List of birds of Sweden


This is a list of the bird species recorded in Sweden. The avifauna of Sweden included a total of 560 confirmed species as of 2023, according to Birdlife Sverige. Of them, seven have been introduced by humans and one, the great auk, is globally extinct. This list does not include species whose origin is not known.
This list's taxonomic treatment and nomenclature are those of AviList, which the Swedish Taxonomic Committee follows as of June 2025. Bird species admitted to the Swedish List are included in the following categories A, B or C, with the same definitions as the British and other Western Palaearctic bird lists:
  • A: species that have been recorded in an apparently natural state at least once since 1 January 1950.
  • B: species that were recorded in an apparently natural state at least once between 1 January 1800 and 31 December 1949, but have not been recorded subsequently.
  • C: species introduced by humans, and have established breeding populations derived from introduced stock, which maintain themselves without necessary recourse to further introduction.
The following tags have been used to highlight some categories of occurrence as noted by Birdlife Sverige.
  • Breeding – regularly breeds in Sweden
  • Irregularly breeding – irregularly breeds in Sweden
  • Migrating or wintering – does not breed in Sweden but passes through on migration or regular non-breeding visitor
  • Occasional – annual but irregular, with more than 100 records in total
  • Rarity - less than 100 records
  • Introduced - a species introduced directly or indirectly to Sweden and which has an established population or is derived from such a population outside Sweden


Ducks, geese, and waterfowl

Order: AnseriformesFamily: Anatidae
Anatidae includes geese, swans, and ducks. These birds are adapted to an aquatic existence with webbed feet, flattened bills, and feathers that are excellent at shedding water due to an oily coating.

Pheasants, grouse, and allies

Order: GalliformesFamily: Phasianidae
These are terrestrial species of gamebirds, feeding and nesting on the ground. They are variable in size but generally plump, with broad and relatively short wings.

Grebes

Order: PodicipediformesFamily: Podicipedidae
Grebes are small to medium-large freshwater diving birds. They have lobed toes and are excellent swimmers and divers. However, they have their feet placed far back on the body, making them quite ungainly on land.

Bustards

Order: OtidiformesFamily: Otididae
Bustards are large terrestrial birds mainly associated with dry open country and steppes in the Old World. They are omnivorous and nest on the ground. They walk steadily on strong legs and big toes, pecking for food as they go. They have long broad wings with "fingered" wingtips and striking patterns in flight. Many have interesting mating displays.

Cuckoos

Order: CuculiformesFamily: Cuculidae
The family Cuculidae includes cuckoos, roadrunners, and anis. These birds are of variable size with slender bodies, long tails, and strong legs. The Old World cuckoos are brood parasites.

Sandgrouse

Order: PterocliformesFamily: Pteroclidae
Sandgrouse have small pigeon-like heads and necks, but sturdy compact bodies. They have long pointed wings and sometimes tails and a fast direct flight. Flocks fly to watering holes at dawn and dusk. Their legs are feathered down to the toes.

Pigeons and doves

Order: ColumbiformesFamily: Columbidae
Pigeons and doves are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills with a fleshy cere.

Cranes

Order: GruiformesFamily: Gruidae
Cranes are large, long-legged, and long-necked birds. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back. Most have elaborate and noisy courting displays or "dances".

Rails, gallinules, and coots

Order: GruiformesFamily: Rallidae
Rallidae is a large family of small to medium-sized birds which includes the rails, crakes, coots, and gallinules. Typically they inhabit dense vegetation in damp environments near lakes, swamps, or rivers. In general they are shy and secretive birds, making them difficult to observe. Most species have strong legs and long toes which are well adapted to soft uneven surfaces. They tend to have short, rounded wings and to be weak fliers.

Stone-curlews

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Burhinidae
The stone-curlews are a group of waders found worldwide within the tropical zone, with some species also breeding in temperate Europe and Australia. They are medium to large waders with strong black or yellow-black bills, large yellow eyes, and cryptic plumage. Despite being classed as waders, most species have a preference for arid or semi-arid habitats.

Stilts and avocets

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Recurvirostridae
Recurvirostridae is a family of large wading birds which includes the stilts and avocets. The stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight bills. The avocets have long legs and long up-curved bills.

Oystercatchers

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Haematopodidae
The oystercatchers are large and noisy plover-like birds, with strong bills used for smashing or prising open molluscs and probing for worms.

Plovers and lapwings

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Charadriidae
The family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterels, and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short thick necks, and long, usually pointed, wings. They are found in open country worldwide, mostly in habitats near water.

Sandpipers and allies

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Scolopacidae
Scolopacidae is a large diverse family of small to medium-sized shorebirds including the sandpipers, curlews, godwits, shanks, tattlers, woodcocks, snipes, dowitchers, and phalaropes. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. Variation in length of legs and bills enables multiple species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.

Pratincoles and coursers

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Glareolidae
Glareolidae is a family of wading birds comprising the pratincoles, which have short legs, long pointed wings, and long forked tails, and the coursers, which have long legs, short wings, and long, pointed bills which curve downwards.

Skuas and jaegers

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Stercorariidae
The family Stercorariidae are, in general, medium to large sea birds, typically with grey or brown plumage, often with white markings on the wings. They nest on the ground in temperate and arctic regions and are long-distance migrants.

Auks, murres, and puffins

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Alcidae
Alcidae are a family of seabirds which are superficially similar to penguins with their black-and-white plumage, upright posture, and some of their habits, but which are able to fly.

Terns and gulls

Order: CharadriiformesFamily: Laridae
Laridae is a family of seabirds and includes terns and gulls. Terns are a group of generally medium to small seabirds typically with grey or white plumage, often with black markings on the head. Most terns hunt fish by diving but some pick insects off the surface of fresh water. Gulls are medium to large seabirds, typically grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wingtips. They have stout bills and webbed feet, and are omnivorous scavengers as well as fish eaters. Both are generally long-lived birds, with several species known to live in excess of 30 years.

Divers or loons

Order: GaviiformesFamily: Gaviidae
Divers or loons are a group of aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and Northern Eurasia. They are the size of a large duck or cormorant, which they somewhat resemble in shape when swimming, but to which they are completely unrelated. In particular, their legs are set very far back which assists swimming underwater but makes walking on land extremely difficult.

Albatrosses

Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Diomedeidae
The albatrosses are among the largest of flying birds, and the great albatrosses of the genus Diomedea have the largest wingspans of any extant birds.

Northern storm petrels

Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Hydrobatidae
Though the members of this family are similar in many respects to the southern storm petrels, including their general appearance and habits, there are enough genetic differences to warrant their placement in a separate family.

Shearwaters and petrels

Order: ProcellariiformesFamily: Procellariidae
The procellariids are the main group of medium-sized "true petrels", characterised by united nostrils with medium septum and a long outer functional primaries.

Storks

Order: CiconiiformesFamily: Ciconiidae
Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked, wetland birds with long, stout bills. Storks are mute, but bill-clattering is an important mode of communication at the nest. Their nests can be large and may be reused for many years. Many species are migratory.

Frigatebirds

Order: SuliformesFamily: Fregatidae
Frigatebirds are large, highly aerial tropical seabirds which feed mainly by stealing food from other seabirds, or catching flying fish in flight. They only occur as extreme vagrants in northern latitudes.

Boobies and gannets

Order: SuliformesFamily: Sulidae
The sulids comprise the gannets and boobies. Both groups are medium-large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish.

Cormorants and shags

Order: SuliformesFamily: Phalacrocoracidae
Cormorants and shags are medium to large aquatic birds, usually with mainly dark plumage and areas of yellow or red skin on the face. The bill is long, thin and sharply hooked. Their feet are four-toed and webbed between all four toes.

Ibises and spoonbills

Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Threskiornithidae
The family Threskiornithidae includes the ibises and spoonbills. They have long, broad wings. Their bodies tend to be elongated, the neck more so, with rather long legs. The bill is also long, decurved in the case of the ibises, straight and distinctively flattened in the spoonbills.

Herons, egrets, and bitterns

Order: PelecaniformesFamily: Ardeidae
The family Ardeidae contains the herons, egrets, and bitterns. Herons and egrets are medium to large wetland birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns tend to be shorter necked and more secretive. Members of Ardeidae fly with their necks retracted, unlike other long-necked birds such as storks, ibises and spoonbills.

Nightjars and allies

Order: CaprimulgiformesFamily: Caprimulgidae
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal birds that usually nest on the ground. They have long wings, short legs, and very short bills. Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and long pointed wings. Their soft plumage is camouflaged to resemble bark or leaves.

Swifts

Order: CaprimulgiformesFamily: Apodidae
Swifts are small birds which spend the majority of their lives flying. These birds have very short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground, perching instead only on vertical surfaces. Many swifts have long swept-back wings which resemble a crescent or boomerang.

Barn owls

Order: StrigiformesFamily: Tytonidae
Barn owls are medium to large owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long strong legs with powerful talons.

Owls

Order: StrigiformesFamily: Strigidae
Typical owls are small to large solitary nocturnal birds of prey. They have large forward-facing eyes and ears, a hawk-like beak, and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk.

Osprey

Order: AccipitriformesFamily: Pandionidae
Pandionidae is a family of fish-eating birds of prey, possessing a very large, powerful hooked beak for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, powerful talons, and keen eyesight. The family has only one extant species.

Hawks, eagles, and kites

Order: AccipitriformesFamily: Accipitridae
Accipitridae is a family of birds of prey and includes hawks, eagles, kites, harriers, and Old World vultures. These birds have very large powerful hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, powerful talons, and keen eyesight.

Hoopoes

Order: BucerotiformesFamily: Upupidae
Hoopoes have black, white and orangey-pink plumage with a large erectile crest on their head.

Rollers

Order: CoraciiformesFamily: Coraciidae
Rollers resemble crows in size and build, but are more closely related to the kingfishers and bee-eaters. They share the colourful appearance of those groups with blues and browns predominating. The two inner front toes are connected, but the outer toe is not.

Bee-eaters

Order: CoraciiformesFamily: Meropidae
The bee-eaters are a group of birds in the family Meropidae. Most species are found in Africa and Asia but others occur in southern Europe, Madagascar, Australia and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies and usually elongated central tail feathers. All have long downturned bills and pointed wings, which give them a swallow-like appearance when seen from afar.

Kingfishers

Order: CoraciiformesFamily: Alcedinidae
Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long, pointed bills, short legs and stubby tails.

Woodpeckers

Order: PiciformesFamily: Picidae
Woodpeckers are small to medium-sized birds with chisel-like beaks, short legs, stiff tails and long tongues used for capturing insects. Most species have feet with two toes pointing forward and two backward, while species in the genera Picoides and Sasia have only three toes. Many woodpeckers have the habit of tapping noisily on tree trunks with their beaks. One species, the middle spotted woodpecker, used to breed in Sweden but has since become locally extinct.

Falcons and caracaras

Order: FalconiformesFamily: Falconidae
Falconidae is a family of diurnal birds of prey. They differ from hawks, eagles and kites in that they kill with their beaks instead of their talons.

Old World orioles

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Oriolidae
The Old World orioles are colourful passerine birds. They are not closely related to the New World orioles.

Shrikes

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Laniidae
Shrikes are passerine birds known for their habit of catching large insects, small birds and other small animals and impaling the uneaten portions of their bodies on thorns. A shrike's beak is hooked, like that of a typical bird of prey.

Crows, jays, and magpies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Corvidae
The family Corvidae includes crows, ravens, jays, magpies, and nutcrackers. Corvids are above average in size among the Passeriformes, and many of the species show high levels of intelligence.

Penduline tits

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Remizidae
The penduline tits are a group of small passerine birds related to the true tits. They are insectivores.

Tits, chickadees and titmice

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Paridae
The Paridae are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects.

Bearded reedling

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Panuridae
This species, the only one in its family, is found in reed beds throughout temperate Europe and Asia.

Larks

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Alaudidae
Larks are small terrestrial birds with often extravagant songs and display flights. Most larks are fairly dull in appearance. Their diets consist of insects and seeds.

Cisticolas and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Cisticolidae
The Cisticolidae are warblers found mainly in warmer southern regions of the Old World. They are generally very small birds of drab brown or buff appearance found in open country such as grassland or scrub.

Reed warblers and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Acrocephalidae
The members of this family are rather plain olivaceous brown above, but green or grey in a few, and beige to yellow below. Their habitat ranges from wetlands to open woodland, wet scrub, or tall grass. The family occurs across Eurasia and Africa, but also ranges far into the Pacific.

Grassbirds and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Locustellidae
Locustellidae are a family of small insectivorous songbirds found mainly in Eurasia, Africa, and the Australian region. They are mostly smallish birds with tails that are usually long and broad with a rounded to pointed end, and tend to be well-camouflaged brownish above and buffy below. They mostly occur in dense wet grassland with scattered bushes.

Swallows

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Hirundinidae
The family Hirundinidae is adapted to aerial feeding. They have a slender streamlined body, long pointed wings, and a short bill with a wide gape. The feet are adapted to perching rather than walking, and the front toes are partially joined at the base.

Long-tailed tits and bushtits

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Aegithalidae
Long-tailed tits are a group of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. They make woven bag nests in trees. Most eat a mixed diet which includes insects.

Bush warblers and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Cettiidae
The members of this family are found across southern and western Europe, Africa, Asia, and Polynesia.

Leaf warblers

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Phylloscopidae
Leaf warblers are a family of small insectivorous birds found mostly in Eurasia and ranging into Wallacea and Africa. The species are often green-plumaged above and white or yellow below, or more subdued with buffy-green to greyish-green colours.

Sylviid warblers, parrotbills, and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Sylviidae
The family Sylviidae is a group of small insectivorous birds. They mainly occur as breeding species, as another common name implies, in Europe, Asia and, to a lesser extent, Africa. Most are of generally undistinguished appearance, but many have distinctive songs.

Waxwings

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Bombycillidae
The waxwings are a group of birds with soft silky plumage and unique red tips to the secondary feathers of the wing. These tips look like sealing wax and give the group its name. These are arboreal birds of northern forests. They live on insects in summer and berries in winter.

Crests and kinglets

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Regulidae
The crests and kinglets are a small family of birds which superficially resemble leaf warblers but are not closely related. They are very small insectivorous birds in the single genus Regulus. The adults have coloured crowns, giving rise to their name.

Nuthatches

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Sittidae
Nuthatches are small woodland birds. They have the unusual ability to climb down trees head first, unlike other tree-climbing birds which usually only go upwards. Nuthatches have large heads, short tails, and strong bills and feet.

Treecreepers

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Certhiidae
Treecreepers are small woodland birds, brown above and white below. They have thin pointed down-curved bills, which they use to extricate insects from bark. They have stiff tail feathers, like woodpeckers, which they use to support themselves on vertical trees.

Wrens

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Troglodytidae
The wrens are mainly small and inconspicuous except for their loud songs. These birds have short wings and thin down-turned bills. Several species often hold their tails upright. All are insectivorous.

Starlings

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Sturnidae
Starlings are medium-sized passerine birds. Their flight is strong and direct and they are very gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country. They eat insects and fruit. Their plumage is varied, but often with a metallic sheen.

Dippers

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Cinclidae
Dippers are a group of perching birds whose habitat includes aquatic environments in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. They are named for their bobbing or dipping movements.

Thrushes and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Turdidae
The thrushes are a family of birds with a cosmopolitan distribution that originated in the Old World. They are plump, soft-plumaged, small-to-medium-sized insectivores or omnivores, often feeding on the ground. Many have attractive songs.

Old World flycatchers and chats

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Muscicapidae
The Old World flycatchers and chats are a large group of birds which are mainly small insectivores, though some also eat berries and small seeds. The appearance of these birds is highly varied; many have weak songs but others have among the most complex and varied songs of all birds.

Accentors and dunnocks

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Prunellidae
The accentors are the only bird family which is endemic to the Palearctic. They are small, fairly drab species superficially similar to sparrows.

Old World sparrows

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Passeridae
In general, Old World sparrows tend to be small, plump, brown or grey birds with short tails and short powerful beaks. Sparrows are seed eaters, but they also consume small insects.

Wagtails and pipits

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Motacillidae
Motacillidae is a family of small birds with medium to long tails which includes the wagtails and pipits. They are slender ground-feeding insectivores of open country.

Finches, euphonias, and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Fringillidae
Finches are seed-eating birds that are small to moderately large and have a short strong beak, usually conical and in some species very large. All have twelve tail feathers and nine primaries. These birds have a bouncing flight with alternating bouts of flapping and gliding on closed wings, and most sing well.

Longspurs and snow buntings

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Calcariidae
The Calcariidae are a small family of birds that had been traditionally grouped with the buntings, but differ in a number of respects and are usually found in more open grassy areas.

Old World buntings

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Emberizidae
Emberizidae is a family of passerine birds containing a single genus, occurring throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. They are medium-small omnivorous birds, feeding on seeds for most of the year, but on insects in the breeding season.

New World sparrows

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Passerellidae
Until 2017, these species were considered part of the family Emberizidae. Most of the species are known as sparrows, but these birds are not closely related to the Old World sparrows which are in the family Passeridae. Many of these have distinctive head patterns.

Troupials and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Icteridae
The icterids are a group of small to medium-sized passerine birds restricted to the New World and include the grackles, New World blackbirds, and New World orioles. Most species have black as a predominant plumage colour, often enlivened by yellow, orange, or red.

Cardinals and allies

Order: PasseriformesFamily: Cardinalidae
The cardinals are a family of robust seed-eating birds with strong bills. They are typically associated with open woodland. The sexes usually have distinct plumages.