Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Common Pochard
A diving duck with a rounded chestnut head, red eye, and pale grey body in the male, often seen in large rafts on open lakes.
waterfowl
Australian Wood Duck
A distinctive grey-brown duck with a dark chocolate head and small mane, more often seen grazing on grass than swimming.
waterfowl
Asian Koel
A large, red-eyed cuckoo whose loud, rising 'ko-el' call announces the arrival of spring and summer across South Asian towns.
other
American Robin
A familiar orange-breasted thrush with a gray-brown back, often seen hopping across lawns in search of earthworms.
songbird
Wood Thrush
A richly colored, round-spotted thrush of eastern forests famed for its beautiful, flute-like song.
songbird
Prairie Falcon
A pale, sandy-brown falcon of the arid West, identified in flight by dark patches under the wings near the body.
raptor
Ruddy Shelduck
A warm orange-brown, goose-like duck with a pale head and dark tail, often seen in pairs on open wetlands.
waterfowl
Purple Finch
A stocky finch with a raspberry-red wash over the head, back, and breast in males, often confused with the House Finch.
songbird
Kentish Plover
A small, pale plover of Old World coasts and salt pans, the Eurasian and African counterpart of the American Snowy Plover.
shorebird
Blue Jay
A bold, crested songbird in vivid blue, white, and black, known for its loud calls and habit of caching acorns.
songbird
Bell's Sparrow
A dark-headed California scrub sparrow, the close relative and former conspecific of the Sagebrush Sparrow.
songbird
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
A long-legged duck with a bright pink bill, chestnut body, and bold black belly that often perches in trees.
waterfowlWhite-plumed Antbird
A striking chestnut Amazonian antbird with a shock of white plumes on its face, famous as a dominant attendant at army ant swarms.
songbird
Boat-billed Heron
A bizarre, wide-eyed nocturnal heron of Latin American swamps, instantly recognizable by its enormous broad, boat-shaped bill.
wading-bird
Razorbill
A stocky black-and-white North Atlantic auk with a deep, blunt bill crossed by a white line, the closest living relative of the extinct Great Auk.
seabird
Veery
A uniformly tawny thrush of moist woodlands, named for its breezy, downward-spiraling song of repeated "veer" notes.
songbird
Townsend's Warbler
A boldly patterned warbler of Pacific Northwest conifer forests, with a black-and-yellow face pattern, dark cheek patch, and streaked yellow breast.
songbird
Zone-tailed Hawk
A blackish hawk that mimics the flight and silhouette of Turkey Vultures, letting it sneak up on unsuspecting prey.
raptor
Wrentit
A drab, long-tailed skulker of Pacific coastal chaparral, far more often heard than seen, with a distinctive bouncing-ball song.
songbird
Swainson's Warbler
A plain, secretive brown warbler of dense southeastern thickets, more often heard than seen thanks to its loud, ringing song.
songbird
Yellowhammer
A vividly yellow-headed bunting of farmland hedgerows, famous for its song often rendered as "a little bit of bread and no cheese."
songbird
Yellow-billed Kite
A common, adaptable African raptor with a bright yellow bill and forked tail, often seen soaring over towns and open country.
raptor
Verreaux's Eagle
A large, all-black eagle of African mountains and cliffs that specializes almost exclusively in hunting rock hyraxes.
raptor
Welcome Swallow
A glossy blue-black swallow with a rufous forehead and throat, common across Australia and long regarded as a harbinger of spring.
songbird