Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Red-breasted Merganser
A slim, shaggy double-crested sea duck with a thin serrated bill, the most marine of the mergansers.
waterfowl
Steller's Jay
A bold, crested jay of western conifer forests with a striking black head and deep blue body.
songbird
Juniper Titmouse
A plain gray, crested titmouse of pinyon-juniper woodlands across the Great Basin and interior West.
songbird
Gang-gang Cockatoo
A small grey cockatoo of southeastern Australia's mountain forests, with males sporting a striking scarlet, wispy-crested head.
parrot
Northern Lapwing
A crested, iridescent plover of European and Asian farmland, known for its tumbling display flights and wheezy "pee-wit" call.
shorebird
Elegant Tern
A slender crested tern with a long, drooping orange bill, concentrated in enormous colonies on just a handful of islands in the Gulf of California.
seabird
Ornate Hawk-Eagle
A powerful, crested forest eagle with a striking black-and-rufous head pattern and boldly barred underparts, a top predator of the Neotropical canopy.
raptor
Bohemian Waxwing
A sleek, crested, silky-plumaged bird of the northern boreal forest that erupts south in unpredictable, nomadic winter flocks to feast on berries.
songbird
Cedar Waxwing
A sleek, crested, silky-brown songbird with a yellow-tipped tail and waxy red wingtips that travels in nomadic flocks following fruit crops.
songbird
Tufted Titmouse
A gray, crested songbird with a black forehead patch, white underparts, and rusty flanks, common at eastern U.S. feeders.
songbird
Himalayan Bulbul
A crested bulbul of Himalayan foothill gardens and scrub, with a black head, a white cheek patch, and a bright yellow vent.
songbird
Blue Jay
A bold, crested songbird in vivid blue, white, and black, known for its loud calls and habit of caching acorns.
songbird
Phainopepla
A slim, crested desert songbird; glossy jet-black males and soft gray females that depend heavily on mistletoe berries.
songbird
Giant Kingfisher
Africa's largest kingfisher, a shaggy-crested, black-and-white speckled bird that hunts fish and crabs from streamside perches.
other
Belted Kingfisher
A large, shaggy-crested, rattling-voiced kingfisher of North American waterways, in which the female is more colorful than the male.
other
Sandwich Tern
A slender, crested tern easily told from relatives by its long black bill with a distinctive yellow tip, named for the English town of Sandwich, Kent.
seabird
Oak Titmouse
A plain gray-brown, crested songbird tightly tied to oak woodlands of California, notable for its lack of bold field marks.
songbird
Macaroni Penguin
A crested penguin with flamboyant golden-yellow plumes sweeping back from the forehead, once among the most abundant penguins on Earth.
seabird
Grey Go-away-bird
A pale grey, crested relative of the turacos, named for its nasal, far-carrying call that sounds like it is saying "go-away."
other
Waxwing
A crested, silky pinkish-grey bird with a black mask, yellow-tipped tail, and waxy red wingtips, best known for irruptive winter berry-feasting flocks.
songbird
African Paradise Flycatcher
An elegant sub-Saharan African songbird with a glossy blue-black crested head, chestnut plumage, and long trailing tail streamers in males.
songbird
Red-whiskered Bulbul
A perky, crested bulbul with white cheeks, a small red "whisker" patch behind the eye, and a red vent, popular in gardens across South and Southeast Asia.
songbird
Scaled Quail
A bluish-gray desert quail nicknamed "cottontop" for its bushy white crest, with feathers edged to create a distinctive scaly look.
gamebird
Malachite Kingfisher
A tiny, jewel-like African kingfisher with a vivid blue-and-black barred crest and rufous underparts.
other