Birds

• Type: Animal, Magical Creature
• Primary Roles: Messengers, Pets, Transfiguration subjects, Wandlore components, Divinatory subjects
• Notable Species: Owl, Phoenix, Augurey, Canary

Birds are a common class of animals found throughout the wizarding world and Muggle world alike. They encompass a vast number of species, from mundane pigeons and canaries to highly magical creatures like the Phoenix. In the wizarding community, certain bird species have been domesticated and utilized for purposes that take advantage of their natural or magical abilities. Owls are the most visibly prominent birds, serving as the primary postal service for witches and wizards. A wide variety of owl species are used, including Snowy Owls, Scops Owls, Eagle Owls, Barn Owls, and Tawny Owls, each with their own distinct appearance and characteristics. Other non-magical birds, such as canaries, are sometimes kept as pets or used in experimental magic. Magical birds often possess extraordinary appearances. The Phoenix is a swan-sized, scarlet and gold plumed bird, while the Augurey is a smaller, greenish-black bird resembling an underfed vulture.

Birds play a significant and multifaceted role in the application and study of magic.

• Magical Species:
  1. Phoenix: A rare and powerful magical bird with numerous abilities. Its tears have potent healing properties, capable of reviving a person from the brink of death and neutralizing powerful venoms like that of a Basilisk. A phoenix can disappear and reappear at will in bursts of flame, similar to Apparition, and is capable of carrying immensely heavy loads. Upon death, it bursts into flame and is reborn from its ashes. Its feathers are one of the three “Supreme Cores” used in wandlore.
  2. Augurey: Also known as the Irish Phoenix, its mournful cry was once believed to foretell death, but is now known to simply predict rainfall. (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)
  3. Fwooper: A brightly colored African bird whose song will eventually drive the listener to insanity. It is sold with a Silencing Charm placed upon it. (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)
  4. Jobberknoll: A small, blue, speckled bird which makes no sound until the moment of its death, at which point it releases a long scream made up of every sound it has ever heard, backwards. Its feathers are used in Truth Serums and Memory Potions. (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)
  5. Diricawl: A plump, fluffy-feathered, flightless bird with the ability to disappear in a puff of feathers and reappear elsewhere to escape danger. Muggles were aware of its existence as the “dodo.” (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)
• Messengers:
  1. Owls possess an innate magical ability to track down any witch or wizard without needing an address, making them the most reliable method of communication and parcel delivery. The Ministry of Magic and private individuals alike rely on them.
• Transfiguration:
  1. Birds are a common subject and result of Transfiguration spells. The spell Avis is a Charm that conjures a flock of small birds from the caster's wand. This was used by Garrick Ollivander to test Viktor Krum's wand and later by Hermione Granger against Ron Weasley. Students at Hogwarts frequently practice turning small animals like birds into inanimate objects such as water goblets.
• Divination:
  1. The ancient art of Augury involved interpreting the flight patterns or entrails of birds to predict the future. While mentioned in Professor Trelawney's Divination class, it is not a widely practiced method in the modern day.

Several individual birds are historically significant to the events of the series.

• Fawkes: Albus Dumbledore's immensely intelligent and loyal phoenix. His tail feathers provided the cores for the wands of both Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. Fawkes was instrumental in saving Harry's life in the Chamber of Secrets by blinding the Basilisk and healing Harry's fatal wound. He also helped Dumbledore escape arrest by Ministry officials. After Dumbledore's death, Fawkes sang a lament before disappearing permanently.
• Hedwig: Harry Potter's snowy owl, a gift from Rubeus Hagrid on his eleventh birthday. She was a fiercely loyal and intelligent companion and messenger for Harry throughout his time at Hogwarts. She was killed by a stray Killing Curse during the Battle of the Seven Potters, marking a symbolic end to Harry's childhood.
• Pigwidgeon: A tiny, excitable Scops owl belonging to Ron Weasley. He was a gift from Sirius Black to replace Ron's pet rat, Scabbers.
• Errol: The ancient and decrepit Great Gray Owl belonging to the Weasley family. Prone to collapsing from exhaustion after deliveries, he nonetheless served the family for many years.
• Hermes: The screech owl belonging to Percy Weasley, a gift for being made a Prefect.
• Unnamed Birds: In his sixth year, Draco Malfoy used at least two small birds to test the Vanishing Cabinet he was repairing. The first bird died during the attempt to transport it to Borgin and Burkes, but he later succeeded in sending a second bird through and having it return alive, confirming the passage was functional.

Collectively, birds serve crucial functions in the narrative. The owl post system is the foundation of wizarding communication, enabling the plot to advance through letters and packages. Individual birds act as major plot devices; Fawkes's timely interventions are critical to Harry's survival, and Draco Malfoy's experiments with birds confirm his success in creating a secret passage into Hogwarts for the Death Eaters. On a symbolic level, birds represent themes of communication, hope (Phoenix), wisdom (Owl), and the loss of innocence (Hedwig's death).

• In the film adaptations, a combination of real birds and CGI was used to portray the various avian characters, most notably Hedwig and Fawkes.
• The Augurey is mentioned only in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them textbook within the original series but plays a more significant symbolic role in the backstory of the Fantastic Beasts film series, where it is associated with the Lestrange family. (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald)
• J.K. Rowling has stated that the phoenix's symbolism of rebirth was very important to the story and that Fawkes represents the loyalty and support she wishes everyone could have. (J.K. Rowling interview)