Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
King Bird-of-paradise
A tiny, jewel-like bird-of-paradise with a crimson-and-white body and two wire-thin tail plumes tipped with emerald discs.
songbird
Grey Partridge
A dumpy, orange-faced gamebird of open farmland, now declining sharply across much of its range due to agricultural change.
gamebird
Green Peafowl
A large, iridescent Southeast Asian peafowl with scaly green-and-bronze body plumage and a tall wire-like crest, now endangered from hunting and habitat loss.
gamebird
Harlequin Duck
A small, compact sea duck with intricately patterned slate-blue, chestnut, and white plumage, at home in whitewater rivers and pounding surf.
waterfowl
Jacobin Pigeon
An old fancy pigeon breed instantly recognizable by the cascading hood of feathers that covers its head like a monk's cowl.
other
Kentucky Warbler
A ground-loving, skulking warbler of southeastern forests, olive above and bright yellow below, with bold black "sideburns" framing yellow spectacles.
songbird
Little Black Cormorant
An entirely glossy black cormorant of Australasia, often seen fishing cooperatively in large flocks.
seabird
Green-and-black Fruiteater
A chunky, short-tailed cotinga of Andean cloud forest, with males boldly patterned in bright green and jet black.
songbird
Grey-cheeked Parakeet
A small green South American parakeet with a gray face and orange underwing patches, native to the dry forests of coastal Ecuador and northern Peru.
parrot
Great Jacamar
The largest and heaviest-billed jacamar, glittering coppery-green with a chestnut belly, favoring the shaded interior of lowland rainforest.
other
MacGillivray's Warbler
The western counterpart of the Mourning Warbler, a gray-hooded skulker distinguished by bold broken white eye-crescents above and below the eye.
songbird
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
Nanday Conure
A green South American parakeet with a striking black head 'hood', blue-washed wings, and red thighs.
parrot
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
Great Kiskadee
A big, boldly patterned flycatcher named for its loud 'kis-ka-dee' call, often seen near water snatching insects, small fish, and fruit.
songbird
Lesser Grey Shrike
A sleek grey-and-black shrike with a broad black mask extending across the forehead, favoring open farmland and steppe.
songbird
Maguari Stork
A South American stork closely resembling the White Stork, with white plumage, black flight feathers, and pale blue-grey bill.
wading-bird
Hutton's Vireo
A plain, year-round resident vireo of western oak woodlands, easily confused with the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, with a broken white eye-ring and two wing bars.
songbird
Green Honeycreeper
A striking tanager relative with males a shimmering turquoise-green set off by a black head and a bright yellow bill.
songbird
Grey Currawong
A large, grey-toned currawong of southern Australia's forests and woodlands, with a yellow eye and white wing and tail markings.
songbird
Louisiana Waterthrush
A large, thrush-like ground warbler tied closely to clear, fast-moving forest streams, constantly bobbing its tail as it walks along the water's edge.
songbird
Moluccan Cockatoo
A large Indonesian cockatoo with soft white-to-salmon-pink plumage and a spectacular salmon-colored crest.
parrot
Japanese Bush Warbler
A skulking, plain olive-brown warbler far better known for its explosive, flute-like spring song than for its rarely seen plumage.
songbird
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
Least Sandpiper
The smallest shorebird in the world, a tiny brown sandpiper best distinguished from its similar relatives by its greenish-yellow legs.
shorebird
Hermit Thrush
A quietly spotted thrush known for its reddish tail, habit of slowly raising and lowering it, and hauntingly beautiful song.
songbird
Horned Puffin
A black-and-white North Pacific puffin with a bright orange-and-yellow bill and a small dark 'horn' of skin above each eye.
seabird
Hartlaub's Turaco
A green, forest-dwelling turaco of the East African highlands, marked by bold white facial markings and a glossy blue-black crest.
other
Green Hermit
A large, long-billed hummingbird of the forest understory, dull green above and buffy below, with elongated white-tipped central tail feathers.
hummingbird
Japanese Tit
A cheerful East Asian tit with a glossy black head, white cheek patches, and a bold black stripe down its yellowish-white underside.
songbird
Green Kingfisher
The smallest kingfisher in the United States, a dark green, white-spotted bird of quiet streams along the southern borderlands.
other
Mountain Chickadee
A gray-and-black chickadee of western mountain conifer forests, distinguished by a bold white eyebrow stripe.
songbird
Mourning Dove
A slender, soft grayish-brown dove with a long pointed tail, one of the most widespread and familiar birds in North America, named for its low, mournful cooing call.
other
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.
waterfowl
Lilac-breasted Roller
A dazzlingly multicolored African savanna bird famed for its acrobatic tumbling courtship flight display.
other
Laysan Albatross
A gull-like white albatross of the North Pacific, best known for its enormous breeding colonies on Midway Atoll and other low-lying Hawaiian islands.
seabird
Long-billed Thrasher
A darker, longer-billed cousin of the Brown Thrasher found in dense brush of south Texas and northeastern Mexico.
songbird
Lesser Goldfinch
The smallest North American goldfinch, a bright yellow-and-black finch of western gardens, scrub, and open woods.
songbird
Morepork
New Zealand's only surviving native owl, a small, compact brown owl named for its distinctive, far-carrying "more-pork" call heard after dark.
owl
Hepatic Tanager
A dusky, brick-red tanager of southwestern mountain pine-oak forests, named for a rich red color reminiscent of liver tissue, with a distinctive dark gray cheek patch.
songbird
Indian Robin
A small, confiding chat of dry open country, the male glossy black with a white shoulder flash and chestnut under the tail.
songbird
Mexican Chickadee
A high-elevation Mexican chickadee that barely reaches the United States in the mountains of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.
songbird
Mexican Jay
A plain blue-and-gray jay of southwestern mountain oak woodlands that lives in cooperative family flocks year-round.
songbird
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
King Rail
The largest North American rail, richly colored with a rufous breast and boldly barred flanks in freshwater marshes.
wading-bird
Great-tailed Grackle
A large, glossy, long-tailed blackbird with a loud, varied voice that has rapidly expanded across urban and agricultural North America.
songbird
Hyacinth Macaw
The world's largest flying parrot species, a deep cobalt-blue macaw of central South America specialized for cracking tough palm nuts.
parrot
Gull-billed Tern
A stocky, gull-billed tern with a stout black bill, pale plumage, and an unusual habit of hawking insects over dry land far from water.
seabird