17 Small and Medium Brown Birds With Long Beaks

Birds are an incredibly fascinating and diverse group of creatures, encompassing a wide range of shapes, sizes, colors, and forms. From the well-known species to the more obscure, the avian world offers a captivating tapestry of biodiversity.

In this article, we will shed light on a specific group of birds that often go unnoticed: brown birds with long beaks. While they may not receive the same attention as their more colorful counterparts, birds possess their own unique charm and intriguing characteristics.

So, join us on this journey as we uncover the enchanting world of these 17 small and medium brown birds with long beaks.

List of Small and Medium Brown Birds With Long Beaks

• Whimbrel
• Wilson’s Snipe
• Kiwi
• Canyon Wren
• American woodcock
• Pin-tailed snipe
• Short-billed dowitcher
• Wilson’s Snipe
• Long-billed dowitcher
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Killdeer
• Brown Thrasher
• Toxostoma
• California Thrasher
• LeConte’s Thrasher
• Long-billed Thrasher
• Brown-Backed Mockingbird

List of Brown Birds with Long Beaks

Hudsonian Whimbrel (Medium Brown Birds With Long Beaks)

• Scientific name: Numenius phaeopus
• Lifespan: 12 to as much as 24 years
• Size: 15–19 in
• Native to:  Alaska and northwestern Canada.
• Beak length on average is 4-6 inches (10.2-15.2 cm).

Long-beaked birds from the beach and from relatively wide countryside include the Hudsonian Whimbrel.

North America is the home of the Hudsonian Whimbrel, also known as Numenius Phaeopus Hudsonicus. They often hang out as near to shallow water as they can, where they will frequently wade. They are often seen standing on one leg in their natural environment. Its body is grey with a darker neck and tail, and some of its wings are white.

The long-beaked birds inhabit grasslands where they mostly feed on insects and crustaceans while building their ground-based nests, often close to sources of water. After the baby birds hatch, both parents assist in feeding them. This bird is sometimes hunted for its delectable flesh, but because of legislation protecting them, this doesn’t happen as often as it once did!

Wilson’s Snipe

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• Scientific name: Gallinago delicata
• Lifespan: Up to 8 years
• Size: Approximately 25-28 cm (10-11 inches)
• Native to: North America
• Beak length: About 6-8 cm (2.4-3.1 inches)

The Wilson’s Snipe (Gallinago delicata) is a migratory shorebird found in North and Central America. With its mottled brown plumage, large beak, and small legs, it is well suited to its marshy environments. Wilson’s Snipe eat by exploring the soft mud for insects and worms. They are secretive and mix nicely with their environment. During the mating season, males undertake stunning aerial courting displays called as “sky dances” to attract females. These shows include flying high in the sky while making unusual noises. Wilson’s Snipe are good at concealing and might be tough to locate. They play a vital role in wetland habitats, although their conservation status is not covered here.

Kiwi Bird

• Scientific name: Apteryx
• Lifespan: between 25 and 50 years
• Size: 14 to 18 inches
• Native to: New Zealand
• Beak length on average is 6 inches (15 cm)

The Maori term “kiwi,” which means land-dwelling New Zealander, is where the name “kiwi” comes from (the kiwi bird also goes by the English name kiwi). Kiwi birds have large beaks and are small, spherical birds.

New Zealand’s national bird is the kiwi. They are members of the Apterygidae family of birds and got their name from early European immigrants who believed they were connected to the birds they named “kiwis” in their native Australia.

Long whiskers that function as antennas allow kiwis to feel and touch objects without placing their beaks on them. Long beaks enable kiwis to detect grubs and worms that are deeply buried in the soil.

The ability to smell is one of the most fascinating characteristics of kiwis. Kiwis depend on their exceptional sense of smell to locate food at night since their vision is so weak! The kiwi weighs around 1 kilogram and has a typical wingspan of 60 cm.

Canyon Wren (Small Brown Birds With Long Beaks)

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• Scientific name: Catherpes mexicanus
• Lifespan: Up to 6 years
• Size: Approximately 12.5-15 cm (5-6 inches)
• Native to: Western United States and Mexico
• Beak length: Around 1.5-2 cm (0.6-0.8 inches)

The Canyon Wren is a small songbird found in western North America, from the United States to northern Mexico. This species is known for its striking look and charming vocalizations.

With its reddish-brown color and unique white streaks on its wings, the Canyon Wren is aesthetically fascinating. It has a thin body, a long, slightly curved bill, and a downward-curving tail, which helps in its speed as it navigates rocky areas.

Canyon Wrens are well-adapted to their chosen home of valleys, rocks, and rocky hills. They build cup-shaped nests in rock crevices or slopes, giving cover from predators and the weather. Their feeding behavior involves climbing and hopping among rocks as they search for insects and spiders.

The most amazing feature of the Canyon Wren is its beautiful song. Their beautiful vocalizations consist of a number of ascending notes that change in pitch and beat. Their songs bounce through the valleys, adding fascinating music to their rocky homes.

American Woodcock (Medium Brown Birds With Long Beaks)

• Scientific name: Scolopax minor
• Length: 30 cm
• Wingspan: 50 cm
• Weight: 200 gm
• Beaks typically measure 2.5 to 2.8 inches

North American shorebirds with modest size and generally long, thin beaks include the American woodcock. They like marshes, lakes, ponds, and slow-moving rivers and streams as habitats.

They eat earthworms as well as snails, millipedes, spiders, flies, beetles, and ants, among other invertebrates. The American woodcock is also known as timberdoodle, bog sucker, hokum poke, or Labrador twister.

Pin-tailed snipe

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• Scientific name: Gallinago stenura
• Lifespan: Unknown (limited information available)
• Size: Approximately 23-26 cm (9-10 inches)
• Native to: Parts of Asia, including Siberia, China, and Japan
• Beak length: About 5-6 cm (2-2.4 inches)

The Pin-tailed Snipe, officially known as Gallinago stenura, is a bird species found in parts of Asia and Europe. It is a medium-sized bird with a thin build and mottled brown feathers, offering good concealment in its swampy surroundings. What sets it apart is its unique long, pin-like tail feathers.

Adult Pin-tailed Snipes usually measure about 9-11 inches (23-28 centimeters) in length. They frequent marshy places such as reeds, swamps, and fields.

These snipes have a mysterious behavior, making them difficult to spot. They feed on animals, such as flies, worms, and mollusks, probing the soft ground with their long bills.

During the breeding season, males make flying shows, making a “drumming” sound with their unique tail feathers. Females build nest cups on the ground and raise the chicks.

Short-billed dowitcher

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• Scientific name: Limnodromus griseus
• Lifespan: Up to 10 years
• Size: Approximately 26-31 cm (10-12 inches)
• Native to: North America
• Beak length: Around 5-6 cm (2-2.4 inches)

The Short-billed Dowitcher is a medium-sized shorebird that prefers marshes and mudflats throughout North America. With its unique look and behavior, it sticks out among its bird peers. Measuring around 10-12 inches in length, this migrating bird has a stocky body, long legs, and a relatively short, straight bill, which gives it its name.

The appearance of the Short-billed Dowitcher changes based on the season. During the breeding season, the male sports a rich reddish-brown coloring on its head, neck, and breast, while the rest of its body stays mottled grayish-brown. The female, on the other hand, shows a more subdued brownish-gray appearance year-round. In flight, both sexes show their striking white undersides, which contrast with their darker upper parts.

Short-billed Dowitchers are highly social birds, often making big groups during passage and wintering times. They use their sensitive bills to probe mud and sand in search of insects, their main food source. As they move their bills fast back and forth, they remove tiny insects, crabs, and marine worms from the ground.

Long-billed dowitcher (Medium Brown Birds With Long Beaks)

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• Scientific name: Limnodromus scolopaceus
• Lifespan: Up to 11 years
• Size: Approximately 29-32 cm (11-13 inches)
• Native to: North America
• Beak length: Around 8-9 cm (3.1-3.5 inches)

The Long-billed Dowitcher is a migrant shorebird that can be found in North America. With its unique look and hunting behavior, it sticks out among its bird peers. This medium-sized bird measures around 11-12 inches in length, with a long, thin bill that bends slightly upwards.

During the breeding season, the Long-billed Dowitcher shows a mixed brownish-gray color on its upper parts, while its underparts are a rich reddish-brown. Outside of the breeding season, both males and females show a more uniform grayish-brown coloring. In flying, their wings show a striking white V-shaped design on their backs.

Long-billed Dowitchers are often found in marshes, mudflats, and seaside places. They have an amazing hunting method known as “sewing-machine feeding.” They quickly probe the mud with their bills, stitching them in and out to search for small animals, such as insects, crabs, and marine worms.

These shorebirds perform long-distance migrations, moving between their breeding grounds in the northern regions of North America and their wintering areas in the southern United States, Mexico, and Central America

Spotted Sandpiper

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• Scientific name: Actitis macularius
• Lifespan: Up to 5 years
• Size: Approximately 18-20 cm (7-8 inches)
• Native to: North and Central America
• Beak length: About 2-3 cm (0.8-1.2 inches)

The Spotted Sandpiper is a beautiful and unique shorebird found throughout North and Central America. This medium-sized bird, reaching around 6-7 inches in length, displays a unique breeding behavior where the females take the lead in courting and area defense, while the males take on the duty of holding the eggs and caring for the young.

The Spotted Sandpiper gets its name from the noticeable spots that cover its white underparts during the breeding season. Its upper parts are a mix of brown and gray, offering excellent cover in its chosen environments of watery shorelines, rivers, and ponds. In flying, it shows a flash of white on its wings.

These sandpipers are known for their typical bobbing or wobbling movement, where they continuously dip their tails while hunting along the water’s edge. They have a wide food that includes insects, small crabs, and other animals found in the shallow seas and mudflats.

During migration, Spotted Sandpipers can be seen in varied environments, including coastal areas, marshes, and meadows. They make lengthy trips, with some people going as far as South America.

Killdeer

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• Scientific name: Charadrius vociferus
• Lifespan: Up to 10 years
• Size: Approximately 23-28 cm (9-11 inches)
• Native to: North and Central America
• Beak length: Around 3-4 cm (1.2-1.6 inches)

The Killdeer is a small to medium-sized shorebird known for its striking look and unique behavior. Found throughout North and Central America, this bird can be easily identified by its brownish-gray plumage, bold black bands across its white chest, and noticeable double black bands across its upper breast.

One of the most recognized traits of the Killdeer is its loud and repeated call, which sounds like its name, “kill-deer.” This vocalization is often heard during its flying shows or when the bird is startled. Killdeer are highly flexible and can be found in different environments, including farms, pastures, beaches, and even urban areas.

These birds have a unique nesting technique. Instead of making nests in trees or shrubs, they make simple depressions on the ground, often lined with rocks or grass. This smart adaptation helps them fit into their surroundings and provides cover for their well-camouflaged eggs.

Killdeer are adaptable eaters, mainly eating insects, worms, small crabs, and seeds. They have a unique hunting behavior of running or walking quickly, then suddenly stopping and picking at the ground, using their long bills to snatch up food.

Brown Thrasher (Small Brown Birds With Long Beaks)

• Scientific name: Rhinopomastus minor
• Lifespan: 10-12 years
• Size: 20-30 cm
• Native to: eastern and Central United States and Southern and central Canada

These stunning birds belong to the family Mimidae. They are songbirds with a life expectancy of around 12–14 years. Only this particular kind of Thrasher can be found east of the Rockies and central Texas.

The speckled Brown Thrasher has the largest repertory of songbirds, with over 1K different varieties. Typically, the notes in their songs repeat every two to three phrases.

Brown Thrashers are very protective of their nests and may even attack people when they feel in danger. If you like birding, it is crucial to keep in mind this.

Brown thrashers have long, black bills, a long brown tail, and a reddish brown body with speckled breasts.

Brown spots cover their white breast, beginning at the legs and continuing up to the neck. Their pleated wings give them a distinctive appearance.

If you want to see these birds, it’s necessary to know that they spend a lot of time close to the ground. The time when you would normally hear their cackling cry is when they are hiding in thickets.

California Thrasher (Medium Brown Birds With Long Beaks)

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• Scientific name: Toxostoma redivivum
• Lifespan: Up to 10 years
• Size: Approximately 28-33 cm (11-13 inches)
• Native to: California, United States
• Beak length: Around 2-3 cm (0.8-1.2 inches)

The California Thrasher is a big, secretive songbird native to California and a member of the thrasher family, Mimidae. This bird is known for its striking look and amazing singing skills. With a length of about 11-12 inches, it has a long, bent bill and a long, curled tail.

The California Thrasher has a rich, bright brown coat with faint lines and a slightly lighter belly. Its long bill is properly designed for probing dirt and leaf litter in search of insects, spiders, and other animals. It also eats berries and fruits, making it an omnivore bird.

These thrashers are highly skilled mimics and have a varied range of songs and calls. They can copy other bird species, along with different sounds in their surroundings, including car alarms and other human-made noises. Their beautiful, flute-like songs can be heard during the breeding season, as males defend their areas and draw mates.

The California Thrasher prefers chaparral, scrublands, and oak forests, often in dry or desert areas. It is a shy and secretive bird that spends much of its time on the ground, eating and hopping through thick greenery. Although it has a limited range within California, it is relatively common in proper environments.

LeConte’s Thrasher

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• Scientific name: Toxostoma lecontei
• Lifespan: Up to 11 years
• Size: Approximately 22-25 cm (9-10 inches)
• Native to: Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico
• Beak length: About 2-3 cm (0.8-1.2 inches)

LeConte’s Thrasher is a species of songbird belonging to the thrasher family, Mimidae. Named after American scientist John Lawrence LeConte, this bird is mainly found in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It is known for its unique look and fascinating behavior.

LeConte’s Thrasher is a medium-sized bird, reaching around 10-12 inches in length. It has a long, slightly bent bill, ideal for foraging on the ground. Its color is mainly pale gray-brown, fitting in with its dry desert surroundings. The bird’s neck and breast often show fine lines or spots, and it has a long, thin tail with white tips.

These thrashers are remarkable for their ability to live in hard desert settings. They have adapted to the dry areas by getting water from their food and utilizing specific habits to preserve moisture. LeConte’s Thrashers are mainly insectivorous, eating on insects, spiders, and other small animals found in the desert dirt.

When it comes to their vocalizations, LeConte’s Thrashers have a wide range of songs and calls. Their songs are complex and beautiful, often consisting of a series of clear, flute-like notes. They sing from high places to mark their areas and draw mates during the breeding season.

Long-billed Thrasher

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• Scientific name: Toxostoma longirostre
• Lifespan: Up to 13 years
• Size: Approximately 28-32 cm (11-13 inches)
• Native to: Southwestern United States and northern Mexico
• Beak length: Around 2.5-3 cm (1-1.2 inches)

The Long-billed Thrasher is a medium-sized songbird belonging to the thrasher family, Mimidae. This species is mainly found in the desert areas of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is known for its unique look and beautiful vocalizations.

Measuring around 10-11 inches in length, the Long-billed Thrasher has a long, thin bill that gives it its name. Its coloring is mainly brown, with darker lines on the upper parts and a pale belly. The bird’s long tail has white tips, noticeable in flight. It also possesses bright yellow eyes, adding to its overall striking look.

Long-billed Thrashers are highly flexible and can live in a range of dry environments, including desert scrub, chaparral, and thorn woods. They are skilled foragers, using their long bills to probe the ground for insects, spiders, small snakes, and seeds. They may also eat vegetables and nuts when available.

One of the most notable features of the Long-billed Thrasher is its singing ability. It has a diverse range of songs, including beautiful trills, whistles, and chatters. These vocalizations are used for territory defense and wooing shows, often given from prominent places.

Brown-Backed Mockingbird

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• Scientific name: Mimus dorsalis
• Lifespan: Up to 10 years
• Size: Approximately 22-26 cm (9-10 inches)
• Native to: Galápagos Islands
• Beak length: About 2.5-3 cm (1-1.2 inches)

The Brown-Backed Mockingbird is a species of songbird known for its engaging singing skills and striking look. It is native to the desert areas of Mexico and Central America. This medium-sized bird belongs to the family Mimidae, which includes other skilled mimics.

The Brown-Backed Mockingbird displays a unique coloring. It has a brownish-gray back and wings, a pale gray head and breast, and a noticeable white eye-ring. Its long tail is marked with white outer feathers that become noticeable in flight. These features add to its general beautiful and eye-catching appearance.

As with other mockingbirds, the Brown-Backed Mockingbird is famous for its excellent mimicry skills. It can copy the songs of different other birds, along with other sounds in its surroundings, such as signals and human voices. It puts together a complex mix of sounds during its singing shows, showing its ability to mimic a wide range of species.

In terms of environment, the Brown-Backed Mockingbird likes dry and semi-arid places, including deserts, thorn woods, and scrublands. It is an omnivorous bird, eating a varied food that includes insects, plants, berries, and even small snakes or frogs.

Final Thoughts on Small and Medium Brown Birds With Long Beaks

The world of small and medium brown birds with long beaks is fascinating and often overlooked within the avian kingdom. Through our exploration of 17 diverse species, we have shed light on their unique characteristics and contributions to their ecosystems. From delicate thrashers to agile warblers, these birds captivate with their adaptations and play vital roles in pollination and seed dispersal. By cultivating a deeper appreciation for these avian wonders, we foster a sense of stewardship and conservation for the intricate tapestry of birdlife. Let us celebrate the beauty and diversity of these remarkable creatures and strive to protect their habitats for generations to come.