Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.

Alder Flycatcher
A plain, olive-brown Empidonax flycatcher of northern alder swamps and wet shrublands, virtually identical to the Willow Flycatcher except by voice.
songbird
Dusky Flycatcher
A gray-olive Empidonax flycatcher of open western mountain shrublands and forest edges, closely resembling several relatives and best told apart by voice.
songbird
Northern Flicker
A large, brown, ground-foraging woodpecker with a bold black crescent bib and a flashing white rump patch visible when it flies.
woodpecker
Peregrine Falcon
The fastest animal on Earth, this powerful falcon stoops on other birds at speeds exceeding 300 km/h (200 mph).
raptor
Ferruginous Hawk
The largest North American buteo, a pale, rusty-shouldered hawk of the open western prairie and shrub-steppe.
raptor
Acadian Flycatcher
A greenish, large-billed Empidonax flycatcher of shaded eastern forest ravines, identified by its explosive 'peet-sah' song.
songbird
Vermilion Flycatcher
A tiny, brilliant scarlet-red flycatcher of southwestern deserts and riverbanks, among the most vividly colored songbirds in North America.
songbird
Hammond's Flycatcher
A small, grayish Empidonax flycatcher of mature western conifer forests, often foraging high in the canopy and best identified by voice.
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
Brown-capped Rosy-Finch
A stocky pink-tinged finch of the highest Rocky Mountain peaks, found nowhere else on Earth.
songbird
Olive-sided Flycatcher
A large, big-headed flycatcher known for its exuberant 'quick, THREE BEERS!' song, often perched high atop a dead conifer snag.
songbird
Merlin
A compact, fast-flying falcon that chases down small birds with relentless, low-level pursuit rather than a high stoop.
raptor
Cordilleran Flycatcher
A yellowish interior-mountain flycatcher virtually identical to the Pacific-slope Flycatcher, found in shaded coniferous canyons of the Rockies and Great Basin.
songbird
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
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
Great Crested Flycatcher
A large canopy flycatcher of eastern woodlands with a lemon-yellow belly, rufous tail, and a loud, whistled call, famous for weaving shed snakeskin into its nest.
songbird
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
The brightest and most yellow of the eastern Empidonax flycatchers, breeding in boggy boreal forest and giving a soft, plaintive whistled call.
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
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
A barred, zebra-backed woodpecker of south Texas brushlands with a bright golden-orange patch on the nape and forehead.
woodpecker
House Sparrow
A stocky, chunky-billed sparrow closely tied to human settlements, with males showing a gray crown, chestnut nape, and black bib.
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
Greylag Goose
A large, bulky pale gray-brown goose with a stout pink or orange bill, the wild ancestor of most domestic geese and widespread across Eurasia.
waterfowl
Chimney Swift
A dark, cigar-shaped aerial bird that nests almost exclusively in chimneys across eastern North America, spending nearly its entire life on the wing.
other
Acorn Woodpecker
A boldly patterned, clown-faced woodpecker famous for its highly social behavior and its habit of stockpiling thousands of acorns in communal granary trees.
woodpecker