Birds for Hangman 🐦

Clues for every word

A one-line clue for every word, easy to hard, each one checked against a source - read them out when you run your own game. These words and clues are separate from the ones in the online game, so they won't give its answers away.

Dodo

Extinct flightless bird of Mauritius, with its last widely accepted sighting in 1662; often a symbol of extinction.

Tern

Slender seabird with narrow wings, a forked tail and, in most kinds, a black cap on its head.

Coot

Mostly black water bird of the rail family; the Eurasian kind has a white bill and white forehead shield.

Stork

Big long-legged wading bird that clatters its bill to communicate at the nest; old tales say it delivers babies.

Crane

Very tall long-necked bird, often called the world's tallest flier, that flies with its neck stretched out.

Swift

One of the fastest birds in level flight, often with long crescent-shaped wings; its family name means "footless".

Ibis

Long-legged wading bird with a long down-curved bill for probing mud; one South American kind is brilliant scarlet.

Cuckoo

Summer visitor to Europe, a brood parasite that slips its eggs in among other birds' eggs; named after the male's call.

Canary

Small pet songbird kept for centuries for its song; its best-known colour, bright yellow, gave a shade its name.

Quail

Small ground-nesting bird of the pheasant family; the common kind is more often heard than seen.

Pheasant

Long-tailed bird from Asia; the male typically has a bottle-green head, red wattle and copper-red body.

Avocet

Black-and-white wading bird of coastal lagoons and marshes with long legs and a long, slender, upturned bill.

Thrush

Brown garden songbird with a black-spotted cream breast that breaks snail shells on a favourite stone.

Gannet

Largest seabird of the North Atlantic, mainly white as an adult, that makes high-speed dives into the sea for fish.

Osprey

Bird of prey that eats almost nothing but fish and is found on every continent except Antarctica.

Jackdaw

Sociable, clever black bird with a grey nape and pale eyes that has been seen using tools.

Hornbill

Bird of tropical Africa and Asia with a heavy, often colourful beak; in some kinds a large casque runs along its top.

Hoopoe

Cinnamon-coloured bird with black-and-white wings and a tall crest that flies like a giant butterfly.

Curlew

Large greyish-brown wading bird with a very long, bow-shaped bill, whose English name copies the sound of its call.

Lyrebird

Ground-dwelling Australian mimic of natural and man-made sounds; the male fans out a huge tail to court.

Capercaillie

Forest grouse whose Gaelic name means 'horse of the woodland'; in Scotland it survives only in Caledonian pine forest.

Guillemot

Large seabird of the auk family that lays its single egg straight onto a bare cliff ledge.

Razorbill

Black-and-white North Atlantic seabird that pairs for life, the closest living relative of the extinct great auk.

Spoonbill

Mostly white wading bird with a broad black beak tipped yellow that it sweeps sideways to feed.

Quetzal

Small bird of Central American cloud forests and Guatemala's national animal; its males have shimmering green plumes.

Roadrunner

Long-legged bird of the cuckoo family from the south-western USA and Mexico that can sprint at up to 32 km/h.

Frigatebird

Mostly black tropical ocean flier that can soar for weeks; males puff up a red throat pouch to attract females.

Nightjar

Grey-brown bird, hard to see by day, that hunts insects at dusk and in the dark and lays its eggs on bare ground.

Bowerbird

Feathered architect of Australia and New Guinea; in most kinds the males build and decorate a structure to attract a mate.

Hoatzin

Tropical South American swamp bird whose young have claws on their wings; it is the national bird of Guyana.