Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Seaside Sparrow
A large, dark, long-billed sparrow that never leaves the tidal salt marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
songbird
Tawny Owl
A stocky, big-headed nocturnal owl of European woodlands, best known for its familiar hooting duet.
owl
Sand Martin
A small brown-and-white swallow relative that nests colonially in burrows dug into sandy banks and cliffs.
songbird
Elf Owl
The world's smallest owl, a sparrow-sized desert dweller that nests in old woodpecker holes in saguaro cacti.
owl
Corn Crake
A secretive, chicken-like grassland bird best known for its rasping, far-carrying 'crex-crex' call given at night.
other
Chestnut-eared Bunting
A bunting with a rich chestnut ear patch, a grey crown, and a necklace of dark streaks across a pale, buffy breast.
songbird
Rhinoceros Auklet
A dusky-brown North Pacific auk named for the pale horn-like projection on its bill that develops in breeding season.
seabird
Australian Ringneck
A widespread, variably colored Australian parrot identified by the narrow yellow band across its hindneck.
parrot
Alexandrine Parakeet
A large green parakeet named for Alexander the Great, with a heavy red bill and a distinctive maroon shoulder patch.
parrot
African Penguin
The only penguin species breeding on the African continent, named for its loud, donkey-like braying call and identified by a black facial mask and unique belly-spot pattern.
seabird
Albert's Lyrebird
A rare, secretive lyrebird confined to a tiny pocket of rainforest on the New South Wales-Queensland border, known for its rich mimicry and warm reddish-brown plumage.
songbird
Great Shearwater
A trans-equatorial migrant shearwater with a sharply defined dark cap and white collar, breeding on remote South Atlantic islands and wintering across the North Atlantic.
seabird
Harpy Eagle
One of the largest and most powerful eagles on Earth, the Harpy Eagle is a massive gray-and-white raptor of the Neotropical rainforest canopy, famed for hunting sloths and monkeys.
raptor
Indian Skimmer
A striking black-capped skimmer of South Asian rivers, now Endangered due to widespread loss of undisturbed sandbar habitat along major waterways.
seabird
Bank Myna
A pale bluish-grey myna with an orange bare-skin eye patch, common around towns and riverbanks of the Indian subcontinent, where it nests in burrows in earthen banks.
songbird
American White Pelican
One of North America's largest birds, an enormous white waterbird with a huge orange bill and pouch that fishes cooperatively by herding fish into shallow water rather than diving.
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
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
The only hummingbird that regularly breeds in eastern North America, with males showing a brilliant iridescent ruby-red throat that can flash black in poor light.
hummingbird
Peruvian Pelican
A large, dark pelican of the cold Humboldt Current, closely tied to the rich anchoveta fisheries off Peru and Chile and vulnerable to periodic El Nino-driven food shortages.
seabird
Brown Pelican
A familiar coastal seabird known for its dramatic head-first plunge-dives from height into the ocean to catch fish, once endangered by DDT but now fully recovered.
seabird
Spruce Grouse
A tame, dark forest grouse of the northern boreal woods that relies so heavily on camouflage it often allows extremely close approach, earning it the nickname "fool hen."
gamebird
Philippine Eagle
The national bird of the Philippines, this critically endangered eagle sports a shaggy, lion-like crest of brown feathers and ranks among the largest and rarest eagles on Earth.
raptor
Ruff
A striking, highly dimorphic sandpiper whose males grow ornate, colorful neck ruffs and head tufts for elaborate communal courtship displays at a lek.
shorebird
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