A bird’s beak can tell you a lot about it – its size, diet, and even habitat and ecological niche. A long beak can have many advantages and comes in many sizes and shapes, each with their own specialization. Here is a list of 24 types of birds with long beaks that range from familiar to exotic, but all similar in that they have uniquely long and specialized beaks.
All the birds on this list have especially long beaks in comparison to their own bodies. But some birds are larger in size than others, making their beaks much longer when measured compared to other, smaller birds. So having a long beaks is relative to the size of the birds themselves.
Having said that, check out this list of birds with extraordinarily long and big beaks that we’ve compiled for you!
1. Long-Billed Curlew
Scientific name: Numenius americanus
Length: 20-26 inches
Beak Length: 4.4-8.6 inches
The Long-Billed Curlew is America’s shorebird with the longest beak. It uses its long curved bill to probe deep in the mud and sand while looking for aquatic invertebrates to eat. It can also be used effectively to find grasshoppers in their breeding grounds of the grasslands of the American Great Plains and protects many crops from these pests.
They spend the majority of the winter in wetlands, tidal estuaries, mudflats, flooded fields, and beaches and breed in the Great Plains. It has an unmistakable silhouette – simply look for a long neck and long bill strutting through the grasslands. They’re often accompanied by smaller groups of other foraging shorebirds, including Willets and Marbled Godwits.
2. Black Skimmer
Scientific name: Rynchops nigra
Length: 16-20 inches
Beak Length: 3-4 inches
The Black Skimmer is a species of seabirds similar to terns. Their beak is their most distinctive feature – it’s incredibly sharp with the lower mandible protruding against the upper half of the beak. This is used for hunting their prey by grazing the lower half of their beak against the surface of the water, thereby catching fish and other organisms in their mouths.
Another instantly noticeable feature of the Black Skimmer is its distinctly red feet that match their bright red-orange bill with a black tip. They’re also unique in that they have a large pupil with a vertical slit, which is rare in birds. This is to cut down on the glare of the sand and water.
3. Roseate Spoonbill
Scientific name: Platalea ajaja
Length: 28-32 inches
Beak Length: 4-6 inches
The Roseate Spoonbill is locally common in coastal Florida, Texas, and southwest Louisiana. They prefer to wander in small flocks and will often associate with other waders. Spoonbills feed in shallow waters and use their wide flat bills to sift the muck by swinging their head from side to side.
This gorgeous bird is uncommon and incredibly vulnerable to degradation of feeding and nesting habitats. They were virtually eliminated from the United States as a side-effect of the destruction of wader colonies by plume hunters in the 1860s, and only recently began to re-colonize Texas and Florida in the 20th century.
4. Shoebill
Scientific name: Balaeniceps rex
Length: 43-60 inches
Beak Length: 7.4-9.4 inches
The Shoebill is also known as the whalehead or whale-headed stork for its enormous, shoe-shaped bill. It has a somewhat stork-like form and has been previously classified as such, but they’re closer genetically to pelicans and other large, four-toed birds.
The Shoebill lives in tropical east Africa in large swamps from south Sudan to Zambia. Their upper mandible is strongly keeled and ends in a sharp nail that can be used for self-defense. Overall, they’re noted for their slow movements and their tendency to stay still for long periods of time. They’re also known for their bill-clattering displays they do around their nest or when greeting another bird.
5. Lesser Flamingo
Scientific name: Phoeniconaias minor
Length: 3-3.4 feet
Beak Length: 5-7 inches
Lesser Flamingos are predominantly found in the southern region of Africa, reaching as far south as South Africa, but can be found as far north as Yemen. They inhabit many large alkaline environments, such as saline lakes, salt pans, and estuaries throughout Africa. They’re very sensitive to changes in their environment, so are commonly transient and can travel up to 280 miles a day to find a suitable environment.
Their bills are a unique shape that’s specialized for their diet of tiny planktonic organisms in the water. The deep keeled, angular shape assists with filtering the water over their tongue and down their long throat.
6. Great Hornbill
Scientific name: Buceros bicornis
Length: 3.1-3.9 feet
Beak Length: 9-10 inches
The Great Hornbill is found in mainland Southeast Asia, the Malay Peninsula, and Indonesia, and are breeding residents throughout the Asian continent. They’re arboreal birds, preferring to live in wet, tall, evergreen forests filled with old-growth trees perfect for nesting.
They’re a very distinctive and vividly colored bird that has a special preen gland that secretes tinted oil that’s spread across the feathers by the bird during grooming. They also have a large casque, which is a hollow structure located on top of the bill used by males to fight with other males and attract females.
7. Rhinoceros Hornbill
Scientific name: Buceros rhinoceros
Length: 37-41 inches
Beak Length: 9.2-12 inches
The Rhinoceros Hornbill, similar to the Great Hornbill and other birds in that family, has a prominent casque on the top of its beak. It’s made of keratin and acts as a resonating chamber, amplifying the birds calls to be heard throughout the Indonesian rainforests they call home.
They feed mostly on fruits and insects, but have been known to prey on small reptiles, rodents, and smaller birds as well. They also form a very unique nest when taking care of their young – the female is actually sealed inside a nest in a hollow tree with only a small hole for the male to pass food through. This ensures a high survival rate for their young, but becomes a threat if the male is injured or otherwise unable to return – usually due to human intervention.
8. Keel-Billed Toucan
Scientific name: Ramphastos sulfuratus
Length: 19-20 inches
Beak Length: 6-8 inches
The Keel-Billed Toucan may be one of the most instantly recognizable species of bird in the world. They’re primarily fruit eaters throughout South and Central America, but will occasionally eat insects, reptiles, other birds, and eggs to supplement their diet.
Their large beak may look large and heavy, but it’s actually incredibly light. It’s made of keratin and is hollow with only thin rods of bone for support. It’s currently unknown the specific reason for their gigantic bill, but scientists believe it plays an important role in courtship displays and for defense.
9. American White Pelican
Scientific name: Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Length: 4.2-5.4 feet
Beak Length: 10-14 inches
The American White Pelican is one of the largest North American birds with a wingspan of nearly 9 feet. They soar with incredible steadiness on broad, white and black wings. Their large pouched bills are used to scoop up fish. They’ve been known to cooperate with one another to herd fish into the shallows to make for easy feeding and can be found on inland lakes in the summer and near the coastlines in the winter.
Contrary to common misconceptions, the American White Pelican never carries food inside of their bill pouch. It’s only used to scoop up the food, but their catch gets swallowed before takeoff. They’re also skillful food thieves and are successful at stealing from other pelicans about one-third of the time.
10. Great Spotted Kiwi
Scientific name: Apteryx haasti
Length: 18-20 inches
Beak Length: 3.5-4.7 inches
The Great Spotted Kiwi is a small, flightless, and nearly wingless bird about the size of a chicken that’s only found in New Zealand. It’s part of the same family as the cassowary, emu, and ostrich – all flightless birds lacking a special ridge on their sternum where flight muscles attach.
Despite its small size and awkward appearance, the kiwi is able to outrun a human and is quite wary around anything larger than themselves. The Kiwi is also quite dense, with bones that contain marrow, and this makes it difficult to nest in trees. To make up for this, the kiwi digs burrows instead of building a nest and has modified feathers that serve as whiskers on their face and around the base of their beak.
11. Dalmation Pelican
Scientific name: Pelecanus crispus
Length: 5-6 feet
Beak Length: 14-18 inches
The Dalmatian Pelican is the largest of the pelican species and is among the largest birds still alive today. It’s also one of the heaviest of flying birds with a wingspan of nearly 11 feet. It features stunning silvery-white plumage during the season, and then fades to a less shiny white or gray the rest of the year.
They’re very social birds, preferring to live and travel in flocks. They may not be especially graceful on land, but they’re powerful swimmers and strong fliers as well. They spend the majority of their time using their beak, which like all pelicans is used to scoop up their food, to groom themselves and distribute waterproofing oil throughout their feathers.
12. European White Stork
Scientific name: Ciconia ciconia
Length: 3.3-3.8 feet
Beak Length: 5-8 inches
White storks inhabit open wetlands, savannas, steppes, meadows, pastures, and agricultural fields throughout Europe, North Africa, and southwestern Asia. They like areas with shallow standing water and are well adapted to human presence in their habitat.
They eat a wide variety of prey that includes insects, scorpions, spiders, frogs, tadpoles, fish, lizards, snakes, crustaceans, small mammals, and eggs of ground-nesting birds. Foraging White Storks visually search for food while walking with their bill pointed at the ground. When they detect prey, they jab their bill forward to grab and swallow whatever it is.
13. Toco Toucan
Scientific name: Ramphastos toco
Length: 25 inches
Beak Length: 7.5 inches
The Toco Toucan is the largest and best-known toucan species. It makes its home in South America’s tropical forests – indigenous peoples regard it as a conduit between the worlds of the living and the spirits, and its no wonder that its captured the imagination of humans throughout time with its large and colorful beak.
Their beak makes for a poor weapon, as it’s more for show than anything else. It’s made of a fragile honeycomb of keratin and is used more as a deterrent against predators. Its bill is also used to regulate its body heat by changing the flow of blood to it in order to distribute heat away from their body.
14. Australian Pelican
Scientific name: Pelecanus conspicillatus
Length: 5.2-6.2 feet
Beak Length: 15-17 inches
The Australian Pelican has been recorded as having the longest bill of any living bird. It’s a unique color with a pink bill and white plumage and black-tipped wings. It mainly eats fish, but will also consume smaller birds and scavenge for scraps to supplement their diet.
They span large expanses of mainland Australia and Tasmania, usually over large areas of open water without dense aquatic vegetation. They’ve also been known to habituate flooded areas following heavy rain and any other area of water that can support a sufficient supply of food for them to scoop up with their bill.
15. Sword-Billed Hummingbird
Scientific name: Ensifera ensifera
Length: 5.5 inches
Beak Length: 4 inches
The Sword-Billed Hummingbird is one of the largest species of hummingbird and boasts the largest ratio of body to beak size of any bird. Their extremely elongated bill and equally long tongue allow them to feed on flowers with long corollas.
They’re solitary in all aspects of life other than breeding, and the male doesn’t even play a role in his children’s lives past the actual mating with the female. The female chooses the nest location, the material to use, and is in charge of raising the chicks as well.
16. Collared Aracari
Scientific name: Pteroglossus torquatus
Length: 16 inches
Beak Length: 4 inches
The Collared Aracari resembles a more muted toucan and is distantly related to the Toca Toucan. They’re native to Central America, ranging from southern Mexico to northern Colombia and are the most commonly encountered toucanet species in the region.
Their bill is made of honeycombed keratin just like a toucan’s, and they’re also quite fragile and mostly unusable for self-defense. It’s mostly used to reach fruits that are on branches that are too thin and flimsy to support their full weight.
17. Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill
Scientific name: Tockus leucomelas
Length: 19-24 inches
Beak Length: 3.5-5 inches
The Southern Yellow-Billed Horntail has been made famous by the movie The Lion King – the main bird character Zazu is a Yellow-Billed Horntail. They have a wide-ranged omnivorous diet consisting of insects, bird chicks, frogs, chameleons, ants, and termites.
Their beak is a vibrant yellow, earning them the affectionate nickname of “flying banana”. The female’s bill is shorter than that of the male, and like all hornbills, contain a casque used to amplify their voice across the African savannah. They forage cooperatively with mongoose, waiting for them to drive out prey from underground and leaving some behind for the small mammals.
18. Southern Giant Petrel
Scientific name: Macronectes giganteus
Length: 34-39 inches
Beak Length: 5-6 inches
The Southern Giant Petrel is famous for its amazing flying strength and endurance. They have a distinctive salt gland that lies atop their thick hooked bill that acts as a way to excrete excess salt. They’re known as the vultures of the sea for their scavenging preferences.
When scavenging options are slim, they’ll use the hook on their beak to capture and eat squid, fish, young penguins, and other seabirds. They’re the largest petrel species and their heavy bills are “clacked” together to make noise for courtship displays.
19. Red Crossbill
Scientific name: Loxia curvirostra
Length: 5.5-7.9 inches
Beak Length: 2-3 inches
The Red Crossbill has a relatively smaller beak compared to the rest of the birds on this list, but it’s included for the unique shape and use of it. They use the long and hooked top beak to break into unopened seed cones, giving them a large advantage over other finch species.
It’s spread throughout the United States and most of Canada. This is because coniferous trees release seeds rather unpredictably, so they oftentimes wander far beyond their usual range and multiple sub-species exist across the continent, complete with different calls.
20. Hudsonian Whimbrel
Scientific name: Numenius hudsonicus
Length: 15-19 inches
Beak Length: 4-5 inches
The Whimbrel is a relatively large bird with a fragile, long, curving beak. They occupy open habitats – tundra for nesting and mudflats, beaches, and salt-marshes the rest of the year. They use their enormous bills to extract crabs and other marine invertebrates from the sand or mud.
They may appear delicate, but these birds are strong migrators, going between arctic nesting areas and wintering grounds as far south as Bolivia. They even have to occasionally skirt hurricanes as they fly over the open ocean.
21. Red-Necked Avocet
Scientific name: Recurvirostra novaehollandiae
Length: 17-17.5 inches
Beak Length: 3-5 inches
The Red-Necked Avocet has a very distinctive upturned bill and a red head and neck that assembles in spectacular flocks. It relies entirely on rainfall evens in inland Australia and can have gaps of many years in between attempts to breed.
Unlike other species of avocet, the Red-Necked Avocet is not recorded to stir the mud with their bill in search of food. Instead, they sweep their bill back and forth under the water in search of brine shrimps and annelid worms. They’ve also been seen pecking or jabbing at larger prey items such as fish.
22. Far Eastern Curlew
Scientific name: Numenius madagascariensis
Length: 24-26 inches
Beak Length: 6-9 inches
The Far Eastern Curlew is similar to the Eurasian Curlew, but there are a few distinct coloration differences between the two. It’s also slightly larger than the Long-Billed Curlew. It’s the world’s largest sandpiper, which is a bird family that uses their long bills to search for invertebrates that like to burrow.
It spends its breeding season in northeastern Asia, including Siberia and Mongolia. It prefers marshy and swampy wetlands and lake-shores to forage using its long curved beak. It may choose to feed in solidarity, but it prefers to congregate in large flocks to migrate or roost.
23. Northern Jacana
Scientific name: Jacana spinosa
Length: 9.5 inches
Beak Length: 1-2 inches
The Northern Jacana is a wader that resides in coastal Mexico and along the coastlines of Central America. It occasionally breeds in Texas and has been recorded as a vagrant in Arizona as well.
They’re a wetland bird more well known for their huge feet that enable them to walk on floating vegetation in the shallow lakes in their preferred habitat. They also have a long, sharp, curved beak used for hunting the fish that reside beneath the floating vegetation.
24. Goliath Heron
Scientific name: Ardea goliath
Length: 47-60 inches
Beak Length: 9.4 inches
The Goliath Heron is the largest living heron in the world. It’s highly aquatic and rarely ventures far from a water source – it prefers to fly along waterways rather than move over land. It’s typically found in shallow water hunting, but has been observed near deep water over dense vegetation as well.
They’re solitary foragers and are highly territorial towards other herons. Their prey consists almost entirely of relatively large fish, only catching around 2 or 3 a day. They also use their long and sharp bill to eat other small animals they may come across, including frogs, lizards, and snakes.
Patricia is a wildlife enthusiast that loves traveling and learning about wildlife all over North America and the world. Aside from being writer for Wildlife Informer, she’s an avid bird watcher as well as the owner of several pet reptiles. She enjoys visiting national parks and seeing new sights in her free time.