Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Rock Ptarmigan
A circumpolar tundra grouse of barren, rocky terrain that turns snow-white in winter, with breeding males showing a distinctive black eye-line in spring.
gamebird
Red-eyed Vireo
A tireless singer of eastern and northern forests, nicknamed the 'preacher bird' for its endless repeated phrases, with a gray cap, white eyebrow, and red eye.
songbird
Pompadour Cotinga
A striking cotinga with males in deep magenta-purple plumage set off by bold white wings, found in the canopy of Amazonian and Guiana Shield forests.
songbird
Spotted Sandpiper
A small, constantly bobbing sandpiper of North American shorelines, easily recognized in breeding plumage by the bold dark spots covering its white underparts.
shorebird
Ruddy Duck
A small, chunky stiff-tailed diving duck; breeding males show a chestnut body, black cap, white cheeks, and a bright blue bill.
waterfowl
Shy Albatross
A pale, white-headed mollymawk that breeds only on a handful of islands off Tasmania, identifiable by its grey-washed nape and pale yellowish bill.
seabird
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.
waterfowl
Manx Shearwater
A small, sharply black-and-white shearwater of the North Atlantic that skims low over waves with stiff wingbeats, nesting in burrows on grassy offshore islands.
seabird
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
Crowned Lapwing
The Crowned Lapwing is a common African grassland plover easily recognized by the black-and-white ring encircling its head and its loud, repetitive calls.
shorebird
Australian Pelican
A large black-and-white pelican with the longest bill of any bird in the world, wandering widely across Australia's inland waterways in response to rainfall and flooding.
seabird
Bridled Tern
A pelagic tropical tern, browner and paler than its close relative the Sooty Tern, with a thin white 'bridle' line extending behind the eye.
seabird
Bewick's Wren
A slender, long-tailed wren with a bold white eyebrow, known for its varied song and once-widespread eastern range now largely lost.
songbird
Bank Swallow
The smallest North American swallow, brown above and white below with a crisp brown breast band, nesting colonially in burrows dug into sandy banks.
songbird
Cape Petrel
A striking black-and-white checkered petrel of the Southern Ocean, often called the Pintado Petrel, well known for following ships far from land.
seabird
Asian Brown Flycatcher
A plain, understated grey-brown flycatcher best identified by its upright posture, white eye-ring, and habit of sallying out after insects.
songbird
Bobolink
A grassland songbird famous for the breeding male's striking black-and-white "backward tuxedo" plumage and one of the longest migrations of any North American songbird.
songbird
Variable Oystercatcher
A coastal New Zealand shorebird with a long, chisel-like orange-red bill, notable for its variable plumage ranging from fully black to a pied black-and-white form.
shorebird
Wonga Pigeon
A large, plump ground-dwelling pigeon with grey upperparts, a white face and underside marked by bold black V-shaped bars, usually seen walking quietly on the forest floor.
other
Yellow-throated Warbler
A gray-backed warbler with a bright yellow throat and bold black-and-white face pattern, well adapted for creeping along bark and probing pine needle clusters and Spanish moss.
songbird
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.
waterfowl
Bearded Bellbird
A striking cotinga whose male has a brown head, white body, and a curtain of dangling black wattles, and whose loud, bell-like call carries far through the forest.
songbird
Blacksmith Lapwing
The Blacksmith Lapwing is a striking black, white, and grey wetland plover named for its metallic "tink-tink" alarm call that resembles a blacksmith's hammer on an anvil.
shorebird
Black Vulture
A stocky, all-black scavenger with a bare gray head and short, broad wings, recognized in flight by white patches near the wingtips and quick, choppy flapping.
raptor