Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Western Wood-Pewee
A drab, grayish-olive flycatcher of western woodlands best identified by its harsh, nasal 'peeer' call given from an exposed perch.
songbird
Vesper Sparrow
A streaky grassland sparrow with a white eye-ring, chestnut shoulder patch, and white outer tail feathers, named for its evening song.
songbird
Western Yellow Wagtail
A slender, bright yellow-bellied wagtail of wet grasslands and farmland, often seen darting around the feet of grazing cattle to snap up disturbed insects.
songbird
White-browed Robin-Chat
A large, richly colored African robin-chat prized for its loud, beautiful dawn song and bold white eyebrow stripe.
songbird
Wood Thrush
A richly colored, round-spotted thrush of eastern forests famed for its beautiful, flute-like song.
songbird
Tricolored Heron
A slender, dark-bodied heron of American coastal marshes with a bright white belly and neck stripe that sets it apart from all other herons.
wading-bird
Tree Swallow
A gleaming blue-green and white cavity-nesting swallow, one of the earliest swallows to arrive each spring and among the most cold-hardy.
songbird
Swainson's Thrush
A buffy-faced forest thrush known for its upward-spiraling flute-like song and heavy nocturnal migration through much of North America.
songbird
White-eared Bulbul
A dusky-grey bulbul with a black head, a bold white ear patch, and a bright yellow vent, common in gardens across the Middle East and South Asia.
songbird
Tufted Duck
A compact Eurasian diving duck with a drooping head tuft, the drake strikingly patterned in black and white and occasionally found among scaup flocks in North America.
waterfowl
White Wagtail
A slim, long-tailed black, white, and grey bird, constantly wagging its tail as it darts about open ground catching insects, equally at home in farmland or city centres.
songbird
Worm-eating Warbler
A plain buffy warbler with bold black head stripes, best known for its habit of probing curled dead leaves for caterpillars rather than eating earthworms.
songbird
White-tipped Dove
A stocky, secretive dove of South Texas thickets known for its low, mournful, owl-like hooting call and pale-tipped tail.
other
Variegated Fairywren
A small, colorful fairywren whose breeding males combine blue, black, and a bright chestnut shoulder patch, found widely across mainland Australia's scrub and woodland.
songbird
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
White-tailed Eagle
A massive Eurasian raptor with a barn-door wingspan, pale head, and unmistakable wedge-shaped white tail.
raptor
Turquoise Cotinga
A dazzling, range-restricted cotinga whose male glows turquoise-blue with a rich purple throat and breast patch, found only in a small area of southern Central America.
songbird
Veery
A uniformly tawny thrush of moist woodlands, named for its breezy, downward-spiraling song of repeated "veer" notes.
songbird
White-faced Ibis
A dark, iridescent ibis of western wetlands, closely resembling the Glossy Ibis but marked by a thin band of white feathering around its red eye and face during breeding.
wading-bird
Ural Owl
A large pale grey owl of Eurasian forests, closely related to the Barred Owl, known for its fierce nest defense.
owl
Thick-billed Longspur
A stocky, heavy-billed shortgrass prairie longspur, the current official name (since 2020) for the species formerly called McCown's Longspur.
songbird
Tui
An iridescent, dark New Zealand honeyeater with a distinctive white throat tuft, famed for its extraordinarily varied, bell-like and mechanical song.
songbird
Water Rail
A slim Eurasian marsh bird with a long red bill, gray underparts, and barred flanks, more often heard than seen.
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
Takahe
A large, flightless, deep blue-and-green New Zealand rail once thought extinct for fifty years until its dramatic rediscovery in remote Fiordland tussock country in 1948.
other
Wilson's Snipe
A stocky, cryptically patterned North American marsh bird with an extremely long bill, best known for the eerie winnowing sound males make during display flights.
shorebird
Vaux's Swift
The western counterpart of the Chimney Swift, a tiny, cigar-shaped aerial bird that nests in hollow old-growth trees and large chimneys.
other
White-bellied Sunbird
A small southern African sunbird whose iridescent green head and clean white belly make it one of the easier local sunbirds to identify.
songbird
White-necked Puffbird
A large, big-headed, black-and-white puffbird that perches motionless on high open branches before sallying out for large prey.
other
Turkey Vulture
A large, dark scavenger with a naked red head and a distinctive tilting, V-shaped soaring flight, famed for its exceptional sense of smell.
raptor
Wattled Crane
The tallest crane in Africa, easily told by the pair of long, fleshy white wattles hanging beneath its chin.
wading-bird
White-throated Kingfisher
A vividly colored kingfisher with turquoise-blue upperparts, a chocolate-brown head, and a bright white throat, often seen far from water.
other
Superb Lyrebird
Australia's celebrated rainforest songbird, famous for its extravagant tail and uncanny ability to mimic almost any sound it hears.
songbird
Tennessee Warbler
A plain, energetic warbler with a gray head, white eyebrow stripe, and olive back, named for a stray specimen collected in Tennessee though it neither breeds nor regularly winters there.
songbird
Sword-billed Hummingbird
A high-Andean hummingbird with an extraordinarily long, straight bill, longer than its own body, specialized for feeding on long-tubed flowers.
hummingbird
Verdin
A tiny, active desert songbird with a bright yellow head and a chestnut shoulder patch, famous for its bulky twig nests.
songbird
Western Plantain-eater
A large, grey-brown turaco relative of West African savanna, easily spotted by its heavy yellow-tipped bill and bold white wing patches in flight.
other
Surf Scoter
A black sea duck with a bold multicolored bill patch, males marked with white patches on the forehead and nape.
waterfowl
Virginia Rail
A slender, secretive marsh bird with a long reddish downcurved bill, rusty breast, and gray cheeks.
wading-bird
White-winged Scoter
The largest scoter, black-bodied with a white speculum patch in the wing and a comma-shaped white eye mark.
waterfowl
Thick-billed Murre
A stocky Arctic auk similar to the Common Murre but with a shorter, thicker bill marked by a pale gape stripe.
seabird
Zone-tailed Hawk
A blackish hawk that mimics the flight and silhouette of Turkey Vultures, letting it sneak up on unsuspecting prey.
raptor
Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay
A pale, crestless blue jay of the interior West's pinyon-juniper woodlands, closely tied to pine nut crops.
songbird
Western Meadowlark
The state bird of six U.S. states, prized for its rich, bubbling, flute-like song delivered across open western grasslands.
songbird
White-throated Sparrow
A large, boldly patterned sparrow with a crisp white throat patch and yellow lores, famous for its whistled "Oh-sweet-Canada" song.
songbird
Yellow-billed Loon
The largest and rarest loon species, identified by its massive, pale, slightly upturned yellowish bill.
seabird
Western Rosella
The smallest of the rosellas, found only in southwestern Australia, with a red head and underparts, green back, and bright yellow cheek patches.
parrot
White-browed Sparrow-Weaver
A cooperatively breeding savanna bird known for its conspicuous white eyebrow and untidy grass nests built in acacia trees.
songbird