Why are there so few poisonous birds?

The world’s got tons of poisonous insects, frogs, and venomous snakes. But not many poisonous birds!

Poisonous birds are rare, and so far, we know of only a few species that have this trait. These species comprise of the Pitohui and Ifrita birds from Papua New Guinea, the European Quail, the Spur-winged Goose, the Hoopees, the North American Ruffed Grouse, the Bronzewings, and the Red Warbler.

Image credit: eBird. The Blue-capped Ifrita of New Guinea and Papua New Guinea are among a small group of avian species that are poisonous. Ifrits excrete batrachotoxin (a toxic alkaloid) into their feathers and skin in order to defend themselves against predators.

Blah blah, lots of bird names. I thought it would be nice to list them out though, just to show how few species of birds are poisonous - seeing as there are over 10,000 species of birds in the world, a measly couple dozen of poisonous birds is really nothing.

Image credit: Piotr Krzeslak/Shutterstock. Another poisonous bord - the Eurasian Hoopoe. This bird is known for its beautiful plumage and awful-smelling nest! They have evolved to produce an awful smelling liquid using their uropygial glands, highly concentrated with di-methyl sulfide that offers them a chemical defense against predators.

Back to the fun facts! Why are there so few poisonous birds?

I can’t answer that question for certain because I am not God, nor am I a creator of birds!!!

But here’s my guess.

In the animal kingdom, animals have evolved to have their own unique defenses. Snails and crabs have shells, bulls have horns, chameleons and octopuses have camouflage, insects have poison, and generally, birds have the power of flight.

When a bird senses danger, they can just fly away - try it out yourself! Go to the park and run after some crows. They’ll fly away (and hate you in the process).

Since birds have already evolved to fly, my guess is that they didn’t need to evolve to be venomous or poisonous.

Most animals that are poisonous are those that are fairly immobile and vulnerable, like insects or sea urchins.

Image credit: Animal Corner. Sea urchins are spiny, globular echinoderms. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to 5,000 meters!

What is the most poisonous bird in the world?

It’s the Hooded Pitohui, one of the only known birds to be toxic!

Its feathers contain one of the most potent toxins known to science, and small doses of this toxin can cause paralysis and death.

Image credit: eBird. The Hooded Pitohui is the most poisonous bird in the world! It has a neurotoxin is on its skin and feathers. Even the smallest scratch or jab from the bird can make a human numb. Any toxin that makes its way to the bloodstream could cause paralysis or death.

But how are they poisonous, and why?

Wait!! Before we answer those questions, let’s start with a simple explanation of what poison is, compared to venom or toxin.

Most folks think these terms are synonymous, but they really are not! And it’s actually pretty simple:

Poisonous: it’s when you ingest or eat the toxin – and this is probably less common. Like, for example, you lick or eat a poison dart frog or a Hooded Pitohui bird. (Please don’t do it.) Poison is a toxin that gets into the body by inhaling, swallowing, or absorption through the skin.

Venomous: it’s when the toxin is injected into you. Examples of this would be a cobra that uses its fangs to inject venom, or a scorpion with its stinger. Venom is the toxin that gets into the body by being injected, usually by a bite or a sting.

As far as we know, birds do not produce toxins of their own, and therefore, they are not venomous.

However, some birds do eat poisonous creatures such as beetles, and that’s how those birds become poisonous themselves. The Hooded Pitohui, like the Poison Dart Frogs of Columbia, gets its poison from the food that it eats- the poisonous Choresine Beetles!

Image credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). This is a poisonous Choresine Beetle! This genus of beetle is known to have high levels of batrachotoxins and is believed to be a possible toxin source for the Hooded Pitohui and Blue-capped Ifrit birds in New Guinea.

Declared to be the 'Most Poisonous Bird' by the Guinness Book of World Records, their poison was discovered in 1989 by Jack Dumbacher who was netting birds in New Guinea.

It’s quite a cute and funny story - this Jack guy had been catching and studying birds in New Guinea. When he caught a Hooded Pitohui, his hands felt ‘on fire’ - but he shrugged it off because he had thought he had an allergic reaction to a plant or an insect, not the bird in his hands.

Jack remembered how sometime later, he even licked a cut on his ‘fiery’ hand and felt his mouth go numb - and even then, he didn’t think anything was off!!

It was only a year later when a student helping out with the bird-catching project remarked that he too suffered a sort of fiery and numb reaction when touching these same birds.

The guys from the study had a Eureka moment!

Image credit: Birdwatching Magazine. The skin and feathers of the pitohui contain a neurotoxin that can cause numbness and tingling if you touch it. Scientists believe the primary evolutionary function of the poison is that it deters lice and ticks, but perhaps it also has to do with helping their offspring survive.

Hilariously, in order to really ‘prove’ that the fiery and numbing feeling were caused by the Hooded Pitohui, this Jack guy actually clipped off a tiny bit of feather from the bird and put it in his mouth - which immediately began tingling and went numb, because, like we’ve established, this bird is freaking poisonous!!!

The Hooded Pitohui went down in history as one of the few poisonous birds in the world!!!

Simply touching the feathers of a pitohui is enough to make your hands feel like they're on fire. But ingesting a bit of their toxin, called batrachotoxin, is deadly. The poison can stop your sodium channels from working, leading to paralysis and even death.

I’m glad the Jack guy didn’t die, and that we got to enjoy the fruit of his labour!

That’s all for today’s article. I loved doing the research for today’s piece, so I want to thank you for reading and for supporting me in my journey to learn about birds.