Fish-eating Birds

Animals that primarily consume fish are called piscivores. While the term might not fully capture the feeding habits of fish-eating birds — since many also eat insects and mollusks — some, like the Osprey, have a diet consisting of 99% fish. The preference for fish is largely due to its higher nutritional value compared to other available prey.

Adaptations of Fish-eating Birds

The birds that hunt and consume fish have developed a series of adaptations, which can be broadly classified as behavioral or physical.

Behavioral Adaptations

Birds use one or more of the following hunting strategies to effectively hunt fish:

Diving — These birds dive toward the water and catch fish with their beaks or talons. Example: Ospreys
Scooping — These birds use their bills to scoop up fish while wading through shallow water or mud. Example: Brown Pelicans
Skimming — These birds fly fast over water surfaces with open beaks, capturing any fish unable to escape in time. Example: Black Skimmers
Ambushing — These birds stand still in or close to a water source and snatch up unsuspecting prey with a quick movement of their beaks. Example: Great Blue Herons

Physical Adaptations

They also have specialized physical features to feed more effectively. These include:

Diverse Beak Shapes — Some birds have developed unique beaks to hunt and kill their prey more easily. For instance, herons possess sharp, pointed beaks designed for stabbing fish, while pelicans have large, pouch-like bills to scoop fish from the water.
Hooks on Their Tongues — Fish-eating birds use the rear-facing hooks on their tongues to scrap off the scales of the fish they are eating.
Better-evolved Digestive System — The proventriculus, an organ present in the anterior chamber of a bird’s stomach, is better developed in birds that swallow their prey whole. In fish-eating birds, it is more efficient in breaking down and digesting entire fish, including its scales and bones.

List of Different Birds That Eat Fish

Species	Size (in.)	Type of Fish They Feed On	Where They Are Found
Birds That Dive For Fish
Ospreys
Osprey	20-26	American gizzard shad, bullheads, flounders, mullets, smelts, and suckers	On all continents except Antarctica
Fish Eagles
African Fish Eagle	26-31	Primarily catfish and gray mullets; also characins, cichlids, lungfish, and tilapias	Sub-Saharan Africa
Bald Eagle	28-40	Salmon and trout	Throughout North America
White-tailed Eagle	26-37	Lumpsuckers, pikes, and breams	Northern Eurasia
Darters
Anhinga	30-37	Black bass, catfish, chain pickerel, mullets, sunfish, and suckers	Cuba, Grenada, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, and parts of the United States
Oriental Darter	30-36	Tilapia	Southeast Asia
Australasian Darter	34-37	Smelt, breams, perch, and gudgeon	Australasia
Loons
Red-throated Loon	22-26	Arctic char, brook, capelin, cod, herring, sandlance, sculpins, sticklebacks, and trout	Arctic regions of northern Eurasia and North America
Common Loon	26-36	Perch, pumpkinseed, bluegill, suckers, catfish, smelt, and minnows	Nearctic regions of Europe and North America
Pacific Loon	23-30	Herring, perch, sandlance, anchovy, and medusafish	Northern Canada and eastern Siberia
Terns
Common Tern	12-14	Boarfish, bluejack mackerel, lanternfish, and trumpet fish	Throughout North America and Europe
Brown Noddy	15-18	Anchovies and sardines	Throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans
Caspian Tern	19- 24	Perch, anchovies, alewives, smelt, bass, sculpin, and juvenile salmon	Lakes and ocean coasts across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australasia
Cormorants
Great Cormorant	27-40	Primarily wrasses; also common soles, flathead, and sand smelt	Australia, New Zealand, the Atlantic coast of North America
Pelagic Cormorant	25-35	Sand eels, sculpins, gunnels, and rockfish	Northern Pacific
Brandt’s Cormorant	32-34	Herring and rockfish	Pacific coast of North America
Puffins
Atlantic Puffin	10-12	Capelin, herring, sand eels, and sprats	Throughout the Atlantic
Tufted Puffin	14-15	Capelin, hake, herring, and sand eels	Northern Pacific
Horned Puffin	7-8	Northern smoothtongue, saury, sandlance, capelin, pollock, greenling, and salmon	Northern Pacific
Penguins
Emperor Penguin	43-47	Antarctic silverfish	Antarctica
Southern Rockhopper Penguin	18-23	Lanternfish	Falkland Islands and a few islands off Patagonia
Macaroni Penguin	26-28	Marbled rockcod, painted notie, icefish, and lanternfish	From the Subantarctic to the Antarctic Peninsula
Kingfishers
Belted Kingfisher	11-14	Mummichogs, sticklebacks, stonerollers, and trout	Canada and the northern United States
Common Kingfisher	6-8	Minnows, sticklebacks, small roach, and trout	Eurasia and North Africa
Giant Kingfisher	16-18	Tilapia and cichlids	Central Africa
Guillemots
Black Guillemot	12-13	Arctic cod, blennies, butterfish, grubby, herring, northern sandlance, ocean pouts, pollocks, pricklebacks, radiated shanny, and sculpins	Arctic and the north Atlantic Oceans
Pigeon Guillemot	12-15	Capelin, cod, sandfish, and sculpins	Northern Pacific
Common Murre	16-18	Cod, capelin, sand lances, sprats, sandeels, and herring	Northern Pacific and Altlantic
Grebes
Clark’s Grebe	22-29	Perch, minnows, bass, killifish, and sunfish	Western North America, from Canada to Mexico
Western Grebe	22-30	Carp and herring	Western North America, from southern Canada to northern Mexico
Great Crested Grebe	18-20	Perch, roach, sticklebacks, minnows, and small pike	Eurasia, Africa, Australia, and South Island in New Zealand
Gannets
Northern Gannet	34-40	Sardines, cod, anchovies, haddock, and smelt	Throughout the North Atlantic
Cape Gannet	33-37	Anchovies, sardines, and saury	Southern Africa, from Namibia to South Africa
Australasian Gannet	33 – 37	Prefers pilchard; also kahawai, mullet, bonnetmouth, mackerel, trumpeter, sprat, salmon, and flyingfish	In Australasia, from Western Australia to Queensland
Ducks
Common Merganser	23-29	Salmon, trout, carp, shad, perch and sunfish	Throughout Eurasia, and North America
Red-breasted Merganser	20-25	Perch, herring, carp, and trout	Throughout the Northern Hemisphere
Brazilian Merganser	19-22	Carp, trout, salmon, etc.	Brazil
Birds That Scoop Fish
Pelicans
American White Pelican	50-70	Catfish, common carp, Lahontan tui chub, minnows, perch, salmon, shiners, and trouts	Throughout North America
Australian Pelican	54-66	Perch, goldfish, and carp	Australia and New Guinea, also parts of Fiji and Indonesia
Brown Pelican	40-54	Herring, minnows, mullets, pigfish, pinfish, sardines, sheepshead, silversides, and topminnows	Off the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific Coasts in North and South America
Dalmatian Pelican	50-65	Catfish, carp, rudd, eels, perch, mullets, and pike	Throughout central Eurasia, from the Mediterranean to the Taiwan Strait
Spoonbills
Black-faced Spoonbill	24-30	Milkfish	East Asia, including Vietnam, Macau, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan
Roseate Spoonbill	28-34	Minnows	Throughout Central and South America
Yellow-billed Spoonbill	34-36	Mosquitofish and flathead gudgeon	Australia
Storks
Black Stork	36-41	Minnows, pikes, roaches, eels, budds, perch, burbots, sticklebacks, and muddy loaches	Eastern Asia and Africa
Wood Stork	33-45	Sunfish and crayfish	Central and South America and the Caribbean
Milky Stork	36-38	Mudskippers, milkfish, mullets, catfish, threadfin, and pomfret	Southeast Asia
Petrels
Northern Fulmar	17-20	Cod, herring, capelin, pollock, sandlance, lanternfish, and rockfish	North Atlantic and Pacific oceans
European Storm Petrel	6-7	Herring and prats	Western Palaearctic off the Atlantic and Mediterranean European coasts
Antarctic Petrel	16-18	Antarctic silverfish	Southern Ocean
Shoebills
Shoebill Stork	43-55	Lungfish, catfish, tilapia, and Senegal bichir	Central Africa
Gulls
Ring-billed Gull	17-21	Mostly alewives, occasionally smelt	Canada and the northern United States
American Herring Gull	24-26	Capelin, alewife, and smelt	Throughout northern North America
Great Black-backed Gull	24-30	Capelin, cod, tomcod, mackerel, herring, and sandlance	From Russia to the coasts of northwestern France and UK
Birds That Skim For Fish
Skimmers
Black Skimmer	17-21	Anchovies, bluefish, flathead mullets, and mummichogs	Throughout North and South America
African Skimmer	14-15	Tetras, tilapias, barbels, elephantfish, pikes, and lampeyes	From Senegal, across the Congo River and Nile Valley to South Africa and Angola
Indian Skimmer	17-20	Minnows, carps, guppies, and perch	Throughout the Indus and Ganges river systems in the Indian sub-continent
Birds That Ambush or Snatch Fish
Herons
Gray Heron	38-42	Bass, carp, flounders, goldfish, gunnels, minnows, perch, salmon, sculpin, sticklebacks, etc	Throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe
Great Blue Heron	36-54	Bass, flounders, gunnels, perch, sculpin, smelt, sticklebacks, etc	Throughout North America
Western Reef Heron	24-28	Anchovies, gobies, and herring	Coasts of West Africa, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, Sri Lanka, and the Lakshadweep Islands, India

It is worth mentioning that the Great Kiskadee – a passerine bird that mainly eats insects and rodents – may occasionally fish in shallow waters for cichlids, making it one of the few fish-eating passerine birds.

Subscribe our newsletter

Enter your email here to stay updated with the animal kingdom

Fish-eating Birds

Adaptations of Fish-eating Birds

Behavioral Adaptations

Physical Adaptations

List of Different Birds That Eat Fish

Birds That Dive For Fish

Birds That Scoop Fish

Birds That Skim For Fish

Birds That Ambush or Snatch Fish

Categories

Subscribe our newsletter

Follow us on: