Common Flightless Birds

The concept of flight is intimately connected to birds, but not all birds fly. Instead, some birds develop other ways to get around and no longer need their wings. These birds often develop better plumage camouflage, more muscular legs for running, specialized feet for swimming, or other adaptations that help them survive on the ground in their native habitat. Flightless birds are found throughout the world, though the largest concentration of flightless species is in New Zealand. Until humans arrived roughly 1,000 years ago in New Zealand, there were no large land predators in the region. Due to a lack of predators and the region's diverse habitat and rich ecosystem, the birds from that isolated area no longer needed flight to survive.

However, time seems to be catching up to some flightless birds. More than 50% of flightless bird species are considered threatened or vulnerable, 20% are endangered, and many have gone extinct. More than 80% of flightless birds have a grave and uncertain future. Conservation measures and human help is necessary to help protect the remaining numbers of these unique species and keep these birds thriving in the wild. There are approximately 57 flightless bird species, though the exact count can differ depending on subspecies and split classifications. While many people can name a few species, the different types of flightless birds are often a surprise.

Sl No.	Common Name	Scientific Name
Ratites
1	Common Ostrich	Struthio camelus
2	Somali Ostrich	Struthio molybdophanes
3	Emu	Dromaius novaehollandiae
4	Dwarf Cassowary	Casuarius bennetti
5	Northern Cassowary	Casuarius unappendiculatus
6	Southern Cassowary	Casuarius casuarius
7	Great Spotted Kiwi	Apteryx haastii
8	Little Spotted Kiwi	Apteryx owenii
9	Northern Brown Kiwi	Apteryx mantelli
10	Okarito Kiwi	Apteryx rowi
11	Southern Brown Kiwi	Apteryx australis
12	Greater Rhea	Rhea americana
13	Lesser Rhea	Rhea pennata
Waterfowl
14	Auckland Teal	Anas aucklandica
15	Campbell Teal	Anas nesiotis
16	Falkland Steamerduck	Tachyeres brachypterus
17	Magellanic Steamerduck	Tachyeres pteneres
18	White-headed Steamerduck	Tachyeres leucocephalus
Grebes
19	Junin Grebe	Podiceps taczanowskii
20	Titicaca Grebe	Rollandia microptera
Cormorants
21	Flightless Cormorant	Phalacrocorax harrisi
Penguins
22	All penguins are flightless.
Rails
23	Calayan Rail	Gallirallus calayanensis
24	Drummer Rail	Habroptila wallacii
25	Giant Coot -adults only; immature birds can fly	Fulica gigantea
26	Gough Moorhen	Gallinula nesiotis
27	Guadalcanal Rail	Hypotaenidia woodfordi
28	Guam Rail) – Extinct in the Wild	Gallirallus owstoni
29	Henderson Crake	Porzana atra
30	Inaccessible Rail	Atlantisia rogersi
31	Lord Howe Woodhen	Gallirallus sylvestris
32	Makira Moorhen	Gallinula silvestris
33	New Britain Rail	Gallirallus insignis
34	New Caledonian Rail	Gallirallus lafresnayanus
35	New Guinea Flightless Rail	Megacrex inepta
36	Okinawa Rail	Gallirallus okinawae
37	Roviana Rail	Gallirallus rovianae
38	Samoan Moorhen	Gallinula pacifica
39	Snoring Rail	Aramidopsis plateni
40	South Island Takahe	Porphyrio hochstetteri
41	Tasmanian Native-hen	Gallinula mortierii
42	Weka	Gallirallus australis
Owl Parrot
43	Kakapo	Strigops habroptila

Reference: https://www.thespruce.com