Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Common Poorwill
A small, cryptic desert nightjar uniquely known for entering a hibernation-like torpor to survive cold weather.
other
Common Gull
A gentle, medium-sized gull widespread across northern Eurasia, closely related to but geographically separate from the North American Mew (Short-billed) Gull.
seabird
Common Bulbul
A plain brown, noisy, and highly social African songbird known for its cheerful bubbling call and bright yellow undertail.
songbird
Common Pheasant
A large, long-tailed gamebird; males are strikingly iridescent with a bare red face, while females are cryptically mottled brown.
gamebird
Common Snipe
The Eurasian counterpart to Wilson's Snipe, a cryptically striped marsh bird with a very long bill, famed for the winnowing sound of its aerial display.
shorebird
Common Pochard
A diving duck with a rounded chestnut head, red eye, and pale grey body in the male, often seen in large rafts on open lakes.
waterfowl
Common Moorhen
A dark waterbird with a red-and-yellow bill and a white flank stripe, often seen jerking its head and flicking its tail while swimming.
wading-bird
Common Potoo
A large, cryptically patterned nocturnal bird that perches bolt upright on broken branch stubs, vanishing into the bark by day.
other
Common Greenshank
The Old World counterpart of the Greater Yellowlegs, a tall gray sandpiper with long greenish legs and a distinctive upturned bill.
shorebird
Common Chaffinch
One of Europe's most abundant finches, the male sporting a blue-gray crown and pink-buff breast, both sexes showing bold white wing bars.
songbird
Common Starling
A glossy, iridescent black bird famous for its speckled winter plumage, noisy chattering song, and spectacular murmuration flocks.
songbird
Common Grackle
A large, iridescent blackbird with a long keel-shaped tail and pale yellow eyes, common across eastern and central North America.
songbird
Common Shelduck
A large, goose-like duck with bold white, black, and chestnut plumage and a bright red bill.
waterfowl
Common Tailorbird
A tiny, olive-green warbler-relative famous for stitching leaves together with plant fiber to build its remarkable nest.
songbird
Common Chiffchaff
A small, drab leaf warbler that announces itself with its own name: a simple, repetitive 'chiff-chaff' song that is one of the earliest signs of spring.
songbird
Common Raven
A massive, highly intelligent black corvid with a wedge-shaped tail and deep croaking voice, found across a vast range of wild habitats.
songbird
Common Linnet
A small, sociable finch of farmland and heathland, with breeding males showing a rosy-crimson flush on the forehead and breast.
songbird
Common Crane
A tall grey crane widespread across Europe and Asia, known for its bold black-and-white head pattern, red crown patch, and loud bugling calls given during migration.
wading-bird
Common Gallinule
The New World counterpart to the Common Moorhen, with the same red-and-yellow bill and a bold white flank stripe.
wading-bird
Common Teal
The smallest common dabbling duck of Eurasia, with breeding males showing a chestnut head and an iridescent green eye patch.
waterfowl
Common Merganser
A large, sleek fish-eating duck with a slender serrated bill, males strikingly clean white-bodied with a glossy dark green head.
waterfowl
Common Buzzard
A broad-winged, soaring hawk of Europe and Asia with highly variable plumage, commonly seen circling over farmland and woodland edges.
raptor
Common Nightingale
A plain brown bird famed above all for its powerful, richly varied song, often delivered at night as well as by day from dense scrub cover.
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