Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Australian Brushturkey
A large, black-bodied mound-building bird with a bare red head and neck and a yellow throat wattle, well known for the huge leaf-litter mounds it builds to incubate its eggs.
gamebird
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.
waterfowl
Grey Fantail
A small, restless grey-brown bird known for constantly fanning and flicking its long, white-edged tail while chasing insects through the foliage.
songbird
Chestnut-sided Warbler
A bright yellow-capped warbler with bold chestnut stripes down the flanks in breeding plumage, a bird that has benefited from second-growth habitat.
songbird
Black Swift
The largest North American swift, an all-dark bird that nests almost exclusively on cliff ledges behind or near waterfalls and in coastal sea caves.
other
Black Skimmer
A unique black-and-white coastal bird with an oversized red-and-black bill whose lower mandible is longer than the upper, used to skim fish from the water's surface in flight.
seabird
Wattled Jacana
A chestnut-and-black marsh bird with extraordinarily long toes that let it walk across floating lily pads, notable for its role-reversed breeding system.
wading-bird
Pileated Woodpecker
North America's largest common woodpecker, a crow-sized, mostly black bird with a flaming red crest, famous for excavating large rectangular holes in dead trees.
woodpecker
Speckled Mousebird
The Speckled Mousebird is a common African bird with a long tail and soft grey-brown plumage that scurries through foliage in acrobatic little flocks, mouse-like.
other
Purple Martin
North America's largest swallow, a glossy blue-black aerial insectivore whose eastern population now nests almost entirely in birdhouses provided by people.
songbird
Sunbittern
A cryptically patterned streamside bird that, when it spreads its wings, reveals stunning chestnut, black, and white "sunburst" eye-spots used in dramatic display.
wading-bird
White Wagtail
A slim, long-tailed black, white, and grey bird, constantly wagging its tail as it darts about open ground catching insects, equally at home in farmland or city centres.
songbird
Resplendent Quetzal
A dazzling, iridescent green cloud-forest bird with a crimson breast and, in the male, spectacular tail streamers that can trail well beyond a meter in length.
other
Red-capped Cardinal
A striking black-and-white bird with a brilliant red head, throat, and nape, commonly seen along Amazonian rivers and lake edges despite not being a true cardinal.
songbird
Kori Bustard
The Kori Bustard is Africa's heaviest flying bird, a stately grassland giant known for its intricate grey plumage and elaborate male courtship display.
other
Firecrest
A tiny, jewel-like woodland bird closely related to the Goldcrest, but brighter and more boldly patterned with a striking white eyebrow stripe and black eye mask.
songbird
Caspian Tern
The largest tern in the world, a gull-sized bird with a massive coral-red bill and a harsh, crow-like call, found on coasts and large lakes across every continent except Antarctica.
seabird
African Harrier-Hawk
A grey African raptor famed for its unusually flexible, double-jointed legs, which let it reach deep into tree holes and weaver-bird nests to extract prey.
raptor
Wilson's Snipe
A stocky, cryptically patterned North American marsh bird with an extremely long bill, best known for the eerie winnowing sound males make during display flights.
shorebird
Hoatzin
A bizarre, prehistoric-looking bird with a spiky crest, bare blue face, and a highly unusual digestive system that ferments leaves like a cow, giving it a distinctive odor.
other
Willow Ptarmigan
A tundra grouse and Alaska's state bird, turning pure white in winter and rich mottled rufous-brown in summer, with males retaining a chestnut head and neck longest into spring.
gamebird
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
Booted Eagle
A small, buzzard-sized eagle occurring in pale and dark color morphs, the Booted Eagle is a long-distance migrant that hunts small birds and reptiles over open country near woodland.
raptor
Saddleback
A glossy black New Zealand forest bird with a bold chestnut "saddle" across its back and bright orange-red wattles, now surviving mainly on predator-free islands after near extinction on the mainland.
songbird