Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Sharp-shinned Hawk
North America's smallest accipiter, a compact, forest-dwelling hawk built for quick, agile pursuit of small songbirds.
raptor
Greater White-fronted Goose
A medium-large brownish-gray goose with a white patch around the base of the bill and irregular black barring on the belly.
waterfowl
Red-cockaded Woodpecker
A rare cooperative-breeding woodpecker of the southeastern pine forests that excavates its nest exclusively in living, old-growth pines.
woodpecker
Black Scoter
A small, entirely black sea duck; males have a simple bright yellow-orange knob at the base of the bill, the plainest but most vocal of the scoters.
waterfowl
Mexican Jay
A plain blue-and-gray jay of southwestern mountain oak woodlands that lives in cooperative family flocks year-round.
songbird
Harlequin Duck
A small, compact sea duck of turbulent waters, breeding males show an intricate pattern of slate blue, chestnut, and bold white markings.
waterfowl
Brown-crested Flycatcher
The largest of the North American Myiarchus flycatchers, a bushy-crested, cavity-nesting bird of desert washes and saguaro country with a rolling 'whit-will-do' call.
songbird
Common Shelduck
A large, goose-like duck with a bold white body crossed by a broad chestnut breast band and a glossy dark green head, common along Eurasian coasts.
waterfowl
Varied Bunting
A desert bunting whose male appears deep purple-blue with a rosy nape patch in good light, but nearly black in shade, found in thorny borderland scrub.
songbird
Lesser Goldfinch
The smallest North American goldfinch, a bright yellow-and-black finch of western gardens, scrub, and open woods.
songbird
Barn Owl
A pale, heart-faced owl of open farmland, famous for its ghostly white underside and near-silent, moth-like flight.
owl
Least Flycatcher
The smallest and most vocal of the eastern Empidonax flycatchers, easily located by its emphatic, repetitive 'che-BEK' call.
songbird
Northern Goshawk
The largest and most powerful accipiter, a fierce forest hawk of mature woodlands with a bold white eyebrow and blazing red eyes.
raptor
Cassin's Vireo
A western vireo with a subdued gray-green head, white spectacles, and pale yellow flanks, once lumped with Blue-headed and Plumbeous Vireo as the 'Solitary Vireo.'
songbird
Summer Tanager
The only entirely red bird in North America, the Summer Tanager male is a rosy-red songbird known for specializing in catching and de-stinging bees and wasps.
songbird
Green Jay
A dazzlingly colored jay of south Texas brushlands with a green back, sky-blue head markings, and lemon-yellow outer tail feathers.
songbird
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
A small, reddish, day-active owl of arid borderland scrub, distinguished from its close relative by a streaked (not spotted) crown and rusty tail.
owl
Surf Scoter
A chunky black sea duck with a boldly patterned orange, white, and black bill, males show white patches on the forehead and nape.
waterfowl
California Thrasher
A large, dark, long-billed thrasher endemic to California chaparral, more often heard singing than seen in its dense scrub habitat.
songbird
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch
A pink-washed alpine finch of high mountain tundra, with a gray patch on the back of the head that gives the species its name.
songbird
Le Conte's Thrasher
The palest of the thrashers, a shy, sandy-colored bird of the open Mojave and Sonoran Desert flats that prefers running to flying.
songbird
Band-tailed Pigeon
A large, purple-gray wild pigeon of western mountain forests, marked by a white crescent on the nape and a pale band across the tip of the tail.
other
Saltmarsh Sparrow
A tidal marsh specialist with a bright orange face and crisp streaked breast, among the most threatened songbirds in North America due to sea level rise.
songbird
Cave Swallow
A cliff-swallow relative with a buffy forehead and throat that nests colonially under bridges and in caves and culverts across the southern US and Caribbean.
songbird
Short-eared Owl
A pale, ground-nesting owl of open country that hunts by day in low, buoyant, moth-like flight over fields and marshes.
owl
Bell's Vireo
A small, drab, hyperactive vireo of dense willow and mesquite thickets, known for its fast, chattering, question-and-answer song.
songbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
An elegant pale gray flycatcher with an extraordinarily long, deeply forked tail and salmon-pink flanks, a signature bird of Texas and Oklahoma grasslands.
songbird
Northwestern Crow
A small, coastal crow of the Pacific Northwest closely resembling the American Crow and often found foraging along tidelines.
songbird
Long-eared Owl
A slender, secretive woodland owl with long, close-set ear tufts and a strikingly thin, upright roosting posture.
owl
Black-billed Magpie
A striking black-and-white corvid with an extremely long tail and iridescent wings, common across open western rangeland.
songbird
Hooded Warbler
A vivid yellow-faced warbler of eastern forest understory whose males wear a bold black hood, and which flashes white outer tail feathers as it flicks its tail while foraging.
songbird
Common Ground Dove
North America's smallest dove, a tiny, scaly-patterned bird of the southern states that scurries on the ground and flashes rufous in its wings when it flies.
other
Connecticut Warbler
A large, chunky, notoriously secretive warbler with a bold white eyering, long legs, and a walking gait, breeding in remote boreal bogs and rarely seen well.
songbird
Anna's Hummingbird
A common, non-migratory West Coast hummingbird whose males flash an iridescent rose-pink crown and throat and perform a spectacular, chirping high-speed dive display.
hummingbird
Prothonotary Warbler
A brilliant golden-yellow warbler of southern swamps, unique among eastern warblers for nesting in tree cavities near or over water.
songbird
California Scrub-Jay
A crestless, bold blue-and-gray jay of West Coast oak woodlands and suburban yards, closely tied to acorn crops.
songbird
Spotted Towhee
The western counterpart to the Eastern Towhee, distinguished by bold white spotting on its black back and wings.
songbird
Chukar
A rocky-terrain partridge with a bold black facial necklace and boldly barred flanks, introduced to the arid American West from Eurasia.
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
Black Rosy-Finch
The darkest of the three rosy-finches, breeding only in a narrow band of high central Rocky Mountain peaks and considered especially vulnerable to a warming climate.
songbird
Common Black Hawk
A broad-winged, all-black hawk tightly tied to desert rivers, where it wades and forages for crabs and other aquatic prey.
raptor
Red-breasted Merganser
A slender, crested fish-eating duck with a thin serrated bill, breeding males show a shaggy dark green head, white collar, and rusty streaked breast.
waterfowl
Ash-throated Flycatcher
A pale, dry-country flycatcher with a whitish-gray throat, soft yellow belly, and rufous tail, common in western deserts and scrub.
songbird
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
A yellowish-toned Empidonax flycatcher of shady Pacific coastal forests, nearly identical to the Cordilleran Flycatcher and best told apart by range and call.
songbird
Short-tailed Hawk
A compact tropical buteo, found in Florida in both dark and light color forms, that hunts songbirds from high overhead.
raptor
Dusky Grouse
A large, sooty gray mountain grouse of the interior Rockies, named for the male's low hooting display and yellow-orange inflatable neck sac.
gamebird
Bendire's Thrasher
A pale-eyed desert thrasher with a shorter, straighter bill than its relatives, and distinct arrowhead-shaped breast spots.
songbird
Greater Prairie-Chicken
A heavily barred prairie grouse famous for the male's booming courtship display with orange air sacs and long neck pinnae feathers.
gamebird