Favorite Early Route Flying Types?

They appear in every game

Pidgey
Hoothoot
Tailow
Starly
Pidove
Fletchling
Pikipek
Rookidee

I've used all of them. I like the design of Pidgeot, and I like how they evolve at level 36. It's set up to be caught as your first Pokemon, then evolve along side your starter. But it lags behind in the middle of the game, but still does okay since I think Kanto is one of the regions where you can use any Pokemon without issue. In my experience it starts falling behind at Cycling Road and especially at the Silph Rocket Hideout. By then it can be substituted for something else anyways, like Dodrio if you prefer it. Or even Zapdos.

I took a Hoothoot in the beginning of Silver, and took it all the way to the battle against Red. It learns Hypnosis which is nice, but honestly the design isn't as cool as Pidgeot to me, and the stats fall behind to an even more noticeable degree. I think it was at the lighthouse when I realized it was taking a while to defeat the opponents. I made use of support moves such as Reflect. It wasn't bad, but by the time I reached Red it was behind in levels because it was doing minimal damage to everything.

Tailow is also cool. It seems to gain levels quickly when you first catch it, and it's very fast. It keeps up pretty well for the most part. My only issue is that since it evolves early, eventually I'm starting to want a third evolution.

I used Starly in Platinum, but I was so disappointed about constantly struggling I wiped my file. I thought the team was a disaster, and Starly was on it. I'm thinking less of Staraptor now, but it's more of the team I used in general. Staraptar didn't stand out at all. It learned good coverage moves though such as Close Combat, and it's probably my favorite design of these along with Pidgeot. It's frail and I think this hurt it's usefulness since I was playing on set. It would often lose lots of health when I switched in, even after intimidate. I'll use it in another game at some point and I'll see if it fares better.

I didn't use Pidove. I haven't heard good things about it either.

I used Talonflame in Ultra Sun and it was good. I would go as far to say it glued my team. Gale Wings was still good in game, even after the changes. I could always conserve it at full health for a free Z move. Swords Dance guaranteed it would faint anything.

I used Pikipek in Sun. It didn't stand out, but I remember it gained some cool moves such as Beak Blast. It was a hard hitter but also slow.

I didn't use Rookidee but I love how Corviknight looks. I wasn't aware it even evolved into Corviknight and by the time I realized I had a team set up. So I'll 100% for sure use it whenever I do a second playthrough.

In terms of how I like them I would rank

1. Pidgey
2. Tailow
3. Fletchling
4. Starly
5. Hoothoot
6. Pikipek
7. Rookidee (Will likely be high when I use it)
8. Pidove

Starly would have been #1 or #2 but I'm not over what happened during a recent playthrough of Platinum. Also it constantly missed Fly. Several times per battle. I get that it's luck factor and not the Pokemon but right now it's dropped in my list.

1. Starly (cutest and cool evolutions)
2. Hoothoot (i like noctowl)
3. Fletching & Tailow (both decently cool lines)
4. Pidgey (i've seen enough of you)
5. Rookidee & Pikipek (they... exist)
6. Pidove (trash bird)

Rookidee is the cream of the crop tbh; it's a pure Flying-type and it has a lovable design. Starly, Hoothoot, and Fletchling are great too! The others, I'm mostly indifferent to.

My favourite regional birds are the Taillow, Starly, Fletchling, Pikipek, and Rookidee lines. My least favourite regional birds are the Pidove line.

I don't think I've ever rank them or even though about ranking them. So, let's see.

1. Hoothoot
Hoothoot has such a different design compared to others and I have a weak spot for owls, so this place was no brainer.

2. Starly
One of the few lines I actually like from Gen IV and probably the first Regional Bird that was strong and really viable on team (I always felt like previous Gens had better Flying-types than Regional Birds). I've enjoyed using it in my Nuzlocke runs.

3. Fletchling
During my first playthrough of Y I skipped Fletchling in favour of Charizard. I will never do this again. Just like Starly line made it to the top, Fletchling line flew even higher and with more interesting type combo. Fire/Flying-type is fine in Kalos and I'll have nightmares about Gale Wings for the rest of my life.

4. Pikipek
I had no idea how I'll fall in love with it after I've seen it for a first time. Toucannon just fits in Alola so much and has interesting lore behind it. And the fact that you can get Flyinium Z really early in the games make it even better.

5. Taillow
I'm indifferent to Taillow line. It's okay, I've used it few times, but Tropius will always be my Flying-type for Hoenn. It has okay design and all, but other Regional Birds are better.

6. Pidgey
This is mostly because I'm really sick of Kanto, but Pidgey doesn't really does it for me anymore. I've always preferred Spearow over Pidgey and then Hoothoot in Gen II.

7. Pidove
In a Gen with two absolutely amazing Flying-type lines Pidove seems pretty useless. I've also never liked Unfezant's design.

As for Rookidee, I can't really say much since I don't have Switch, but Corviknight really grew on me since its release. It's something I would consider on my team. It's a shame that there are so many great Steel-types in Galar though. I think it would go somewhere between Pikipek and Taillow or even above Pikipek.

Let's see...

I love Starly and Rookidee.

Starly was an instant favorite back when I was 10 and had first heard there was Gen 4. (Gen 3 had merchandise in my country, but Gen 4 never did. I found out it existed from a poster on a toy-in-a-ball dispenser.) Starly was in my drawings of what I wanted my team to be, and Staravia's Italian-sounding speech from the anime was incredibly funny to me.
Compared to other early birds I had the chance to use, Staraptor is noticeably strong. It took me a long time to realise just how strong my Staraptor was in Pearl: he could beat Pokémon 10 levels higher, no sweat. His Ball Capsule has notes made when he enters battle. To this day hearing Starly's cry makes me think of my childhood (too too-too-too-too too too).

Rookidee is a blue tit. As I've already stated in a few places on this forum , and I'll state it again: that's THE songbird in grandma's village. These birds and their song (tootootoo-tootootoo-tootootoo) are what I wake up to when staying there. I adore them, and this alone makes me like Rookidee. Corvisquire looks adorable when standing on the ground and Corviknight is very, very cool. I use one in Shield, and he's a fortress (with a defense-boosting nature, no less!). He also really likes playing fetch; he flies after the ball with the same cute happy look on his face, terrifying armour and all, as when he was a Rookidee.

I really like Taillow, Pidove, and Fletchling.

Taillow was the first early bird I ever used, and is still on my constant part of the party in Ruby as my flier, along with Blaziken the starter, Linoone the surfer/obstacle remover and Lanturn the waterfall climber and diver. Tailow was a star in the anime back in grade school and was on cards then, of which I have the Taillow flying through a wave, but no Swellow flying through a wave.

I actually really like the Pidove line! However unmatched their stats with their moves may be (if only they were special attackers...). Sword and Shield have been kind to them there, but I still need to get one i that game. I did use a male in Black and as I can recall I was satisfied with him. The reason I like Pidove so much is that A) Pidove itself is adorable, B) pigeons are everywhere, I liked chasing them when I was little, and C) Unfezant looks awesome. I really, really like it, its gender difference gimmick and both the male and female design.

Fletchling is very cute and nicely minimalistic in design, Talonflame is very cool and reminds me of a racing car with painted flames. I haven't used one yet, will have to someday.

I like Hoothoot and Pikipek.

Make no mistake, I really do like these, it's just that I like those before more than them.

Hoothoot is adorable and Noctowl is neat. I've never really used one, but I do remember a Hoothoot being the first Pokémon I ever got from a trade (Pearl, GTS, 2010).

Pikipek is another common bird at grandma's, and it's really cute. I find the eyebrows on Trumbeak kind of off-putting, but I love its gimmick of shooting with its beak. Toucannon is lovably grumpy. It has very diverse moves that I like. I did use one in Moon, but retired her from the main party after evolving as I felt like using Pelipper.

I still like Pidgey...

However, I never really used one and it always struck me as bland compared to all the others.

I love Taillow and Swellow's simple design, and using it with Guts, Flame Orb and Facade is chaotic and fun.

I've become so tired of the early birds because of how frail they usually are towards the end game. Though I will say Starly and Rookidee end up being pretty solid. One of my favorite early birds is Spearow, but unfortunately it also ends up being quite frail.

Pidgeot and Noctowl always remain on my team in their respective regions.

Hoothoot/Noctowl no contest for me; I have a thing for owls.

Taillow! It's extremely frail, but I've used it several times and always had fun. imo it's also the best designed of the group 👍 Starly and Fletchling are also quite good!

I didn't know Rookidee's design until I actually started playing Sword. I'm a general bird lover too, so when a wild Rookidee popped up I just melted because of how cute it was! I think that first interaction made Rookidee a favorite of mine <3

Pidgey is always in my team!

I would go for:

Talonflame
Swellow
Corvinight
Staraptor
Toucanon
Unfezant
Noctowl
Pidgeot

I guess I just don't like the Noctowl design, and I've seen too many Pidgeot lovers that it is stupid. It is just *the* bog-standard bird, flying-normal, nothing stands out about it and its design. Like Talonflame is a falcon (a robin as Fletchinder), Staraptor is an eagle, Swellow a swallow, Unfezant a pheasant and Toucanon is a toucan ( a woodpecker as Trumbeak).

I think for next Gen there should be a Kingfisher or a Hummingbird or something colourful and nice.

My favourite from this list would be Starly, mostly beacuse of Staraptor and its brilliant moveset as well as its Intimidate ability which has really helped me in previous Gen 4 playthroughs whenever I've used a Starly/Staraptor on my team.

My favourite Pidgey, pidgeot is my favourite bird pokemon followed by, Fletchling, Pikipek and Rookidee

Starly and hoothoot are nice.

allow me to explain, starting from the top:

starly/rookidee: they both have the best final evolutions imo and no one can convince me otherwise
fletchling: because of user fletch also because it's a cute 'mon in general
taillow: believe it or not, i actually don't have strong feelings about taillow aside from it's kinda cute but i really love swellow's design enough so that's why it's in A
pikipek: this.... really should be in C tier for me tbh considering i forgot about it rip but it's ok
pidget: i'd normally say i dont care about pidgey but the number of times i've used this damn bird back in the day is ridiculous. pidgeotto/pidgeot are the saving graces of this line bc of their designs which is why this is in A for me
hoothoot: i feel like im offending owl fans everywhere by putting this in C tier but i.... dont really care for hoothoot SORRY
pidove: why

Hate them all. So tired of this done to death cliche of "regular normal flying bird and regular rat of some kind" that's plagued the beginning of literally every single game. I'd honestly just rather use Honchkrowe if I had to select any bird lol.

I love Rookidee's design(for the whole line), but the Hoothoot line is my favorite as it's been on several of my teams(though I recognize it's actually not that good). I like but don't love Pidgeot and Swellow. I agree with Dragonking that the early bird idea is overdone. I'd rather have more options for fliers early on than baby bird with normal/flying type, though I think talonflame and corvilnight were a step in the right direction in this regard.