If we look further afield and across the globe, there are some incredibly stunning birds with intricate patterns and bright plumage. We’ve done our best to pick the most attractive birds.
It was hard to limit this list to just a few, so we’ve had to include 27 stunners. Some you will know. Others might be new to you. Don’t forget to let us know which bird is your favorite by dropping a comment at the bottom of the page.
1) Peacock
Location: India, Pakistan
Habitat: Forest, farmland
Rarity: Rare
Latin: Pavo cristatus
Peacocks are known for their eye-catching plumage, especially the males, with their expansive tail feathers that boast an array of iridescent colors and eye-like patterns.
What Makes Them Attractive: The peacock’s extravagant tail feathers, which it fans out during courtship, are a spectacle of color and pattern, symbolizing beauty and allure worldwide.
2) Scarlet Macaw
Location: South America
Habitat: Rainforests
Rarity: Uncommon
Latin: Ara macao
The Scarlet Macaw is a large, vibrant parrot with a rainbow of colors, including scarlet red, yellow, and blue across its body, making it one of the most colorful and striking birds in the world.
What Makes Them Attractive: Their bright plumage and their intelligent and sociable nature make the Scarlet Macaw a standout, especially when they fly in pairs or groups against a lush green backdrop.
3) Atlantic Puffin
Location: North Atlantic
Habitat: Coastal cliffs
Rarity: Uncommon
Latin: Fratercula arctica
The Atlantic Puffin is a small seabird with a striking black and white plumage and a large, parrot-like, colorful beak which becomes even more vivid during the breeding season.
What Makes Them Attractive: The puffin’s charming appearance and quirky personality, combined with their waddling on land and excellent diving skills, make them a favorite among birdwatchers.
4) Quetzal
Location: Central America
Habitat: Cloud forests
Rarity: Rare
Latin: Pharomachrus mocinno
The Quetzal is renowned for its brilliant green plumage, red breast, and the resplendent long tail feathers of the males, which can be a meter long or more.
What Makes Them Attractive: The Quetzal is revered for its beauty and vibrant colors, as well as its association with Aztec and Maya mythology, adding a layer of cultural significance to its allure.
5) Golden Pheasant
Location: China
Habitat: Forests, mountainous
Rarity: Uncommon
Latin: Chrysolophus pictus
Golden Pheasants are striking birds with an unmistakable golden crest and ruff, bright red underparts, and a long, dark spotted tail.
What Makes Them Attractive: The male’s vibrant colors and showy display, with its cape-like ruff spread out, make it a mesmerizing sight during the breeding season.
6) Mandarin Duck
Location: East Asia, UK
Habitat: Lakes, rivers
Rarity: Uncommon
Latin: Aix galericulata
This duck is famed for its remarkable plumage. The males sport a mix of colors, including orange feathers fanned across the face, a purple breast, and intricately striped wings.
What Makes Them Attractive: The Mandarin Duck’s elaborate and varied colors, along with its graceful shape, make it a symbol of beauty and fidelity in Asian culture.
7) Victoria Crowned Pigeon
Location: New Guinea
Habitat: Lowland forests
Rarity: Rare
Latin: Goura victoria
This pigeon is distinguished by its large size and the spectacular crest of feathers on its head, along with its deep blue-grey coloration.
What Makes Them Attractive: The combination of its impressive size and the intricate lacy crest gives this ground-dwelling bird a regal presence that’s unmatched among pigeons.
8) Superb Lyrebird
Location: Australia
Habitat: Forests
Rarity: Common
Latin: Menura novaehollandiae
Known for its exceptional tail that resembles a lyre when fanned out, the Superb Lyrebird has brown upper body plumage and a notable ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds.
What Makes Them Attractive: Beyond its remarkable tail, the male’s incredible vocal abilities, including the capacity to imitate chainsaws and camera shutters, make it an extraordinary performer.
9) Resplendent Quetzal
Location: Central America
Habitat: Cloud forests
Rarity: Rare
Latin: Pharomachrus mocinno
Similar to the Quetzal, the Resplendent Quetzal is particularly noted for its brilliant metallic green body, red breast, and strikingly long and elegant tail feathers.
What Makes Them Attractive: Its tail feathers, which were prized by ancient civilizations, and its elusive nature, make spotting the Resplendent Quetzal a truly special and memorable sight.
10) Keel-Billed Toucan
Location: South America
Habitat: Tropical Jungles
Rarity: Uncommon
Latin: Ramphastos sulfuratus
This bird has a vibrant yellow face, a green, red, and orange bill, blue feet, and a mix of black, yellow, and white across its body, making it one of the most colorful birds in the world.
What Makes Them Attractive: The Keel-billed Toucan’s rainbow-colored bill, used in social interactions and feeding, along with its playful demeanor, captivates onlookers.
11) Snowy Owl
Location: Circumpolar
Habitat: Tundra, open fields
Rarity: Uncommon
Latin: Bubo scandiacus
The Snowy Owl is a large white owl with scattered black markings. Males can be almost completely white while females have more flecks of black.
What Makes Them Attractive: Their stark white plumage against snowy landscapes and their status as a powerful Arctic predator render the Snowy Owl an iconic and mystical bird.
12) Blue Jay
Location: North America
Habitat: Forests, woodlands
Rarity: Common
Latin: Cyanocitta cristata
Blue Jays are recognizable by their bright blue upper parts and white underparts, with black markings around the neck and on the wings and tail.
What Makes Them Attractive: Their striking blue plumage and intelligent behavior, along with their complex social systems and loud calls, make them a charismatic species.
13) African Crowned Crane
Location: Africa
Habitat: Wetlands
Rarity: Rare
Latin: Balearica regulorum
This crane sports a crown of stiff golden feathers atop its head, a red throat pouch, and elegant grey and white body plumage, with a patch of brick-red on the wings.
What Makes Them Attractive: The crowned crane’s elegant stature and its intricate dancing rituals, which include elaborate bobbing and swinging of the head, are enchanting to observe.
14) Flamingo
Location: Worldwide
Habitat: Alkaline lakes
Rarity: Common
Latin: Phoenicopterus roseus
Flamingos are tall, pink-colored birds with long necks, sticklike legs, and a distinctive downward-bending beak which they use to filter feed in the water.
What Makes Them Attractive: The flamingo’s striking pink plumage, derived from their diet, and their habit of standing on one leg make them one of the most distinctive and attractive waterbirds.
15) Lilac-Breasted Roller
Location: Sub-Sahara
Habitat: Open woodlands, savanna
Rarity: Common
Latin: Coracias caudatus
It has a green head, lilac throat and breast, a blue belly, and darker wing feathers with a wide array of colors that are especially visible in flight.
What Makes Them Attractive: Its stunning pastel coloring and acrobatic flight displays, including dives and rolls, are a wonder to watch, giving the bird its name.
16) Bird of Paradise
Location: New Guinea
Habitat: Tropical forests
Rarity: Uncommon
Latin: Paradisaea raggiana
Birds of Paradise are known for their elaborate plumage and ornate tail feathers, with males showcasing a vibrant array of colors and display behaviors.
What Makes Them Attractive: Their complex mating dances and incredible feathers make these birds one of nature’s most splendid visual feasts, embodying the essence of exotic beauty.
17) Nicobar Pigeon
Location: Pacific Islands
Habitat: Forests, islands
Rarity: Rare
Latin: Caloenas nicobarica
This pigeon has iridescent feathers that shimmer with green and copper shades, a small white tail, and a notable clustering of feathers around the neck.
What Makes Them Attractive: The Nicobar Pigeon’s lustrous plumage and stout body make it stand out among pigeon species, evoking a sense of wildness and mystery.
18) Harpy Eagle
Location: South America
Habitat: Tropical rainforests
Rarity: Rare
Latin: Harpia harpyja
One of the largest and most powerful eagles, the Harpy Eagle has a slate-grey plumage, a distinctive black face, and striking white feathers that create a collar around its neck.
What Makes Them Attractive: The Harpy Eagle’s imposing size and fierce appearance, combined with its rarity, make it an awe-inspiring sight and symbol of the South American rainforests.
19) Kingfisher
Location: Europe, Asia
Habitat: Rivers, streams
Rarity: Common
Latin: Alcedo atthis
Kingfishers have bright blue and metallic copper plumage. They have large heads, long, sharp bills, and short legs.
What Makes Them Attractive: The vibrant, contrasting colors and the spectacular diving abilities of kingfishers as they hunt for fish are both mesmerizing and iconic.
20) Blue Bird-of-Paradise
Location: New Guinea
Habitat: Montane forests
Rarity: Rare
Latin: Paradisaea rudolphi
This bird is noted for its striking blue and black plumage and the long tail feathers that are used in complex mating displays.
What Makes Them Attractive: Its rare and extraordinary plumage, along with its ritualistic and elaborate courtship dances, make it a remarkable and attractive avian species.
21) Hyacinth Macaw
Location: South America
Habitat: Woodlands, savanna
Rarity: Rare
Latin: Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus
The Hyacinth Macaw is the largest flying parrot species, with a striking cobalt blue plumage, contrasted by vibrant yellow around the eyes and at the base of the beak.
What Makes Them Attractive: Their gentle nature, striking blue plumage, and powerful beaks, along with their rarity, give them a unique appeal among parrots.
22) Spatuletail Hummingbird
Location: Peru
Habitat: Desert
Rarity: Rare
Latin: Loddigesia mirabilis
This small hummingbird is most notable for the male’s two long tail feathers that end in a spatula-shaped vane, with an iridescent turquoise throat.
What Makes Them Attractive: The male Spatuletail’s remarkable tail feathers, which he uses in intricate aerial displays to attract a mate, are unlike those of any other bird species.
23) Painted Bunting
Location: North America
Habitat: Scrublands, groves
Rarity: Uncommon
Latin: Passerina ciris
The Painted Bunting is one of North America’s most brightly colored songbirds with a blue head, red underparts, and green back.
What Makes Them Attractive: Its kaleidoscope of vivid colors makes the male Painted Bunting look like a flying rainbow, which is especially stunning when seen under bright sunlight.
24) Northern Cardinal
Location: North America
Habitat: Woodlands, gardens
Rarity: Very Common
Latin: Cardinalis cardinalis
The male Northern Cardinal is a vibrant red with a distinctive crest on its head and a black mask on its face, while the female is a more subdued tan color.
What Makes Them Attractive: The male’s bright red plumage and the species’ cheerful song make it a beloved bird, often associated with holiday imagery and the change of seasons.
25) Rainbow Lorikeet
Location: Australia
Habitat: Rainforest, coastal bush
Rarity: Common
Latin: Trichoglossus moluccanus
This parrot is particularly known for its bright red beak and colorful plumage, which includes a deep blue head and belly, a green back, wings, and tail, and an orange-yellow breast.
What Makes Them Attractive: The Rainbow Lorikeet’s vibrant colors, boisterous personality, and acrobatic antics make it a delightful sight in the coastal bush and rainforest regions.
26) Horned Sungem
Location: South America
Habitat: Savanna, scrublands
Rarity: Uncommon
Latin: Heliactin bilophus
The Horned Sungem is a small hummingbird known for the male’s two striking horn-like tufts of feathers protruding from the head and a sparkling green throat.
What Makes Them Attractive: The unique “horns” and the bird’s energetic flying displays, darting from flower to flower, make it a distinctive and attractive hummingbird species.
27) European Bee-Eater
Location: Worldwide
Habitat: Open country, near water
Rarity: Common
Latin: Merops apiaster
The European Bee-eater has a slender body with richly colored plumage, ranging from the blue on the back to the yellow and red hues on the belly, with a black eye stripe.
What Makes Them Attractive: Their graceful flight, vivid colors, and skillful aerial insect hunting make them a joy to observe, particularly when they group together during migration.
Got a Favorite?
Let us know which of these incredibly stunning birds is your favorite by leaving a comment below:
