Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
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
Ostrich
The world's largest and heaviest living bird, a flightless African species built for speed on the open savanna.
other
Yellow-billed Kite
A common, adaptable African raptor with a bright yellow bill and forked tail, often seen soaring over towns and open country.
raptor
Common Bulbul
A plain brown, noisy, and highly social African songbird known for its cheerful bubbling call and bright yellow undertail.
songbird
Yellow-billed Stork
A striking African wading bird with mostly white and pale pink plumage, black flight feathers, and a long, curved yellow bill.
wading-bird
Sacred Ibis
A striking white ibis with a bare black head and neck, revered in ancient Egypt, now widespread across African wetlands and farmland.
wading-bird
Fork-tailed Drongo
A glossy black, red-eyed African songbird known for its deeply forked tail, aerial hunting, and habit of mimicking alarm calls to steal food.
songbird
Cape Cormorant
A glossy black cormorant of the southern African coastline that forms some of the largest seabird breeding colonies in the world.
seabird
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 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
Spur-winged Goose
The Spur-winged Goose is Africa's largest waterfowl species, named for the sharp spurs on its wings and its bare red facial skin.
waterfowl
Grey Crowned-Crane
A dazzling African crane with a spectacular crown of stiff golden feathers, a grey body, and vivid red and white cheek patches; the national bird of Uganda.
wading-bird
Giant Kingfisher
Africa's largest kingfisher, a shaggy-crested, black-and-white speckled bird that hunts fish and crabs from streamside perches.
other
Malachite Kingfisher
A tiny, jewel-like African kingfisher with a vivid blue-and-black barred crest and rufous underparts.
other
Baglafecht Weaver
A common East African highland weaver with a variable black-and-yellow head pattern that differs by region.
songbird
Cape Glossy Starling
A stocky southern African starling whose plumage shimmers with brilliant iridescent blue-green in the sun.
songbird
Verreaux's Eagle
A large, all-black eagle of African mountains and cliffs that specializes almost exclusively in hunting rock hyraxes.
raptor
Senegal Parrot
A compact West African parrot with a grey head, green back, and a bold yellow-to-orange V on its belly.
parrot
Golden-breasted Starling
A dazzling East African starling with a shimmering emerald-and-violet body, golden-yellow belly, and an extravagantly long tail.
songbird
Yellow-billed Oxpecker
A stocky African bird closely related to the Red-billed Oxpecker, identified by its yellow-based, red-tipped bill and lack of a bright eye-ring.
songbird
Secretarybird
A striking long-legged African raptor that hunts on foot across open grassland, famous for stomping venomous snakes to death.
raptor
Saddle-billed Stork
A tall, dramatically colored African stork with a huge black, red, and yellow bill and a yellow frontal shield resembling a saddle.
wading-bird
Cape Sugarbird
A fynbos-endemic South African songbird with an extremely long tail and curved bill, closely tied to Protea flowers for nectar.
songbird
Bateleur
A distinctive short-tailed African eagle famous for its rocking, tightrope-walker flight and vivid red face and legs.
raptor