Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Cliff Swallow
A colonial swallow famous for building gourd-shaped mud nests in dense clusters under bridges, eaves, and cliffs.
songbird
Raggiana Bird-of-paradise
The national bird of Papua New Guinea, known for the male's spectacular fanned display of orange-red flank plumes.
songbird
Spotted Sandpiper
A small, constantly bobbing sandpiper of North American shorelines, easily recognized in breeding plumage by the bold dark spots covering its white underparts.
shorebird
Willow Ptarmigan
A tundra grouse and Alaska's state bird, turning pure white in winter and rich mottled rufous-brown in summer, with males retaining a chestnut head and neck longest into spring.
gamebird
Western Gull
A large, dark-backed gull restricted almost entirely to the Pacific coast of North America, a common sight on rocky shorelines and piers from Washington to Baja California.
seabird
Spot-billed Pelican
A greyish Asian pelican named for the dark spots that appear on its bill during the breeding season, with strongholds in protected wetlands of India, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia.
seabird
Philadelphia Vireo
The smallest eastern vireo, with a yellow-washed underside and dark eye line, breeding in northern second-growth woodlands and often confused with Warbling Vireo and Tennessee Warbler.
songbird
Southern Masked Weaver
A common, widespread southern African weaver whose breeding males are bright yellow with a black face mask and red eyes, known for its intricately woven grass nests.
songbird
Montezuma Oropendola
A large Central American icterid with a chestnut body, black head, orange-tipped bill, and bare blue-and-pink facial skin, known for colonial hanging nests and loud gurgling calls.
songbird
Greater Sage-Grouse
The largest North American grouse, famous for males' spectacular strutting display with inflated air sacs on communal leks scattered across the sagebrush sea.
gamebird
Golden-winged Warbler
A gray-and-white warbler with a bold golden wing patch and yellow crown, once common in shrubby eastern habitat but now steeply declining and prone to hybridizing with Blue-winged Warbler.
songbird
Eurasian Collared-Dove
A pale, sandy-gray dove with a distinctive black half-collar on the nape, rapidly expanding across North America since escaping captivity in Florida in the 1980s.
other
Cockatoo
A family of large, crested parrots native to Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, distinguished by their erectile crests and mostly white, black, pink, or grey plumage.
parrot
Booted Eagle
A small, buzzard-sized eagle occurring in pale and dark color morphs, the Booted Eagle is a long-distance migrant that hunts small birds and reptiles over open country near woodland.
raptor
Ocellated Antbird
The largest and most dominant of the Neotropical ant-following antbirds, patterned with scaly chestnut-and-black "ocelli" and bare blue facial skin.
songbird
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
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
Common Bulbul
A plain brown, noisy, and highly social African songbird known for its cheerful bubbling call and bright yellow undertail.
songbird
White-backed Vulture
A gregarious African savanna vulture, once the continent's most numerous vulture, now Critically Endangered due to poisoning.
raptor
Southern Cassowary
A large, flightless rainforest bird with glossy black plumage, a vivid blue-and-red neck, and a tall bony casque atop its head.
other
Henslow's Sparrow
A secretive prairie sparrow with a large flat head, olive face, and one of the most unimpressive songs of any North American bird.
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
Reddish Egret
An animated, shaggy-necked coastal egret famous for its erratic, staggering 'dancing' feeding style used to startle fish into range.
wading-bird
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