Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
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
Barnacle Goose
A compact black, white, and grey goose with a striking cream-white face, famous for nesting on sheer Arctic cliffs.
waterfowl
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
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
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
Great Crested Flycatcher
A large canopy flycatcher of eastern woodlands with a lemon-yellow belly, rufous tail, and a loud, whistled call, famous for weaving shed snakeskin into its nest.
songbird
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
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
Hooded Crane
A small, dark East Asian crane with a white head and neck resembling a hood, a red crown patch, and one of the most geographically concentrated wintering populations of any crane.
wading-bird
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
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
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
Homing Pigeon
A domestic pigeon breed selectively developed for a strong, fast flight and an exceptional ability to navigate back to its home loft over long distances.
other
Long-billed Dowitcher
A close relative of the Short-billed Dowitcher, best told apart by its sharp single-note call and preference for freshwater wetlands over coastal habitats.
shorebird
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
Leach's Storm-Petrel
A small, dark, forked-tailed storm-petrel with an erratic, bat-like flight, spending nearly its entire life far out at sea and visiting nesting burrows only at night.
seabird
Forster's Tern
A medium-sized tern that breeds almost entirely within North America, distinguished from the similar Common Tern by its pale, silvery wingtips and orange legs.
seabird
Domestic Pigeon
The familiar pigeon of city streets and parks, descended from escaped and released domesticated Rock Doves and now established in urban areas worldwide.
other