


Top 20 Most Common Bird in Montevideo
Set along the southern coast of Uruguay, Montevideo is characterized by diverse habitats composed of beaches, marshes, and parklands. This picturesque city is home to the 20 most common birds, each with unique behavioral and physiological adaptations. These avian species range from the colorful Southern Lapwing to the intriguing Rufous Hornero with its adobe mud nest, offering a fascinating study of avifauna for enthusiasts and researchers alike.

Most Common Bird

1. Great Kiskadee
The great Kiskadee is a large bird with bold markings that make this flycatcher easily recognizable. is a bright-colored bird that prefers woodland habitats close to water or open areas. It eats a lot of insects, but also forages for seeds and berries and is known to dive into shallow water for small fish.

2. Rufous Hornero
The rufous Hornero is a medium-sized ovenbird, found in South America. It is recognized as the national bird in Uruguay and Argentina. Scientifically known as Furnarius rufus, you can differentiate the male from the female depending on how quickly their wings beat while they sing.

3. Picazuro Pigeon
Patagioenas picazuro is a brown bird with white dashes on the back of its neck and darker brown wing patterns. It is similar in appearance to the spotted dove.


4. Eared Dove
The most widely-spotted dove of South America, the small eared Dove thrives in high altitudes. You can find this dove in the scrubland of areas that are around 4500 meters above sea level. Their easy association with humans has made them acclimate more easily to urban environments and rising human population levels.

5. Monk Parakeet
Monk Parakeets, popular pet birds originally native to South America, established wild populations in the United States in the 1960s. These noisy, bright green parrots can now be seen flying around together in U.S. cities like Chicago and New York! They nest communally, dozens of them living together in huge multi-family nests atop power poles and in trees. Messy and loud, they are considered a nuisance and invasive species in the United States.

6. Rufous-bellied Thrush
This species is named after its distinctive reddish-orange underparts. Rufous-bellied thrushes can reach a length of 25 cm and weigh up to 68 g (male) or 78 g (female), though weights of about 59 g for males and 64 g for females are more usual. Contrary to what one might expect from the rather marked weight difference, the females are not larger, only plumper; their tarsus is actually a bit shorter than that of males on average.


7. Rufous-collared Sparrow
The rufous-collared Sparrow is a small songbird known for its pleasant vocalization and numerous "dialects." The songs peak at dawn and some individuals can sing continuously for half an hour. Found in a wide range of habitats and comfortable around humans, this ground-feeding bird is easily approachable. On the other hand, it's aggressive towards other birds that enter its territory. Individuals have their favorite perching spot where they appear repeatedly.

8. Rock Pigeon
The rock Pigeon is a wild ancestor of all domestic and feral pigeons, inhabiting coasts, cliffs, and caves. Pairs nest in rock crevices, often mating for life. They are known for their ability to fly very long distances to return to their homes, navigating using the sun's position and the earth's magnetic fields. Thanks to this ability, pigeons were used as messengers, particularly during World Wars I and II.

9. House Sparrow
Just as its name implies, the little house Sparrow socializes with humans more than any other bird species. Able to adapt and thrive in almost any habitat, excluding the extremes such as deserts and mountain peaks, this species was once restricted only to North Africa and Eurasia but now is found across the globe. Unfortunately, this opportunistic eater is not completely harmless—it can cause considerable damage to crops.

10. Shiny Cowbird
The shiny Cowbird is named after its glossy feathers and close association with cattle. These birds are considered brood or nest parasites because they manipulate other species to incubate their eggs for them. This has caused some species' populations to suffer, especially in non-native regions where the shiny Cowbird has been introduced.

11. House Wren
Watch out for the small yet aggressive house Wrens; they are extremely territorial and think nothing of harassing other birds and their nestlings if they want to take their spot! They have been known to kill nestlings and even adult birds to get a nest hole they want. Once house Wrens lay eggs, the nest needs to stay below 100 degrees and above 65 degrees or the eggs will not survive—this could be the reason they are so particular about their nesting spots.

12. Southern Lapwing
This lapwing is the only crested wader in South America. The upperparts are mainly brownish grey. The head is particularly striking; mainly grey with a black forehead and throat patch extending onto the black breast. The rest of the underparts are white, and the eye ring, legs and most of the bill are pink. It is equipped with red bony extensions under the wings (spurs), used to intimidate foes and fight birds of prey. The rump is white and the tail black.


13. European Starling
The european Starling, a large, hardy songbird, is one of the most commonly seen bird species in North America. Originally from Europe, this species was brought to the U.S. in the 1890s by enthusiasts of William Shakespeare, who had the unique goal of bringing over every single species of bird that was mentioned in Shakespeare's collective works. Unfortunately, the european Starling, being an adaptable, generalist species, spread invasively across the continent, hurting many native species' populations in the process.

14. Blue-and-white Swallow
The blue-and-white Swallow is a temperate species commonly found in open grasslands and farmlands and, in Central America, it is also common at high elevations. These birds are insectivores and will flock together around swarms of termites. Unfortunately, deforestation has started to affect wild populations, though the extent is unknown.

15. Harris's Hawk
The harris's Hawk has a unique personality trait that sets it apart from other raptors. It is a social bird that hunts and nests in groups. Most females lay their eggs in the spring, but it is not uncommon for two or three clutches to occur when food is plentiful. The raptor primarily hunts small mammals, but juveniles are known to eat insects.

16. Neotropic Cormorant
This bird is 64 cm (25 in) long with a 100 cm (39 in) wingspan. Adults males weigh from 1.1 to 1.5 kg (2.4 to 3.3 lb), adult females 50 to 100 g (1.8 to 3.5 oz) less. Birds of the southern populations tend to be bigger than the more northerly birds. It is small and slender, especially compared to the larger, heavier-looking double-crested cormorant. It has a long tail and frequently holds its neck in an S-shape. Adult plumage is mainly black, with a yellow-brown throat patch. During breeding, white tufts appear on the sides of the head, there are scattered white filoplumes on the side of the head and the neck, and the throat patch develops a white edge. The upper wings are somewhat grayer than the rest of the body. Juveniles are brownish in color.


17. Snowy Egret
The snowy Egret is a mid-sized, totally white egret that prefers nesting in urban areas rather than in isolated locations where there are more predators. In the late 1800s, the bird's beautiful plumes were in great demand as decoration for women's hats. Because of this snowy Egrets were hunted to near extinction before laws came into effect to protect them.

18. Creamy-bellied Thrush
The creamy-bellied thrush (Turdus amaurochalinus) is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It occurs in a wide range of wooded habitats in a large part of central and eastern South America. It is generally common, even in human altered habitats such as gardens and parks. While the plumage varies from overall greyish to brownish, and the bill from dusky to yellow, adult creamy-breasted thrushes always have distinctive blackish lores. This separates it from other similar thrushes (e.g. the pale-breasted thrush) found in its range.


19. Kelp Gull
The kelp gull superficially resembles two gulls from further north in the Atlantic Ocean, the lesser black-backed gull and the great black-backed gull and is intermediate in size between these two species. This species ranges from 54 to 65 cm (21 to 26 in) in total length, from 128 to 142 cm (50 to 56 in) in wingspan and from 540 to 1,390 g (1.19 to 3.06 lb) in weight. Adult males and females weigh on average 1,000 g (2.2 lb) and 900 g (2.0 lb) respectively. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 37.3 to 44.8 cm (14.7 to 17.6 in), the bill is 4.4 to 5.9 cm (1.7 to 2.3 in) and the tarsus is 5.3 to 7.5 cm (2.1 to 3.0 in). The adult kelp gull has black upperparts and wings. The head, underparts, tail, and the small "mirrors" at the wing tips are white. The bill is yellow with a red spot, and the legs are greenish-yellow (brighter and yellower when breeding, duller and greener when not breeding). The call is a strident ki-och. Juveniles have dull legs, a black bill, a dark band in the tail, and an overall grey-brown plumage densely edged whitish, but they rapidly get a pale base to the bill and largely white head and underparts. They take three or four years to reach maturity.


20. Gilded Hummingbird
The gilded sapphire (Hylocharis chrysura), also known as the gilded hummingbird, is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is found in a wide range of open and semi-open habitats in southern Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and northern Argentina. It is generally common, and therefore considered to be of least concern by BirdLife International and consequently the IUCN. It is overall greenish-golden with a coppery tail, whitish-buff underparts, a rufous chin, and a slightly decurved, black-tipped red bill.
