Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
King Vulture
A large, boldly colored Neotropical vulture with a strikingly multicolored bare head that dominates carcasses in tropical forests.
raptor
Little Blue Penguin
The world's smallest penguin, with slate-blue upperparts, found nesting in burrows along the coasts of southern Australia and New Zealand.
seabird
Laughing Falcon
A cream-headed, masked falcon specialized in hunting snakes, famous for its loud, laughing duets that ring across Neotropical woodlands.
raptor
Lesser Whitethroat
A neat, grey-toned warbler distinguished from its cousin the Common Whitethroat by a darker face mask and a distinctive, unmusical rattling song.
songbird
Kelp Gull
A widespread Southern Hemisphere gull with a black back and white head, ecologically similar to the Great Black-backed Gull of the north, and a rare vagrant to the Gulf Coast of North America.
seabird
Fox Sparrow
A large, robust sparrow named for its rich rufous coloring in eastern populations, known for vigorously kicking through leaf litter to forage.
songbird
Common Goldeneye
A hardy cavity-nesting diving duck named for its brilliant golden-yellow eye, the drake bearing a round white cheek spot on a glossy dark green head.
waterfowl
Black-headed Gull
An abundant Eurasian gull, despite its name actually sporting a chocolate-brown (not black) hood, and a rare but regular visitor to eastern North America.
seabird
Bananaquit
A tiny, tame, constantly active nectar-feeder with a thin curved bill, gray-black upperparts, a bold white eyebrow stripe, and bright yellow underparts.
songbird
Cetti's Warbler
A dark, skulking, non-migratory warbler famous for its sudden, explosively loud burst of song erupting from deep within streamside cover.
songbird
Common Tern
A widespread, medium-sized tern found across North America, Europe, and Asia, with a black cap, red-orange bill, and deeply forked tail typical of the group.
seabird
Rock Pipit
A dark, streaky pipit found almost exclusively along rocky Atlantic and North Sea coastlines.
songbird
Surf Scoter
A black sea duck with a bold multicolored bill patch, males marked with white patches on the forehead and nape.
waterfowl
Western Bluebird
A vivid blue thrush of the West with a blue (not orange) throat, chestnut breast and shoulders, and often a chestnut patch on the back.
songbird
Piping Plover
A tiny, pale, sand-colored plover of North American beaches, named for its plaintive piping whistle.
shorebird
Horned Lark
A ground-loving open-country songbird named for the tiny black feather tufts, or "horns," on its head.
songbird
Fish Crow
A smaller, coastal cousin of the American Crow best told apart by its distinctive nasal, two-note call.
songbird
Eurasian Jackdaw
A small, sociable crow with a silvery-grey nape and pale, staring eyes that nests in cavities and cliffs.
songbird
Diamond Dove
A tiny Australian dove named for the scattering of white, diamond-like spots across its grey wings.
other
Brahminy Kite
A striking chestnut-and-white kite of coastal wetlands across South and Southeast Asia and northern Australia.
raptor
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
American Flamingo
The vivid pink-orange flamingo of the Caribbean and northern South America, the brightest colored of all flamingo species.
wading-bird
Barnacle Goose
A compact black, white, and grey goose with a striking cream-white face, famous for nesting on sheer Arctic cliffs.
waterfowl
Purple Heron
A slender, reddish-necked relative of the Grey Heron that hides among reedbeds across Africa, Europe, and Asia.
wading-bird