between 69 cm and 81 cm in length, have a 100 cm to 130 cm wingspan and weigh up to 1.94 kg.

Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Ardeidae
Subfamily: Botaurinae

   

   

Blackbird

The Common Blackbird, Turdus merula, is a species of true thrush, turdus meaning ‘thrush’ and merula meaning ‘blackbird’ in Latin.

The male is black with a yellow ring around the eyes and a yellow beak, the female is brown, which makes it very easy for a change to tell them apart.

The Common Blackbird is omnivorous, so eats a wide range of insects, earthworms, seeds and berries.

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Turdidae
Genus: Turdus
Species: T. merula

   

Blackcap

The Blackcap, Sylvia atricapilla, is a common and widespread sylviid warbler and breeds throughout temperate Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. Blackcaps in northern Europe tend to migrate to southern Europe or North Africa for the winter, those in southern Europe tend to stay put.

The Blackcap has a greyish body and, as the name suggests, a distinctive black cap. Having said that, the female has a brown cap, making the male and female easily distinguishable. Its closest living relative is the Garden Warbler.

Insects are its main diet although it will eat berries if there are not enough bugs around which makes it quite a hardy bird.

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Sylviidae
Genus: Sylvia
Species: S. atricapilla

   

Black Redstart

The Black Redstart, Phoenicurus ochruros, is usually between 13 and 14.5 cm in length and weighs in at between 12 and 20 grams.

The adult male is basically dark grey to black on the upper parts with a black breast and an orange-red lower rump and tail with the two central tail feathers dark red-brown. The belly and undertail are a blackish-grey.

The female is grey overall except for the orange-red lower rump and tail.

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Phoenicurus
Species: P. ochruros

  

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Black-tailed Godwit

The Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa limosa, is a large, long-legged, long-billed (about 12cm) wading shorebird.

In summer they have a bright orangey chest, belly, neck and head, in winter they’re more greyish-brown. Female black-tailed godwits are bigger and heavier than the males and have a longer beak.

They measures around 42 centimetres from bill to tail with a wingspan of 70–82 centimetres. Males weigh around 280 grams and females around 340 grams.

Godwits dine mainly on invertebrates and the odd aquatic plant, although in the breeding season their diet may also include beetles, flies, grasshoppers, dragonflies, mayflies, caterpillars and molluscs with the occasional meal of fish eggs, frogspawn and tadpoles.

Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Limosa
Species: L. limosa

   

Blue Tit

The Blue Tit, Cyanistes caeruleus, is a small passerine bird in the tit family Paridae and  is easily recognisable by its blue and yellow plumage.

The Blue Tit prefers insects, caterpillars and spiders for their diet, although outside the breeding season they also eat seeds and other vegetable-based foods.

The Blue Tit is usually about 12 centimetres in length, has a wingspan of around 18 centimetres and weighs in at about 11 grams.

The common Blue Tit has an azure blue crown with a dark blue line passing through the eye, encircling the white cheeks to the chin. The forehead and a bar on the wing are white. The nape, wings and tail are blue, the back is yellowish green and the under parts are mostly yellowy with a dark line down the abdomen. The bill is black and the legs bluish grey. Both sexes are pretty similar and juveniles are noticeably more yellow.

The yellowness of the belly is apparently indicative of the number of yellowy-green caterpillars eaten (due to high levels of carotene pigments).

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Paridae
Genus: Cyanistes
Species: C. caeruleus

   

Bonelli’s Warbler

Bonelli’s Warbler is a small passerine bird in the leaf warbler genus Phylloscopus and is named after the Italian ornithologist Franco Andrea Bonelli.

The adult has a plain greyish-green back, greenish rump and wings and whitish underparts. The bill is small and pointed and the legs are brown. As with most warblers, the sexes are identical.

It eats insects.

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Phylloscopidae
Genus: Phylloscopus
Species: P. bonelli

  

Brent Goose

The Brant or Brent Goose, Branta bernicla, is a species of goose of the genus Branta and is about the same size as a (normal) Mallard.

It has a black head and neck and grey-brown back, and either a pale or dark belly depending on the race. Adults have a small white neck patch. The rump is and the tail is black and very short.

Brent Geese eat vegetation, particularly grasses.

Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Subfamily: Anserinae
Tribe: Anserini
Genus: Branta
Species: B. bernicla

  

Bullfinch

The Bullfinch, Common Bullfinch or Eurasian Bullfinch, Pyrrhula pyrrhula, is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.

The male Bullfinch has a bright pinkish-red breast and cheeks, grey back, black cap and tail, and bright white rump. The female has a greyish chest.

Woodlands and hedgerows are a good place to find Bullfinches. They eat buds of fruit trees, seeds and, during the breeding season, insects.

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Genus: Pyrrhula
Species: P. pyrrhula

   

Buzzard

The Common Buzzard, Buteo buteo, is a medium to large bird of prey which nests on the fringes of woodlands and hunts in open terrain, usually for mammals.

The Buzzard grows to a length of between 40 cm and 58 cm, has a wingspan ranging from 109 cm to 136 cm and can weigh up to around 364 grams.

It has a broad, rounded wings and a short neck and tail. Birds are variable in colour from all dark brown to much paler variations but all have dark wingtips and a finely barred tail.

Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Buteo
Species: B. buteo