Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Hoary Redpoll
A pale, frosty-looking arctic finch, closely resembling the Common Redpoll but adapted to even colder, higher-latitude habitat.
songbird
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
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
Little Owl
A small, flat-headed owl of open farmland that is often active by day, bobbing and staring with piercing yellow eyes.
owl
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
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
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
Black-billed Magpie
A striking black-and-white corvid with an extremely long tail and iridescent wings, common across open western rangeland.
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
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
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
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
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
Squacco Heron
A small, buffy heron that looks surprisingly plain at rest but reveals striking white wings the instant it takes flight.
wading-bird
Purple Sunbird
A tiny, hyperactive sunbird whose breeding male glitters iridescent purple-black in the sun.
songbird