Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Cliff Swallow
A colonial swallow famous for building gourd-shaped mud nests in dense clusters under bridges, eaves, and cliffs.
songbird
Bronzed Cowbird
A stocky blackbird with a distinctive ruff of neck feathers and striking red eyes that, like other cowbirds, lays its eggs in the nests of other birds.
songbird
Bobolink
A grassland songbird famous for the breeding male's striking black-and-white "backward tuxedo" plumage and one of the longest migrations of any North American songbird.
songbird
Common Nightingale
A plain brown bird famed above all for its powerful, richly varied song, often delivered at night as well as by day from dense scrub cover.
songbird
Cave Swallow
A cliff-swallow relative with a buffy forehead and throat that nests colonially under bridges and in caves and culverts across the southern US and Caribbean.
songbird
Cape Weaver
The Cape Weaver is a bright yellow South African endemic songbird renowned for the male's intricately woven, hanging nest colonies.
songbird
Bicknell's Thrush
A rare, high-elevation thrush of northeastern mountaintop spruce forests, nearly identical to Gray-cheeked Thrush but with a much smaller, more threatened range.
songbird
Brewer's Blackbird
A glossy, pale-eyed blackbird of open western habitats, common in parking lots, parks, and farmland, with a purple-and-green iridescent sheen.
songbird
Carolina Wren
A small, round, reddish-brown wren with a bold white eyebrow stripe and a surprisingly loud, ringing song for its size.
songbird
Brown Shrike
A migratory rufous-brown shrike with a black mask, commonly seen perched on low bushes and wires during the non-breeding season.
songbird
Barred Antshrike
A boldly black-and-white barred antbird of Central and South American scrub, best known for its harsh, accelerating laughing call.
songbird
American Pipit
A slender, streaky brown songbird of open ground that constantly bobs its tail as it walks.
songbird
Cape Robin-Chat
A familiar southern African garden bird with an orange face and breast, grey belly, and a rich, melodious song.
songbird
Collared Sunbird
A tiny, bright green sunbird of African forest edges, named for the narrow violet band the male wears across an otherwise yellow chest.
songbird
Alder Flycatcher
A plain, olive-brown Empidonax flycatcher of northern alder swamps and wet shrublands, virtually identical to the Willow Flycatcher except by voice.
songbird
American Goldfinch
A small finch famous for the male's brilliant lemon-yellow breeding plumage and black cap, wings, and tail.
songbird
American Tree Sparrow
A rusty-capped sparrow with a bicolored bill and a dark central breast spot, a true winter visitor to much of North America despite its name.
songbird
Abert's Towhee
A plain grayish-brown desert towhee with a black face mask, restricted to riparian corridors of the Sonoran Desert region.
songbird
American Crow
A highly intelligent, all-black corvid famous for its adaptability, problem-solving, and complex social behavior.
songbird
Amethyst Sunbird
A sunbird that looks almost entirely black at rest but flashes brilliant amethyst-purple on its crown and throat when caught in good light.
songbird
Albert's Lyrebird
A rare, secretive lyrebird confined to a tiny pocket of rainforest on the New South Wales-Queensland border, known for its rich mimicry and warm reddish-brown plumage.
songbird
American Robin
A familiar orange-breasted thrush with a gray-brown back, often seen hopping across lawns in search of earthworms.
songbird
Acadian Flycatcher
A greenish, large-billed Empidonax flycatcher of shaded eastern forest ravines, identified by its explosive 'peet-sah' song.
songbird
American Redstart
An acrobatic warbler often called 'the butterfly bird' for its habit of fanning bold orange or yellow tail and wing patches while flushing insects.
songbird
Altamira Oriole
The largest oriole in the United States, a bright orange bird found only in the Rio Grande Valley of extreme south Texas, famous for weaving the longest hanging nest of any North American bird.
songbird
African Paradise Flycatcher
An elegant sub-Saharan African songbird with a glossy blue-black crested head, chestnut plumage, and long trailing tail streamers in males.
songbird