Birds, birds, birds!
Tropes about birds. See also Tropesaurus Index for the birds' ancestors.
Tropes
Categories:
- Corvid Tropes (crows, ravens, and magpies)
- This Index Quacks (ducks, geese, and swans)
- Acrophobic Bird: A bird afraid of flying.
- All Flyers Are Birds: Non-avian flying animals depicted as perching, nesting, and behaving like birds.
- American Eagle: Bald eagles used to represent the United States of America.
- Artistic License – Ornithology: Fiction's portrayal of birds isn't accurate to how birds are in real life.
- Avian Flute: Birds musically represented by flutes.
- Balloon-Bursting Bird: A balloon gets popped by a bird's beak.
- Basilisk and Cockatrice: Creatures often depicted as monstrous chicken-like beings.
- Beak Attack: Beaks used as natural weapons.
- Bird People: Humanoid birds.
- Bird-Poop Gag: Someone or something gets hit by bird droppings.
- Bird vs. Serpent: A bird pitted against a snake.
- Bluebird of Happiness: Bluebirds as symbols of happiness and serenity.
- Brutal Bird of Prey: Raptors portrayed as merciless killing machines.
- Caged Bird Metaphor: A repressed character is compared to a bird in a cage.
- Canary in a Coal Mine: Keeping a caged canary in a mine so that when it dies you know that there are toxic gases in the air.
- Cartoon Penguin: A simple black-and-white penguin of no particular species.
- Chicken Joke: Why did the chicken cross the road?
- Chickenpox Episode: While chickenpox has nothing to do with chickens in real life, many fictional works connect chickenpox to chickens, usually by having afflicted characters become chickens.
- Circling Birdies: When someone is hit over the head and their dazed state is represented by birds flying in circles around their head.
- Circling Vultures: Vultures circle around someone when they're at death's door.
- Cock-a-Doodle Dawn: Rooster crows in the morning.
- Cocky Rooster: Roosters depicted as fierce, aggressive birds or with a smug, snobbish attitude.
- Creepy Hairless Animal: An animal that usually has fur, hair, or feathers is hairless or featherless, making it seem creepy.
- Cuckoo Clock Gag: Cuckoo birds are generally known for popping out of the clock every hour.
- Cute Owl: Owls depicted as adorable birds.
- Delivery Stork: Storks deliver babies to their parents.
- Disturbed Doves: Mass bird take-off is always symbolic.
- Divine Birds: Birds depicted as sacred, holy or heavenly.
- Doofy Dodo: Dodo birds portrayed as unintelligent and/or funny.
- Doves Mean Peace: When a dove appears, expect it to represent peace and other positive concepts.
- Eastern Zodiac: The rooster is the tenth animal of the zodiac.
- Egg-Laying Male: Male birds can lay eggs in fiction.
- Eggshell Clothing: When a creature that hatched from an egg wears the egg's shell as an item of clothing.
- Eyeball-Plucking Birds: Ravens and other scavenging birds will ALWAYS go for the eyeball of both living and dead animals.
- Feathered Dragons: Dragons with birdlike wings or other avian traits.
- Feathered Fiend: Evil birds.
- Feather Fingers: A bird's wing feathers function the same as fingers.
- Flying Flightless Bird: A bird that's flightless in reality but able to fly in a work of fiction.
- Fowl-Mouthed Parrot: A parrot copies someone swearing.
- Goofy Feathered Dinosaur: Feathered dinosaurs depicted as humorous and unintimidating.
- Harping on About Harpies: Half-bird/half-woman mythical creatures.
- Homeless Pigeon Person: A homeless person who cares for pigeons.
- Instantly Defeathered Bird: A bird loses all of its feathers as a result of Amusing Injuries.
- Instant Messenger Pigeon: Birds that are used to deliver messages.
- Jungles Sound Like Kookaburras: If there's a scene taking place in a jungle, chances are good that you'll hear the sound of a kookaburra in the background.
- The Mothman: Despite the name, mothmen are often described as having many strigiform characteristics to them.
- Mouthy Bird: A cartoon bird's beak is drawn or animated to act like a mouth.
- Kidnapping Bird of Prey: Predatory birds that snatch people from the ground and carry them off into the sky.
- Noble Bird of Prey: Predator birds depicted as brave, good, honorable or wise.
- Not in Front of the Parrot!: Someone gets in trouble because they said something embarrassing or incriminating in front of a parrot.
- Ominous Owl: Owls portrayed as creepy or scary.
- Ostrich Head Hiding: An ostrich with its head stuck under the ground.
- Our Gryphons Are Different: Half-bird/half-feline mythical creatures.
- Owls Ask "Who?": Owls associated with (and are often confused for asking) a certain one-word question.
- The Owl-Knowing One: Owls depicted as wise and knowledgeable beings.
- Peacock Girl: When a humanoid person has a peacock tail or is wearing a bunch of feathers arranged as though it was a peacock tail.
- Pelican Package Pouch: When a pelican's throat pouch is used to hide and/or carry things.
- Penguins Are Ducks: Penguins given attributes of ducks due to confusion between the two.
- Perpetual Molt: Birds that are constantly shedding or losing feathered.
- Pesky Pigeons: Pigeons portrayed as a nuisance, or as unpleasant creatures.
- The Phoenix: A mythical firebird that can resurrect itself after dying.
- Pirate Parrot: Pirates have parrots on their shoulders.
- Polar Bears and Penguins: Penguins living in the same habitat as polar bears, even though they don't live together in real life.
- Polar Penguins: Penguins are used as a visual shorthand for cold climates.
- Polly Wants a Microphone: Parrots are actually able to talk instead of just copying what they hear other people say.
- Proud Peacock: Peacocks depicted as vain birds.
- Roc Birds: Predatory birds of immense size, originating in Arabic folklore.
- Semiaquatic Species Sailor: Anthropomorphic semi-aquatic birds such as ducks, loons, and seabirds are depicted as sailors, pirates, or captains.
- Thanksgiving Turkey: Turkeys used to represent or symbolize Thanksgiving.
- Thunderbird: A giant bird connected with storms, usually drawn from Native American myth.
- Toothy Bird: Birds with teeth.
- Unwise Owl: An owl is portrayed as not being as intelligent/wise as one expects.
- Vile Vulture: Vultures in fiction are amoral and villainous.
