X being a very odd letter, is not a common beginner for many names of birds. The entries under this category are not many and are just four. These are Xantus Murrelet, Xantus Hummingbird, Xavier’s Greenbul and Xinjiang Ground-jay.

These birds are well spread around the globes particularly in Africa in countries such as Cameroon, Nigeria, Gabon, and the Central African Republic. Some of these birds can also be found in the Asian countries especially in China while a few others are to be found in the Americas.

Some of the birds in this category use their dull color to camouflage against their predators. A good example is the Xantus Murrelet which is brown or dull green to prevent the predators from catching it.

These birds lay eggs and incubate on them until they hatch. There is no case of brooding parasite that has been reported among the birds.

However, all of them seem to have a natural habitat of subtropical or tropical forest or subtropical or tropical dry forests.

Xantus's Murrelet

This is a small seabird that that is also scientifically christened as Synthliboramphus hypoleucus. It is most commonly found in the Pacific Ocean in the California Current system and it is a type of auk that is known to breed in the islands of Californian and Mexican islands.

The two most dangerous things that threaten its survival are predators introduced in its environment and oil spills.

These bird species was named after an ornithologist from Hungary who was called John Xantus de Vesey who is credited with describing it from specimen that was collected off Baja.

Xantus's Hummingbird,

Its scientific name is Hylocharis xantusii, and it is a hummingbird that is medium-sized and small, weighing just between 3 and 4 grams. The adults’ upperparts and back are green while their tails are straight and darkly colored. Both the males and the females have a salient feature in them and this is the white eyes strip that is found in all of them. The strip is more accentuated by a black eye strip that appears below the white one. Both the females have got brown under parts, although it is more pronounced in the females especially on their throats. The male have green throats as opposed to the females’ brown. The males possess slender and straight bill and is red in color with a black tip just showing.

Xavier’s Greenbul

This is a species of songbird that belongs in the family of Pycnonotidae family and is most commonly found in Central African Republic, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Gabon, Uganda and Tanzania. These birds naturally inhabit tropical or subtropical dry forests and also tropical and subtropical lowland forests.

Xinjiang Ground-jay

The Xinjiang Ground-jay is also known by the name of Biddulph’s Ground Jay and is scientifically referred to as (Podoces biddulphi). This bird species belongs in the family of birds called Corvidae. It is mainly found in China where it faces a real threat of habitat loss as a result of human destruction of the forest.