Meet the Birds That Challenge Our Notions of Beauty

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but it’s probably safe to say that most people would agree that the birds listed here are a bit on the homely side and, perhaps even, downright frightening to look at. This doesn’t mean that they have no place in the world or that those that are endangered should not be as fiercely protected as the peacock or the golden-rumped euphonia. Nor are they unhappy. Indeed, they are as happy as any other bird, including larks. But truly, the birds described below are frightful to behold. Continue reading to discover the top 10 ugliest birds in the world.

10. A Certain Parrot

Parrots are not necessarily ugly. Indeed, many are beautiful, with brilliantly colored feathers, but Oscar was different (Oscar was a girl, by the way). She was a cockatoo who suffered from beak and feather disease. Beak and feather is a contagious disease that affects the immune system, and Oscar was given just six months to live. However, she surprised everyone by living for 17 years, passing away on Sunday, September 24, 2023.

9. Kiwi

The kiwi, the national symbol of New Zealand, doesn’t look like a bird at all. It is flightless, and its chicken-sized body is covered with what might as well be shaggy brown hair, though they are actually wispy feathers. Kiwis are nocturnal and rest in burrows during the day. They have tiny eyes that don’t see that well, but this is made up for by their acute sense of smell. This is helped by a very long beak with nostrils at the tip. The kiwi uses its bill to probe for earthworms and other invertebrates, though it also eats berries and seeds. The female lays an egg that’s about a fifth of her body weight. After this, she figures her job is over, and the male of most kiwi species incubates the egg and raises the chick.

8. Southern Screamer

This ugly bird is native to South America from Brazil down to Argentina. The Southern screamer has a disproportionally tiny head with a minuscule hooked beak, on a goose-sized body. Its feet are huge, and it has long toes for walking around the marshes of its habitat. Not only this, its wings have spurs on the leading edge that the bird uses in combat with other screamers and would-be predators. The Southern screamer gets its name because, well, it screams, both on land and as it flies. Because of this and its varied and easy-to-provide diet of leaves, buds, seeds, and other plant material, it is sometimes tamed and used as a guard bird.

7. Muscovy Duck

Even Linnaeus, the renowned taxonomist, didn’t have much good to say about this duck’s looks, even though the domesticated Muscovy duck is much prized because it’s a big, relatively quiet, easy-to-raise bird whose meat tastes more like beef than poultry.

Yet the faces of Muscovy ducks present with fleshy red caruncles that make them look unfortunate. Males also have crests they use to impress females. Other than this, the plumage of these ducks can be quite beautiful, with the male’s darker feathers being nearly iridescent. If only a person didn’t have to look at those faces.

The Muscovy Duck is unusual looking and has been kept away from the mainstream public for years by many indigenous people of South America who often add this bird’s eggs to their diet. However, over time, this bird is becoming more and more popular among Americans, New Zealanders, and Australians as meat producers and as pets.

6. Shoebill

The shoebill’s looks are mostly the fault of its bill, which is huge and resembles a wooden Dutch clog with a hook at the tip. The tip helps the bird dispatch its prey, which includes smaller birds, fish, frogs, lizards, rodents, snails, and turtles. The shoebill stands between four and five feet tall. It’s found around freshwater papyrus marshes in East and Central Africa. Despite its size, a shoebill weighs around 12 pounds. Its eyes are small, cold, and yellow, and one of its calls sounds like a machine gun going off. Yet, despite its looks, the shoebill is surprisingly tame and friendly toward humans.

5. Great Potoo

A gray-feathered nocturnal bird of Central and South America and the Caribbean, the great potoo would be perfectly ignorable if not for two things: its eyes and its mouth. The great potoo has huge eyes, which it uses to its advantage while hunting nocturnally. It also has a very broad beak and a wide mouth, which it uses to capture insects. Another thing that makes the admittedly harmless potoo scary is its call, which is described as a hair-raising blend of a moan and a growl heard all night long throughout the humid forests where it lives.

4. Vultures

Vultures are ugly. It does not matter that they are essential or even if they are magnificent like the condor. Their looks and their habits are frightful. Most breeds of vulture have bald heads and necks that make poking around in decaying carcasses less messy. It doesn’t help that a vulture will steal baby ostriches and ostrich eggs. The lappet-faced vulture, native to Africa, is an especially hideous bird, for its eyes are beady, and it gets its name from the loose folds of naked skin that hang from its neck. Vultures have crops that bulge as they store their ghastly food and large feet with serious talons. Some breeds of vultures urinate over their legs to cool themselves off and vomit when they feel threatened.

3. Hornbills

Most breeds of hornbill are ugly to the point that bright colors and interesting patterns on their bills and plumage don’t help much. Found in Asia, Africa, and Melanesia, they have huge, downward-curving bills. Some species, such as the great hornbill and the rhinoceros hornbill, have a casque on top of the bill. The bill and the casque are so burdensome that the species’ first and second neck bones are fused to help the bird carry the weight.

2. Hoatzin

A prehistoric-looking bird, the hoatzin is not only ugly, but it smells bad, which gives it its other names of skunkbird and stinkbird. Found in the swampy or riparian forests of northern South America, this bird has a hefty body and a tiny head with a spiky crest, a bare face, and maroon-colored eyes. It gets its “stinkbird” name because of its weird digestive system. The hoatzin is an herbivore that ferments food in its crop, much like a cow does in its first stomach. The stench comes from the fermenting food. Another weird thing about this creature is that a baby hoatzin is born with hooks on its wings to help it climb until it fledges.

1. Marabou Stork

The marabou stork is so hideous that it looks extraterrestrial. Called the undertaker bird, because when viewed from behind, its hunched black back and bald head resemble a mortician at work. Native to Africa, the marabou stork is five feet tall and has an enormous bill. The huge bill is used to rip open a dead body and tear its flesh. The bald head lets it get inside the carcass without feathers to get mucked up. To cool off, the marabou stork pants and voids its bowels over its legs.