Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Barnacle Goose
A compact black, white, and grey goose with a striking cream-white face, famous for nesting on sheer Arctic cliffs.
waterfowl
Martial Eagle
Africa's largest and most powerful eagle, the Martial Eagle is a formidable savanna predator capable of taking prey as large as small antelope.
raptor
Dunlin
A medium-small sandpiper with a distinctive drooped bill tip and, in breeding plumage, a bold black belly patch, often seen in large swirling flocks over mudflats.
shorebird
Little Owl
A small, flat-headed owl of open farmland that is often active by day, bobbing and staring with piercing yellow eyes.
owl
Goliath Heron
The world's largest heron, a towering African giant with a massive chestnut head and dagger-like bill built for spearing big fish.
wading-bird
Tree Pipit
A streaky ground-feeding songbird closely resembling the Meadow Pipit, but distinguished by its habit of singing from treetops during a memorable rising and parachuting display flight.
songbird
Sanderling
The pale, plump little sandpiper that chases retreating waves on sandy beaches worldwide, running like a wind-up toy to snatch food from the wet sand.
shorebird
Purple Heron
A slender, reddish-necked relative of the Grey Heron that hides among reedbeds across Africa, Europe, and Asia.
wading-bird
White Tern
An entirely white, ethereal tern with large dark eyes that famously balances its single egg on a bare tree branch without building any nest at all.
seabird
Great Jacamar
The largest and heaviest-billed jacamar, glittering coppery-green with a chestnut belly, favoring the shaded interior of lowland rainforest.
other
Cape Gannet
A large white seabird with black flight feathers and a golden crown that breeds in dense colonies on islands off southern Africa.
seabird
Northern Fulmar
A stocky, gull-like tube-nosed seabird of northern oceans, recognized by its stiff, straight-winged gliding flight low over the waves.
seabird
Common Swift
A sooty-brown, scythe-winged aerial specialist that spends nearly its entire life airborne, screaming past rooftops in fast, wheeling parties.
other
Crowned Eagle
A powerful African forest eagle with short, rounded wings for maneuvering below the canopy, the Crowned Eagle is considered pound-for-pound one of the continent's most formidable raptors and a leading predator of monkeys.
raptor
Black-billed Magpie
A striking black-and-white corvid with an extremely long tail and iridescent wings, common across open western rangeland.
songbird
Yellow-eyed Penguin
A large, solitary-nesting New Zealand penguin named for its pale yellow eyes and the yellow band that sweeps across its head, considered one of the rarest penguin species.
seabird
Herring Gull
A large, familiar gray-backed gull with pink legs and a yellow bill marked by a red spot, widespread and adaptable across coasts, lakes, and cities.
seabird
Black-hooded Oriole
A vivid golden-yellow oriole with a solid black hood and black-and-yellow wings, often heard before it is seen in leafy canopy.
songbird
Black Crowned-Crane
A striking West and Central African crane with a golden crown of bristle feathers, a black neck, and bold red and white facial patches.
wading-bird
Mealy Parrot
The largest of the Amazon parrots, with predominantly green plumage and a dusty, mealy-looking bloom over the nape and back that gives the species its name.
parrot
Verreaux's Eagle
A large, all-black eagle of African mountains and cliffs that specializes almost exclusively in hunting rock hyraxes.
raptor
Dunnock
An unassuming, streaky brown European songbird with a gray head and breast, often seen shuffling quietly beneath hedges and shrubs.
songbird
Common Teal
The smallest common dabbling duck of Eurasia, with breeding males showing a chestnut head and an iridescent green eye patch.
waterfowl
Cape Cormorant
A glossy black cormorant of the southern African coastline that forms some of the largest seabird breeding colonies in the world.
seabird