History Main / AllFlyersAreBirds

** Even the [[GoddamnBats Zubat]] family can learn moves named for or associated with birds, such as Brave Bird and Sky Attack (in Japanese: "Godbird"). Woobat, however, averts this.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'', the Deadly Nadder is the most bird-like of all dragons. It walks on two legs in a rather bird-like or dinosaur-like manner, preens its scales, makes bird-like squawks and warbles on occasion, and turns its head to the side when it looks at you, in a rather similar fashion to the songbirds who hunt worms in your everyday garden. Averted by other dragons, though. Toothless in particular incorporates behaviors of big cats and ''horses''.

* ''WebOriginal/HamstersParadise'' averts this with the ratbats, the flying descendants of hamsters that fill various avian niches. Aside from their ability to fly they have nothing in common with birds and are anatomically and behaviorally more alike to bats and pterosaurs. Conversely they expand into ecological niches never taken by either bats or pterosaurs as flightless penguin-like swimmers, terror-bird like predators and ratites, so its more like "all former flyers are bird". [[spoiler: However, in the original concepts, a much later clade of hamsters called the ratbirds plays this trope straight: they are bipeds with perching feet, have slotted wings resembling "feathers", have rodent incisors modified into "beaks", and ''[[WhaleEgg lay a mammalian equivalent of an egg.]]'']]

* ''WebOriginal/{{Mortasheen}}'' actually inverts this trope. Most of the birdlike monsters there don't behave like real birds at all, and the one monster that is claimed to actually make a bird-like song [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/viscerix.htm doesn't even look like a bird at all!]]

* Leviticus 11:13-19 says that bats are birds. The original Hebrew word pretty much means "flying things" rather than specifically birds, but the King James Translation didn't get the memo.

* One of the creatures in ''Film/{{Evolution}}'' that terrorizes a mall was a scaly, lizardlike creature with bat-like wings, a total of six limbs like a traditional European dragon, and gave birth by ''vomitting out young''. The film's protagonists, oddly, refer to the creature as a "bird".

This is a subtrope of AllAnimalsAreDomesticated, and is essentially the airborne version of AllAnimalsAreDogs. Can also overlap with FantasticFaunaCounterpart, if non-avian flyers are treated as the setting's equivalent of birds. For specific examples related to prehistoric life, see PteroSoarer and RaptorAttack (for the case of Archaeopteryx and other early birds). If they're actually ''called'' a bird, it overlaps with CallASmeerpARabbit. For examples of birds themselves being treated badly, see ArtisticLicenseOrnithology.

[[folder:Common Examples]]
* Prehistoric creatures in particular are guilty of this, especially {{pteros|oarer}}aurs. It's often the case that they stand on two legs, perch in trees, and construct bird-like nests. While it's debatable whether pterosaurs could climb trees, we do know that they were actually quadrupedal and nested on the ground. In a similar manner, ''Archaeopteryx'' and other early bird relatives are depicted as being able to perch on trees. In reality they were more similar to [[RaptorAttack non-avian deinonychosaurs]], and were most likely ground-dwellers which could only glide for limited periods of time.
* On the mythology side of things, [[OurWyvernsAreDifferent wyverns]] (a type of dragon or dragon-like creature, depending on the work in question) are often depicted as having birdlike proportions and mannerisms, due to their decidedly avian body plan (two legs and two large wings). For example, you can often expect them to fill the role of KidnappingBirdOfPrey if no other mythological winged monsters are available.
* [[OurGryphonsAreDifferent Griffons]] tend to be depicted more like birds than lions, despite being half and half. This is probably justified because their heads are mostly birdlike (which would imply a bird's brain), but depicting an animal with the hindquarters of a placental mammal ''laying eggs'' is fairly confusing[[note]]However, a creature with a beak, and thus without flexible lips that can form a seal, cannot physically suckle, so nursing like a mammal isn't really an option either... and the only mammals which ''do'' lay eggs are monotremes which, coincidentally, also have beaks[[/note]].

* Many pterosaurs in real life did in fact fill specific niches similar to those of modern birds. The [[StockDinosaurs famous]] ''Pteranodon'' fed like a pelican, diving into the water and snatching fish up in its beak. ''Rhamphorhynchus'' fed much like a seagull. ''Pterodactylus'' was a wader/prober like a shorebird. ''Pterodaustro'' filter fed like a flamingo. The {{giant|Flyer}} ''Quetzalcoatlus'' was a massive marabou stork in behavior, picking up small animals with its long beak while walking around and swallowing them whole. ''Harpactognathus'' hunted like an eagle. ''Istiodactylus'' scavenged like a vulture. ''Anurognathus'' and its ilk were nocturnal aerial insectivores like nightjars (and bats). ''Tapejara'' and ''Tupandactylus'' may have been omnivorous fruit-eaters like hornbills. Indeed, some scientists believe that birds developed the diversity they have now to fill the niches left behind by pterosaurs after they went extinct (though this is somewhat controversial).

** It appears that the Flying type was originally going to be called Bird, and ''all'' bird-based Pokemon in Generation 1 were classified in it, whether they could fly or not. The reason Psyduck isn't is because it isn't based on a duck, but on a platypus.

** Locusts are classified as "fowl".

* [[OurGryphonsAreDifferent Griffons]] tend to be depicted more like birds than lions, despite being half and half. This is probably justified because their heads are mostly birdlike (which would imply a bird's brain), but depicting an animal with the hindquarters of a placental mammal ''laying eggs'' is fairly confusing[[note]]However, a creature with a beak, and thus without flexible lips that can form a seal, cannot physically suckle, so nursing like a mammal isn't really an option either[[/note]].

* Literature/TheBible says bats are birds in Leviticus 11:13-19:

** Locusts are also classified as "fowl". The Hebrew translated word pretty much means "flying things" rather than specifically birds, but the King James Translation didn't get the memo.

This is a subtrope of AllAnimalsAreDomesticated, and is essentially the airborne version of AllAnimalsAreDogs. Can also overlap with FantasticFaunaCounterpart, if non-avian flyers are treated as the setting's equivalent of birds. For specific examples related to prehistoric life, see PteroSoarer and RaptorAttack (for the case of Archaeopteryx and other early birds). For examples of birds themselves being treated badly, see ArtisticLicenseOrnithology.

[[folder:Religions]]

* ''WebOriginal/HamstersParadise'' averts this with the ratbats, the flying descendants of hamsters that fill various avian niches. Aside from their ability to fly they have nothing in common with birds and are anatomically and behaviorally more alike to bats and pterosaurs. [[spoiler: However, in the original concepts, a much later clade of hamsters called the ratbirds plays this trope straight: they are bipeds with perching feet, have slotted wings resembling "feathers", have rodent incisors modified into "beaks", and ''[[WhaleEgg lay a mammalian equivalent of an egg.]]'']]

* [[OurGryphonsAreDifferent Griffons]] tend to be depicted more like birds than lions, despite being half and half. This is probably justified because their heads are mostly birdlike (which would imply a bird's brain), but depicting an animal with the hindquarters of a placental mammal ''laying eggs'' is fairly confusing[[note]]Note, however, that a creature with a beak, and thus without flexible lips that can form a seal, cannot physically suckle, so nursing like a mammal isn't really an option either[[/note]].

* ''VideoGame/TheEternalCylinder'' has the Onkifurt: a bizarre-looking LivingGasbag StarfishAlien with a gaseous sac, a vaguely pig-like snout and two tentacles. Despite looking ''nothing'' at all like a bird, it seems to behave a lot like one, brooding its eggs in a nest, hunting prey by dropping on them from above, and even displaying sexual dimorphism like many birds whereas males are more colorful than females.

* ''WebOriginal/HamstersParadise'' averts this with the ratbats, the flying descendants of hamsters that fill various avian niches. Aside from their ability to fly they have nothing in common with birds and are anatomically and behaviorally more alike to bats and pterosaurs. [[spoiler: However, in the original concepts, a much later clade of hamsters called the ratbirds plays this trope straight: they are bipeds with perching feet, have slotted wings resembling "feathers", have rodent incisors modified into "beaks", and even ''[[WhaleEgg lay a mammalian equivalent of an egg.]]'']]

* Many pterosaurs in real life did in fact fill specific niches similar to those of modern birds. The [[StockDinosaurs famous]] ''Pteranodon'' fed like a pelican, diving into the water and snatching fish up in its beak. ''Rhamphorhynchus'' fed much like a seagull. ''Pterodactylus'' was a wader/prober like a shorebird. ''Pterodaustro'' filter fed like a flamingo. The {{giant|Flyer}} ''Quetzalcoatlus'' was basically a massive marabou stork in behavior, picking up small animals with its long beak while walking around and swallowing them whole. ''Harpactognathus'' hunted like an eagle. ''Istiodactylus'' scavenged like a vulture. ''Anurognathus'' and its ilk were nocturnal aerial insectivores like nightjars (and bats). ''Tapejara'' and ''Tupandactylus'' may have been omnivorous fruit-eaters like hornbills. Indeed, some scientists believe that birds developed the diversity they have now to fill the niches left behind by pterosaurs after they went extinct (though this is somewhat controversial).

* ''VideoGame/TheEternalCylinder'' has the Onkifurt: a bizarre-looking LivingGasbag StarfishAlien with a gaseous sac, a vaguely pig-like snout and two tentacles. Despite looking ''nothing'' at all like a bird, it seems to behave a lot like one, brooding its eggs in a nest, hunting prey bu dropping on them from above, and even displaying sexual dimorphism like many birds whereas males are more colorful than females.

* One of the creatures in ''Film/Evolution'' that terrorizes a mall was a scaly, lizardlike creature with bat-like wings, a total of six limbs like a traditional European dragon, and gave birth by ''vomitting out young''. The film's protagonists, oddly, refer to the creature as a "bird".

* ''WebOriginal/HamstersParadise'' averts this with the ratbats, the flying descendants of hamsters that fill various avian niches. Aside from their ability to fly they have nothing in common with birds and are anatomically and behaviorally more alike to bats and pterosaurs. [[spoiler: However, in the original concepts, a much later clade of hamsters called the ratbirds plays this trope straight: they are bipeds with perching feet, have slotted wings resembling "feathers", have rodent incisors modified into "beaks", and even ''[[WhaleEgg lay a mammalian equivalent of an egg.]]''