What Is a Group of Birds Called? 25 Names, Bird by Bird
What is a group of birds called? In almost every everyday situation the answer is a flock, and that word is correct for any species, any number and any setting. The colorful alternatives most people are hunting for, a murder of crows or a parliament of owls, are traditional collective nouns tied to specific birds and often to specific behavior.
Those terms come from a 15th century English hunting tradition rather than from biology, which is why they sound like poetry instead of science. Below is the general rule first, then the specific name for the birds people actually search for.
A group of birds is called a flock. That term works for every species and is what ornithologists use. Many birds also have a traditional collective noun, such as a murder of crows, a parliament of owls, a charm of hummingbirds or a flamboyance of flamingos. Those names are literary conventions, not scientific classifications.
| Bird | Collective noun | Also used |
|---|---|---|
| Crow | Murder | Horde, flock |
| Owl | Parliament | Wisdom, stare |
| Raven | Unkindness | Conspiracy |
| Hummingbird | Charm | Glittering, bouquet |
| Flamingo | Flamboyance | Stand, colony |
| Starling | Murmuration | Chattering |
| Goose | Gaggle on the ground | Skein in flight |
What Is a Group of Birds Called?
A group of birds is a flock. The word carries no restriction on species, size or season, so three mourning doves on a wire and 10,000 blackbirds over a cornfield are both flocks. Field guides, banding reports and the scientific literature use it almost exclusively.
Two technical words sit alongside it. A colony is a group nesting together, which is why herons, gulls and cliff swallows are called colonial nesters. A roost is a group gathered to sleep, the term for winter crow roosts that can hold tens of thousands of birds in one stand of trees.
Most of the playful alternatives trace back to the Book of Saint Albans, printed in 1486, which listed the “terms of venery” for noble hunting. Knowing that herons came in a siege and larks in an exaltation marked you as educated, so the list describes impressions rather than biology.
What Group of Birds Is Called a Parliament?
Owls are the group called a parliament. The term is the most searched collective noun for birds and is relatively modern: T. H. White used it in The Sword in the Stone in 1938, playing on the old link between owls and wisdom, and the phrase spread from there.
It is also biologically odd. Most owl species are strongly territorial and solitary outside the breeding season, so a true parliament is rare. The exceptions matter: long eared owls (Asio otus) roost communally in winter, sometimes a dozen in one conifer, and short eared owls hunt loosely over the same marsh.
What Is a Group of Crows Called?
A group of crows is called a murder. American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) are genuinely social, so unlike the owl parliament this is a term you can use in the field, and large winter roosts regularly top 20,000 birds in cities from Rochester to Portland.
The name likely comes from the folk belief that crows gather to judge and execute one of their own, combined with their habit of feeding at carcasses. Ornithologists do describe something close to a crow funeral: birds mob and call around a dead crow, which research suggests is danger learning rather than mourning.
“Horde” and “parcel” appear in older lists. For the full set of terms and the folklore behind them, see our guide to crow group names.
What Is a Group of Ravens Called?
A group of ravens is called an unkindness, and the second traditional term is a conspiracy. Both suit a bird that medieval Europe treated as an omen, and both appear in the same 15th century lists that gave us the murder of crows.
Common ravens (Corvus corax) are less gregarious than crows. Pairs hold large territories year round, but unmated young birds form loose bands of 10 to 40, and dozens will converge on a carcass or a dump. Those gatherings are where the word actually fits.
What Do You Call a Group of Robins?
A group of robins is called a worm of robins, the one collective noun built around the bird’s food rather than its reputation. “Round” and “breast” also circulate in word lists, and plain flock is correct and far more common.
American robins (Turdus migratorius) look solitary on spring lawns because breeding pairs defend territory. In fall and winter the same birds form nomadic flocks of 50 to several thousand that strip hollies, crabapples and junipers, then move on. Many northern yards see more robins in January than in June.
What Is a Flock of Doves Called?
A flock of doves is called a dule, sometimes spelled dole, and also a piteousness of doves. Both words point at the sound: the mournful cooing of the mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) reads as grief to the human ear, and dule comes from the French word for mourning.
In flight you may see “a flight of doves,” the term used for released white doves at ceremonies. Those birds are domesticated rock pigeons (Columba livia), not true doves, a distinction that matters if you are trying to identify one.
What Is a Group of Peacocks Called?
A group of peacocks is called an ostentation or a muster, and “pride” and “party” turn up as well. Ostentation is the term that stuck, for obvious reasons: a displaying Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) raises a train of more than 150 feathers into a five foot fan.
Strictly, peacock refers only to the male. The female is a peahen, the young are peachicks, and the species as a whole is peafowl, so a mixed group is correctly a muster of peafowl. Wild groups are harems: one male with three to five hens.
What Is a Group of Hummingbirds Called?
A group of hummingbirds is called a charm. A glittering, a shimmer, a bouquet and a tune all appear in collective noun lists, and charm is the oldest, from an archaic English word for a blended sound rather than from magic.
The term is nearly theoretical in the field. Hummingbirds are aggressively territorial, and a ruby throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) will chase every rival off a feeder it has claimed. What looks like a charm is usually one resident bird and several trying to sneak a drink.
What Is a Group of Flamingos Called?
A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance, and a stand or a colony is equally correct. Here the collective noun finally does honest work: flamingos are among the most social birds alive, and East African breeding colonies of lesser flamingos have reached more than a million birds.
The sociality is functional. Flamingos filter brine shrimp and algae from shallow water, and their synchronized group courtship displays, with hundreds of birds head flagging in unison, trigger the whole colony to breed at once. More terms and the display behavior are in our flamingo group guide.
Collective Nouns for Birds and Other Animals
The pattern holds across the animal kingdom, and the best known terms are just as arbitrary. A group of zebras is called a dazzle, from the way the stripe pattern confuses a predator’s eye. A collection of cows is called a herd, or a drove when the animals are being moved.
Among birds, a few more are worth memorizing: a rafter of turkeys, a covey of quail, a convocation of eagles, a siege of herons, a descent of woodpeckers, an exaltation of larks and a wake of vultures at a carcass. Waterfowl change terms by setting, as covered in our breakdown of duck group names.
Domestic birds have their own vocabulary, from a brood of chicks to a peep of hens, laid out in the guide to chicken group terms. For other branches, see eagle collective nouns and what a group of bats is called. The National Audubon Society uses flock throughout its own field material, which tells you which term the professionals trust.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a group of birds called a school?
No. School applies to fish, and a group of birds is called a flock. The mix up is common because both words describe coordinated movement, and starling murmurations do look like baitfish schooling. If you want one safe term for any bird group, flock is it.
What is the bird collective noun in English?
In English the general bird collective noun is flock, used for all species. Beyond that, English keeps dozens of species specific terms inherited from medieval hunting manuals, such as a murder of crows or a charm of hummingbirds. Only flock is standard in scientific writing.
What is a group of zebras called?
A group of zebras is called a dazzle, and herd is also correct. The name refers to the visual effect of many striped bodies moving together, which makes it hard for a lion to lock onto one animal. Zebras travel in family harems of one stallion and several mares.
Which bird group names describe nesting rather than flocking?
Colony is the nesting term, and the one biologists actually use. Gulls, terns, herons, cliff swallows and seabirds such as puffins nest in dense colonies on islands, cliffs and under bridges. A rookery is the same idea for rooks, herons and some penguins.
Why do collective nouns for birds sound so negative?
Many were coined in 15th century England, when crows, ravens and vultures were linked to death and bad luck. A murder, an unkindness and a wake all carry that superstition. Birds with pleasant reputations got pleasant terms, which is how larks ended up with an exaltation.
