Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Red-necked Grebe
A robust, medium-large grebe with a rich chestnut neck and white cheek patch in breeding plumage, larger and bulkier than most other grebes.
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Greater Scaup
A rounded-headed diving duck of large open waters, the drake showing a glossy greenish-black head and pale gray back, closely resembling the smaller Lesser Scaup.
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Horned Grebe
A small, striking grebe that in breeding plumage sports golden "horn" tufts of feathers behind bright red eyes.
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Black Scoter
An all-black sea duck whose males show a bright orange-yellow knob at the base of the bill.
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Tufted Duck
A compact Eurasian diving duck with a drooping head tuft, the drake strikingly patterned in black and white and occasionally found among scaup flocks in North America.
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Surf Scoter
A black sea duck with a bold multicolored bill patch, males marked with white patches on the forehead and nape.
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White-winged Scoter
The largest scoter, black-bodied with a white speculum patch in the wing and a comma-shaped white eye mark.
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Wood Duck
Widely considered one of the most strikingly colorful ducks in North America, the male wears an iridescent green-and-purple crest, chestnut breast, and bold white facial markings.
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Tundra Swan
A medium-sized white swan of the Arctic tundra, often showing a small yellow spot near the bill, that winters in large flocks on coastal wetlands.
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Western Grebe
A large, elegant black-and-white grebe with a long swan-like neck, famous for its dramatic rushing courtship dance across the water.
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Trumpeter Swan
North America's largest native waterfowl, an all-white swan with a solid black bill and a deep, resonant trumpeting call.
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Whooper Swan
A large Eurasian swan with a yellow-and-black bill and a loud, bugling voice, breeding across the far north and famed for long migratory flights.
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Pied-billed Grebe
A chunky, secretive brown grebe of the Americas, named for its thick, pale bill marked with a black ring in the breeding season.
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Red-breasted Merganser
A slim, shaggy double-crested sea duck with a thin serrated bill, the most marine of the mergansers.
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Ruddy Shelduck
A warm orange-brown, goose-like duck with a pale head and dark tail, often seen in pairs on open wetlands.
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Pacific Black Duck
Australia's most widespread dabbling duck, mottled dark brown with a bold dark eye-stripe and cream-buff face.
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Ross's Goose
A small, compact white goose resembling a miniature Snow Goose with a shorter, stubbier bill.
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Nene
Hawaii's state bird and the world's rarest goose, a buff-necked, black-faced goose descended from Canada Geese that adapted to life on volcanic terrain.
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Redhead
A round-headed diving duck whose drake has a rounded rusty-red head, gray body, and black breast, and which often nests parasitically in other ducks' nests.
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Ruddy Duck
A small, chunky stiff-tailed diving duck; breeding males show a chestnut body, black cap, white cheeks, and a bright blue bill.
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Northern Pintail
An elegant, slender dabbling duck named for the male's long, needle-like tail, marked by a chocolate-brown head and a crisp white neck stripe.
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Snow Goose
A bright white goose with black wingtips, often traveling in enormous flocks; a dark 'blue' color morph also exists.
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Paradise Shelduck
A large, strikingly dimorphic New Zealand duck, the female with a bright white head and chestnut body and the male mostly black with a grey-flecked back, commonly seen grazing on farmland.
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Northern Shoveler
A dabbling duck instantly identified by its oversized, spoon-shaped bill, used to filter tiny invertebrates and seeds from shallow water.
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Pink-footed Goose
A medium-sized grey goose with a compact dark head, pink legs and bill band, best known for spectacular wintering flocks in Britain.
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Spur-winged Goose
The Spur-winged Goose is Africa's largest waterfowl species, named for the sharp spurs on its wings and its bare red facial skin.
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Ring-necked Duck
A compact diving duck best identified by the bold white ring on its bill rather than its subtle chestnut neck collar, along with a peaked head shape.
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Mandarin Duck
One of the world's most ornately colored waterfowl, the Mandarin Duck drake sports orange 'sail' feathers, a fan-shaped crest, and intricate facial patterning.
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Mallard
The most familiar and widespread duck in the world, with the male's glossy green head, yellow bill, and white neck ring recognizable on ponds nearly everywhere.
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Greylag Goose
A large bulky gray-brown goose, ancestor of most domestic geese, with a heavy orange bill.
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Mute Swan
A large, all-white swan with an orange bill and black knob, famous for its graceful, S-curved neck and elegant presence on lakes and parks.
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King Eider
An Arctic sea duck whose males sport a bulbous orange bill knob and a colorful blue-gray and mint-green head.
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Greater White-fronted Goose
A brown goose with a white patch around the base of the bill and irregular black barring on the belly.
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Harlequin Duck
A small, compact sea duck with intricately patterned slate-blue, chestnut, and white plumage, at home in whitewater rivers and pounding surf.
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Lesser Scaup
North America's most abundant diving duck, closely resembling the Greater Scaup but with a peaked crown and a purplish (rather than greenish) head gloss.
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Green-winged Teal
North America's smallest dabbling duck, with the male showing a chestnut head, an iridescent green eye patch, and a vertical white shoulder stripe.
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Great Crested Grebe
A large, elegant Old World grebe with ornate double head plumes and chestnut-and-black facial tippets, famed for its elaborate courtship dances.
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Long-tailed Duck
An Arctic sea duck known for the male's long slender tail streamers and unusually complex seasonal plumages.
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Maned Duck
A common Australian duck, also called the Australian Wood Duck, known for its dark maned head and its habit of grazing on grass far from water.
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Little Grebe
A tiny, round, chestnut-faced grebe of the Old World, often heard giving a whinnying trill from dense waterside vegetation before it is seen.
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Muscovy Duck
A large, heavy-bodied waterfowl native to the American tropics, wild birds glossy black-green with white wing patches and bare red facial skin.
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Hooded Merganser
The smallest North American merganser, with males sporting a dramatic fan-shaped black-and-white crest.
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Eurasian Wigeon
A Eurasian dabbling duck with a rich chestnut head and creamy forehead, an uncommon but regular visitor to North American coasts among flocks of American Wigeon.
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Gadwall
A subtly patterned gray dabbling duck whose understated plumage reveals intricate vermiculated markings and a black rear end when seen up close.
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Egyptian Goose
A bulky, long-legged African waterfowl with a distinctive dark eye patch, chestnut breast patch, and pink legs.
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Fulvous Whistling-Duck
A long-necked, long-legged tawny duck with a whistling call, found in warm wetlands worldwide.
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Eared Grebe
The most numerous grebe in the world, known for its fan-shaped golden ear plumes and mass staging at hypersaline lakes.
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Emperor Goose
A stocky, silvery-grey goose with a scaled feather pattern, a white head and hindneck, and a strong preference for rocky Arctic and subarctic coastlines.
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