If you’re thinking of some enormous flying creature with teeth or talons carrying deadly venom, you’ll need to reign in your imagination. No known bird actively injects or produces venom – but the poisonous birds on this list do contain deadly toxins within their skin, feathers and other tissues.
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Where do they get these toxins from? They don’t produce them themselves but rather engage in a process called heteroaglandular poison – poison produced as a result of consuming a certain toxin which is then re-used for the animal’s own defences.
8 most poisonous birds
Hooded pitohui (Pitohui dichrous)
This medium-sized songbird with reddish-brown and black plumage carries around one of the most lethal substances in the animal kingdom – batrachotoxin, also found in certain poison dart frogs. Scientists believe the toxin is part of a defence adaptation and that the birds obtain it from their diet, specifically the poisonous Choresine beetle.
Batrachotoxin is extremely potent and even deadlier than cyanide. It targets and irreversibly opens the sodium channels of nerve cells and prevents them from closing, resulting in paralysis and death. And, unfortunately, there is no known antidote.
The hooded pitohui was the first bird scientifically discovered to be poisonous back in 1989 by ornithologist Jack Dumbacher. While on an expedition to Papua New Guinea, he got scratched by the hooded pitohui – and instinctively put the cut to his lips, which then became numb for several hours.
The locals were already aware of this, commonly calling the hooded pitohui “rubbish bird” since its toxicity rendered it unfit for consumption unless very specifically prepared.
Simply handling the bird isn’t deadly – but will result in numbness, tingling and possibly skin burns and sneezing. Consuming the bird would expose you to the toxin, so you’re highly advised against it.
Blue-capped ifrit (Ifrita kowaldi)
Native to the rainforests of New Guinea, the blue-capped ifrit is a small passerine bird (up to 16.5cm long) notable for its distinctive blue crown. Just like the hooded pitohui, it carries around batrachotoxin in its feathers and skin.
According to a study published in 2000, the highest levels of the toxin are generally present in the contour feathers of belly, breast or legs of the bird.
Common quail (Coturnix coturnix)
Also known as the European quail, this small ground-nesting bird is mainly migratory, breeding in the western Palearctic and spending winter in Africa and southern India. It’s not poisonous all year – it depends where on its migratory journey you encounter it.
The common quail feeds on seeds and insects and during autumn migration, it can favour seeds of highly toxic plants like hemlock. If flesh of a quail that enjoyed some of the toxic plant is consumed, it can cause coturnism – characterised by muscle soreness, which can lead to kidney failure.
Spur-winged goose (Plectropterus gambensis)
Some populations of this large, Sub-Saharan African waterbird are toxic – once again, because of their diet. They like to feast on blister beetles, so-called because of their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin, which causes painful blisters and sores.
After the spur-winged goose consumes one of those beetles, the toxin is then stored within the tissue of the bird, resulting in poisoning those that eat the cooked goose. A 10mg dose of cantharidin can kill a human.
Eurasian hoopoe (Upupa epops)
The Eurasian hoopoe is not deadly by any means, but it does produce a foul-smelling liquid with high levels of dimethyl sulphide, which can cause skin irritation, nausea and vomiting on close contact or digestion.
The liquid is produced by a female to defend her nest from predators – it smells like rotting meat and is rubbed into the plumage to keep any unwanted guests away.
Bronzewing pigeons
These birds reside in southwest Australia and have been documented as highly poisonous to various mammals, including domestic cats and dogs. Bronzewings carry around monofluoroacetate, which they acquire from consumption of flowering plant species such as wattle or acacia, Gastrolobium spp. and shaggy pea.
Fluoroacetate is an ingredient used in rat poison. If ingested, it can lead to intense stomach pain, convulsions, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in extreme cases, even death.
Red warbler (Cardellina rubra)
Endemic to the highlands of Mexico, this small passerine bird with a bright red plumage likes to munch on the highly toxic yew tree berries, as well as toxic insects. The specific toxin on the red warbler’s feathers hasn’t been identified, but it appears to include two neurotoxic alkaloids – rendering it inedible to humans.
In the 16th century, Friar Bernardino de Sahagun had reported that a red bird matching the description of the red warbler was regarded as inedible as far back as the times of the ancient Aztecs.
Ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus)
This medium-sized grouse can be found in forests from the Appalachian Mountains across Canada to Alaska and is the most widely-distributed game bird in North America.
Ruffed grouse poisoning has been reported in the US since 1886 and continued into the 19th century, when the ruffed grouse was a widely hunted and eaten bird. Patients were reported to develop symptoms 30-40 minutes after consumption – including nausea, dizziness, vomiting, numbness, paralysis and vision impairment.
Most of these cases were reported in winter, when the grouse’s diet shifts heavily to evergreen leaves and buds of toxic plants like mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), through which the bird acquires a toxin known as grayanotoxin.
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