One of the rarest colors to be observed among birds, purple plumage tends to result from light reflecting off the feathers of certain birds, making them appear purple. These include several hummingbirds, pigeons, and woodnymphs.
List of Birds That Appear Purple
- American Purple Gallinule
- Amethyst Woodstar
- Amethyst-throated Mountain-Gem
- Azure-crowned Hummingbird
- Band-tailed Pigeon
- Barn Swallow
- Black-capped Kingfisher
- Black-chinned Hummingbird
- Black-throated Sunbird
- Boat-tailed Grackle
- Brewer’s Blackbird
- Calliope Hummingbird
- Cape Glossy Starling
- Common Grackle
- Common Scimitarbill
- Costa’s Hummingbird
- Crested Quail-dove
- Crinkle-collared Manucode
- Crowned Woodnymph
- European Starling
- Fork-tailed Woodnymph
- Formosan Blue Magpie
- Garnet Pitta
- Gray-headed Swamphen
- Great-tailed Grackle
- Grey-headed Swamphen
- Hartlaub’s Turaco
- Hildebrandt’s Starling
- Indian Peacock
- Japanese Paradise Flycatcher
- Lilac-breasted Roller
- Little Blue Heron
- Long-tailed Woodnymph
- Lucifer Hummingbird
- Mexican Sheartail
- Purple Cochoa
- Purple Finch
- Purple Grenadier
- Purple Honeycreeper
- Purple Martin
- Purple Starling
- Purple Sunbird
- Purple Swamphen
- Purple-backed Fairywren
- Purple-backed Thornbill
- Purple-bearded Bee-eater
- Purple-breasted Cotinga
- Purple-breasted Sunbird
- Purple-crested Turaco
- Purple-crowned Fairywren
- Purple-throated Carib
- Purple-throated Mountain-gem
- Purple-throated Woodstar
- Purple-winged Ground Dove
- Purple-winged Roller
- Purplish Jay
- Purplish-mantled Tanager
- Red-tailed Comet
- Rock Pigeon
- Rufous-vented Ground Cuckoo
- Santa Cruz Ground Dove
- Sapphire-spangled Emerald
- Scrub Jay
- Shiny Cowbird
- Slender Sheartail
- Southern Carmine Bee-eater
- Tricolored Heron
- Varied Bunting
- Velvet-fronted Nuthatch
- Velvet-purple Coronet
- Violaceous Euphonia
- Violet Sabrewing
- Violet-backed Starling
- Violet-bellied Hummingbird
- Violet-crowned Woodnymph
- Violet-green Swallow
- Western Swamphen
- Western Violet-backed Sunbird
- White-breasted Ground Dove
- White-chinned Sapphire
- Wompoo Fruit Dove