Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Grey Crowned-Crane
A dazzling African crane with a spectacular crown of stiff golden feathers, a grey body, and vivid red and white cheek patches; the national bird of Uganda.
wading-bird
Hooded Crane
A small, dark East Asian crane with a white head and neck resembling a hood, a red crown patch, and one of the most geographically concentrated wintering populations of any crane.
wading-bird
Hadada Ibis
A loud, grey-brown African ibis famous for its raucous 'ha-ha-ha-hadada' call, often heard echoing over gardens and cities at dawn.
wading-bird
Limpkin
A large brown wading bird with a long downcurved bill specialized for extracting apple snails, famous for its loud, wailing nocturnal call.
wading-bird
Green Heron
A small, stocky, secretive heron with a dark greenish back, chestnut neck, and a reputation as one of the few birds known to use tools to catch fish.
wading-bird
Greater Flamingo
The largest and palest flamingo species, widespread across Africa, southern Europe, and Asia.
wading-bird
King Rail
The largest North American rail, richly colored with a rufous breast and boldly barred flanks in freshwater marshes.
wading-bird
James's Flamingo
The smallest flamingo of the high Andes, pale pink with brick-red legs and a short, mostly yellow bill.
wading-bird
Intermediate Egret
A medium-sized white egret of Africa, Asia, and Australia whose size and proportions fall neatly between the larger Great Egret and smaller Little Egret.
wading-bird
Lesser Flamingo
The smallest and most numerous flamingo in the world, famous for the vast pink flocks that gather on East Africa's Rift Valley soda lakes.
wading-bird
Little Blue Heron
A small heron of American wetlands, slate-blue as an adult but confusingly all-white as a juvenile, undergoing a mottled transition in its second year.
wading-bird
Least Bittern
The smallest heron in North America, an elusive marsh dweller that clambers through cattails with the help of long grasping toes.
wading-bird
Great Blue Heron
North America's largest and most widespread heron, a tall blue-grey wading bird often seen standing motionless at the water's edge waiting to strike prey.
wading-bird
Jabiru
The largest flying bird of the Americas, a towering white stork with a bald black head and a striking red band at the base of the neck.
wading-bird
Glossy Ibis
The world's most widespread ibis, a dark, iridescent wading bird with a long down-curved bill found on wetlands across the globe.
wading-bird
Eurasian Coot
An all-black waterbird with a bright white bill and frontal shield, common on lakes and park ponds across Eurasia.
wading-bird
Eurasian Spoonbill
An elegant white wading bird with a distinctive flat, spoon-shaped black-and-yellow bill, found sweeping shallow wetlands from Europe to Asia.
wading-bird
Eurasian Bittern
A famously secretive reedbed heron known across Europe for the male's deep, foghorn-like booming call rather than for being seen.
wading-bird
Goliath Heron
The world's largest heron, a towering African giant with a massive chestnut head and dagger-like bill built for spearing big fish.
wading-bird
Black-crowned Night-Heron
A stocky, thick-necked heron active mainly at dusk and night, with a glossy black crown and back, pale grey wings, and striking red eyes.
wading-bird
Cattle Egret
A stocky, short-necked white egret closely associated with grazing livestock, whose remarkable natural range expansion made it one of the most successful bird colonizations in modern history.
wading-bird
Capped Heron
A pale, elegant heron with a black cap, blue facial skin, and creamy-buff plumage found around South American wetlands.
wading-bird
Common Moorhen
A dark waterbird with a red-and-yellow bill and a white flank stripe, often seen jerking its head and flicking its tail while swimming.
wading-bird
Blue Crane
South Africa's national bird, a pale blue-grey crane with an oversized head and dark wingtip plumes that trail like a train.
wading-bird
Chinese Pond-Heron
A small East Asian heron that transforms from a plain streaky brown bird into a maroon-and-slate breeding beauty each spring.
wading-bird
Black Stork
A shy, glossy black-and-white stork of forested wetlands, far more secretive than its familiar cousin the White Stork.
wading-bird
Black-necked Stork
A tall, striking black-and-white stork with an iridescent black head and neck, found from South Asia to northern Australia, where it is sometimes locally called 'Jabiru.'
wading-bird
Buff-banded Rail
A boldly barred, secretive rail with a chestnut nape and buff breast band, found skulking in wetland vegetation across Australia and the Pacific.
wading-bird
Chilean Flamingo
A pale pink South American flamingo distinguished by its gray legs with bright pink joints.
wading-bird
Clapper Rail
A large, drab gray-brown rail of Atlantic and Gulf Coast salt marshes, best known for its harsh clattering call.
wading-bird
Brolga
Australia's iconic grey crane, famous for its elaborate group dancing displays, distinguished from the Sarus Crane by its grey crown cap and throat dewlap.
wading-bird
Cocoi Heron
South America's largest heron, a tall grey-and-white bird with a black cap that fills the same niche as the Grey Heron.
wading-bird
Common Crane
A tall grey crane widespread across Europe and Asia, known for its bold black-and-white head pattern, red crown patch, and loud bugling calls given during migration.
wading-bird
Common Gallinule
The New World counterpart to the Common Moorhen, with the same red-and-yellow bill and a bold white flank stripe.
wading-bird
Black-faced Spoonbill
One of the rarest spoonbills in the world, a white East Asian wading bird with a black spatulate bill that breeds on a handful of small islands off the Korean Peninsula.
wading-bird
Black Crowned-Crane
A striking West and Central African crane with a golden crown of bristle feathers, a black neck, and bold red and white facial patches.
wading-bird
Australian White Ibis
A large white ibis with a bare black head, once a rural wetland bird, now an iconic and highly adaptable scavenger in Australian cities.
wading-bird
Australasian Swamphen
A large, vividly deep-blue-and-purple waterbird with a red bill and frontal shield, often seen flicking its white tail as it walks.
wading-bird
African Openbill
A dark, glossy African stork whose uniquely gapped bill is specially shaped for extracting freshwater snails from their shells.
wading-bird
Andean Flamingo
A pale, high-altitude flamingo of the Andes with bright yellow legs and the most black in its wings of any flamingo species.
wading-bird
Agami Heron
One of the most vividly colored herons in the world, a shy forest-swamp specialist with an iridescent green back and deep chestnut underparts.
wading-bird
American Purple Gallinule
The traditional American name for the Purple Gallinule, a jewel-toned marsh bird with purple-blue plumage and huge yellow feet.
wading-bird
American Bittern
A master of camouflage among North American marshes, best known for its odd pumping call and its habit of freezing bill-up in the reeds.
wading-bird
American Coot
A stocky slate-grey marsh bird with a chalky white bill, often mistaken for a duck though it is actually a rail.
wading-bird
African Spoonbill
An all-white African wading bird with a bare red face and a distinctive grey spoon-shaped bill, common on lakes and rivers across the continent.
wading-bird
American Flamingo
The vivid pink-orange flamingo of the Caribbean and northern South America, the brightest colored of all flamingo species.
wading-bird