Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Golden-crowned Sparrow
A large sparrow with a bold black-and-yellow crown stripe, best known for its mournful three-note whistled song, 'oh-dear-me'.
songbird
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
A striking black-and-white songbird whose breeding male sports a brilliant triangular rose-red patch on the breast and a massive pale bill.
songbird
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
A slender, blue-gray songbird with a long, expressive black-and-white tail, constantly flicking as it hunts tiny insects.
songbird
Kentucky Warbler
A ground-loving, skulking warbler of southeastern forests, olive above and bright yellow below, with bold black "sideburns" framing yellow spectacles.
songbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler
An abundant, adaptable warbler nicknamed 'butter-butt' for its bright yellow rump, able to survive winter farther north than most warblers by eating berries.
songbird
Black-throated Gray Warbler
A crisply patterned gray, black, and white warbler of dry western woodlands, with a small yellow spot in front of the eye as its only splash of color.
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
Song Sparrow
A heavily streaked brown sparrow with a central breast spot, known for its rich, varied song from low perches.
songbird
Bay-breasted Warbler
A boreal-forest warbler whose breeding males show rich chestnut on the crown, throat, and flanks, while fall birds turn plain greenish and are easily confused with Blackpoll Warbler.
songbird
Olive Sparrow
A skulking, olive-green sparrow of South Texas thornscrub with a striped rufous-and-gray crown and a bouncing-ball trill song.
songbird
Black-and-white Warbler
A strikingly striped black-and-white warbler that creeps along tree trunks and branches like a nuthatch, gleaning insects from bark.
songbird
Fox Sparrow
A large, robust sparrow named for its rich rufous coloring in eastern populations, known for vigorously kicking through leaf litter to forage.
songbird
Lawrence's Goldfinch
A gray-and-yellow goldfinch with a black face, restricted to California and Baja California and famously unpredictable in its movements.
songbird
White-throated Sparrow
A large, boldly patterned sparrow with a crisp white throat patch and yellow lores, famous for its whistled "Oh-sweet-Canada" song.
songbird
Seaside Sparrow
A large, dark, long-billed sparrow that never leaves the tidal salt marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
songbird
White-crowned Sparrow
A crisply marked sparrow with bold black-and-white crown stripes, a plain gray breast, and a pink or yellowish bill.
songbird
Five-striped Sparrow
A boldly patterned, black-throated sparrow found in the US only in a handful of remote southeastern Arizona canyons.
songbird
Field Sparrow
A small, pink-billed sparrow with a plain gray face and rusty cap, known for its sweet accelerating 'bouncing ball' song.
songbird
McCown's Longspur
A thick-billed prairie longspur historically named for a 19th-century army officer; in 2020 the American Ornithological Society officially renamed the species Thick-billed Longspur.
songbird
Oak Titmouse
A plain gray-brown, crested songbird tightly tied to oak woodlands of California, notable for its lack of bold field marks.
songbird
Blackpoll Warbler
A boreal-breeding warbler famous for its extraordinary nonstop transoceanic migration flight from the northeastern U.S. to South America.
songbird
Cape May Warbler
A boldly patterned boreal warbler with a chestnut cheek patch and tiger-striped breast, whose populations boom and bust with spruce budworm outbreaks.
songbird
Sedge Wren
A tiny, secretive wren of wet sedge meadows, notable for its erratic breeding movements and finely streaked crown.
songbird
Bell's Sparrow
A dark-headed California scrub sparrow, the close relative and former conspecific of the Sagebrush Sparrow.
songbird
Marsh Wren
A small, energetic wren of cattail marshes, known for its loud, gurgling song and the male's habit of building multiple decoy nests.
songbird
House Finch
A common backyard finch with the male showing rosy red on the head and breast and heavily streaked brown flanks.
songbird
Pacific Wren
A tiny, dark, round-bodied wren of humid Pacific coast forests with a fast, buzzy, high-pitched song.
songbird
Bachman's Sparrow
A secretive southeastern sparrow of open pine savanna, celebrated for one of the most beautiful songs of any North American sparrow.
songbird
Eastern Towhee
A striking sparrow relative with a black hood, rufous flanks, and white belly, known for its 'drink-your-tea' song and rustling leaf-litter foraging.
songbird
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
A chunky, non-migratory sparrow of rocky hillsides marked by a rusty cap and a black-and-white striped face.
songbird
Vesper Sparrow
A streaky grassland sparrow with a white eye-ring, chestnut shoulder patch, and white outer tail feathers, named for its evening song.
songbird
Baltimore Oriole
A brilliant flame-orange and black songbird of eastern North America, named for the heraldic colors of Lord Baltimore, known for its hanging pouch nest.
songbird
House Sparrow
A stocky, chunky-billed sparrow closely tied to human settlements, with males showing a gray crown, chestnut nape, and black bib.
songbird
Common Yellowthroat
A skulking marsh warbler with a bright yellow throat, best known for the male's bold black facial mask and witchety-witchety-witchety song.
songbird
Black-capped Vireo
A small vireo of Texas oak scrub with a glossy black cap, bold white spectacles, and a red eye, a conservation success story after habitat restoration and cowbird control.
songbird
Ovenbird
A plump, ground-walking warbler of mature forest interior, named for its domed, oven-shaped nest and famous for its loud 'teacher-teacher-teacher' song.
songbird
Golden-crowned Kinglet
A tiny, hyperactive conifer-dwelling songbird with a bright orange or yellow crown patch bordered in black.
songbird
Northern Mockingbird
A slender gray songbird famous for endlessly mimicking the songs and calls of other birds, with bold white wing patches visible in flight.
songbird
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
A small, richly colored chickadee of Pacific coastal forests, with a warm chestnut back and flanks.
songbird
Black-throated Blue Warbler
A strikingly two-toned warbler; males are deep slate-blue above and jet-black below with a white belly, while females are plain brownish-olive with a small white wing spot.
songbird
Pine Siskin
A small, heavily streaked brown finch with sharp yellow wing and tail markings, notorious for unpredictable winter irruptions.
songbird
Yellow Warbler
A brilliant, all-yellow warbler of streamside willows and wet thickets, with breeding males showing fine rusty streaks on the breast.
songbird
Western Bluebird
A vivid blue thrush of the West with a blue (not orange) throat, chestnut breast and shoulders, and often a chestnut patch on the back.
songbird
Black-crested Titmouse
A gray titmouse of Texas woodlands, distinguished by a jaunty black crest and pale forehead.
songbird
House Wren
A small, plain brown wren with fine dark barring on the wings and tail, known for its bubbly song and readiness to nest in birdhouses.
songbird
Winter Wren
A tiny, dark, almost tailless woodland wren of eastern North America known for its remarkably long, bubbling song.
songbird
American Robin
A familiar orange-breasted thrush with a gray-brown back, often seen hopping across lawns in search of earthworms.
songbird
Pygmy Nuthatch
A tiny, highly social nuthatch of western pine forests, notable for cooperative breeding with helper birds at the nest.
songbird