They’re no queens, but these princess birds are still cool

Many birds are named after kings. But not one species of bird has the word queen in their name.

Kingfishers, Kinglets, Kingbirds and more. At least 115 birds across the world has the word ‘king’ in their name.

But not one bird has the word ‘queen’ in their name!

That’s 10,000 bird species, some of which were named during Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years and 214 day reign… and yet somehow sexism still won.

Let’s forget all about sexism today and explore: birds named after princesses!

The Princess Parrot

This colourful parrot was named after Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The name was bestowed upon this bird by a famous ornithologist, John Gould, and was actually meant to commemorate her 1863 marriage to the Prince of Wales, Edward VII.

Image credit: Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. A Princess Parrot’s plumage is mostly green with a pink throat, bluish crown and rump, and bright green shoulders.

Sadly, for some reason, we’ve opted to remove the name Alexandra from this bird’s common name.

Like all parrots, they are super beautiful! Male Princesses (hehe) have glorious blue and lilac crowns, pink throats, baby-blue lower bellies, lime-green wing coverts, and bright red bills; while the female has similar, but less intense colours.

The two genders also have long tails, which can be more easily observed in flight.

Not only do they look beautiful, they sound great too: these birds have beautiful calls and a short range of mimicking ability, and like some other parrots, Princess Parrot individuals have been recorded with the ability to "talk".

Image credit: Chris Rehberg. The Princess Parrot’s life span is thought to be as long as 30 years. Under the right circumstances they are able to bond to more than one member of the host family.

As a species, the Princess Parrot is nomadic, arriving in small groups to breed and then disappearing. Because of their nomadic habits and their elusive natures, they are one of Australia's least known parrots.

Sadly, their elusive nature is a parallel that can be drawn to Princess Alexandra, the person they were named after.

Princess Alexandra is said to have suffered from chronic health issues, which, coupled with heartbreak from her husband’s numerous affairs, meant that she spent a lot of time in social isolation. :(

Princess Charlotte’s Bulbul

Sometimes shortened to just Charlotte’s Bulbul, this bird is a pretty dull brown bird, with a long bill and pale eyes.

Princess Charlotte’s Bulbul can be found on the island of Borneo in its natural habitat of subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, but beyond that, there’s not that much information on these birds.

Image credit: eBird. They are plain looking birds, and may be easily confused with other plain bulbuls. To differentiate them, you have to look for this species’ pale eyes, unmarked yellowish-suffused underparts, and clean white throat.

Interestingly, it seems that there’s also a lack of information as to the reason why the bird was named after Princess Charlotte!

The connection to the bird is unclear, as the person who named the bird, a Mr Finsch, left no details of his reasoning for the name. In fact, the name is only presumed to refer to her - it could have been meant for a completely different Princess Charlotte!

Daughter and sister to two bearers of the twin role of German Emperor and King of Prussia, Princess Charlotte of Prussia (1860-1919) was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria (who we’re going to cover next on this list) and grew up suffering from numerous health issues (which we’re also going to cover later on this list…)

Image credit: Mike Price. This species has been reported to be not as social as some other bulbuls, and will typically moving through the middle and upper levels of forest individually or in pairs.

Just like other members of the royal family, Princess Charlotte was engaged to her cousin. For Charlotte, though, she was engaged at only 16. (In comparison, Princess Diana got engaged at 19. Still bad, though. WTF)

Charlotte would die of a heart attack at age 59 following increasing medical issues, which later scientists have suggested may well have been hereditary porphyria – a condition associated with the British Royal Family. (Monarchy: 0, Incest: 1)

Lastly, named for a Queen: the Victoria Crowned Pigeon

This is a bird fit for royalty!

The Victoria Crowned Pigeon is a large, bluish-grey pigeon with elegant blue lace-like crests, maroon breast and red irises. It is part of a genus of four unique, very large, ground-dwelling pigeons native to the New Guinea region. I’d love to write another article on them another day!

Image credit: eBird. The Victoria crowned pigeon is now the most rarely occurring of the three crowned pigeon species in the wild, although it is the most widely kept species in captivity.

The Victoria Crowned Pigeon’s name commemorates the British monarch Queen Victoria, who was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and seven months was longer than that of any previous British monarch and is known as the Victorian era.

Interestingly, Victoria married her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. Her children married into royal and noble families across the continent, but spread haemophilia - an inherited bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot properly - in European royalty. (Monarchy: 0, Incest: 2)

But anyway, back to birds! The Victoria Crowned Pigeon was named after Queen Victoria by Louis Fraser, a British zoologist, in 1844. They’re actually the largest living pigeon in the world, and is the closest remaining relative to the extinct dodo bird!

Image credit: Honolulu Zoo. Male Victoria Crowned Pigeons regularly engage in aggressive displays to establish dominance. In these interactions, the pigeons puff up their chests and repeatedly raise their wings as if preparing to strike their opponent. They also make short dashes at each other and may actually hit one another!

Unfortunately, Victoria Crowned Pigeons were hunted pretty extensively for their meat and feathers, and due to hunting and habitat destruction, the wild population had declined rapidly, endangering the species to near extinction.

There are many of these birds still living in zoos worldwide, though: they are docile by nature, which is why they're a frequent attraction at zoos. They are often left to roam the grounds freely and tend to be happiest when foraging for food on the ground and wandering around.

That’s all for today’s post. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and if you had any non bird-related takeaways, it would be something like: “incest is bad!”