Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
A barred, zebra-backed woodpecker of south Texas brushlands with a bright golden-orange patch on the nape and forehead.
woodpecker
Golden Eagle
A massive, powerful eagle of open western landscapes, dark brown overall with golden feathering on the back of the head and neck.
raptor
Eurasian Collared-Dove
A pale, sandy-gray dove with a distinctive black half-collar on the nape, rapidly expanding across North America since escaping captivity in Florida in the 1980s.
other
Golden Conure
A striking, almost entirely golden-yellow Amazonian parrot found only in a limited part of eastern Brazil.
parrot
Fiordland Penguin
A rare crested penguin, known as tawaki, that breeds uniquely among rainforest and rocky coastline of remote Fiordland, distinguished by its broad yellow eyebrow-stripe crest.
seabird
Dartford Warbler
A small, dark, long-tailed warbler of gorse-covered heathland, notable for its deep wine-red underparts and its unusual habit of staying put year-round rather than migrating.
songbird
Gambel's Quail
A desert-adapted quail closely related to the California Quail, distinguished by its plain buffy belly and chestnut side patches.
gamebird
Domestic Canary
The domesticated form of the wild Atlantic Canary, bred over centuries into many color and song varieties from its natural yellow-green ancestor.
songbird
Gray Jay
A fluffy, tame boreal-forest jay, officially renamed Canada Jay, known for its curiosity around campsites and its habit of hoarding food year-round.
songbird
Gila Woodpecker
A desert-adapted woodpecker that carves its nest cavities into towering saguaro cacti.
woodpecker
Eastern Whip-poor-will
A cryptically camouflaged eastern forest nightjar celebrated for its relentless, repeated nighttime song that gives the bird its name.
other
Eurasian Blackbird
A common European thrush; the male is glossy black with a bright orange-yellow bill and eye-ring, while the female is dusky brown.
songbird
Eastern Screech-Owl
A tiny, tufted owl of eastern woodlands and suburbs, occurring in both gray and reddish-brown color forms, with a whinnying call rather than a screech.
owl
Diamond Dove
A tiny Australian dove named for the scattering of white, diamond-like spots across its grey wings.
other
Emerald Toucanet
A small, compact toucan relative clothed almost entirely in bright green plumage, with a bicolored bill and, in many populations, a blue-tinged throat.
other
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
A long-necked, long-legged tawny duck with a whistling call, found in warm wetlands worldwide.
waterfowl
Eurasian Bittern
A famously secretive reedbed heron known across Europe for the male's deep, foghorn-like booming call rather than for being seen.
wading-bird
Flammulated Owl
A tiny, dark-eyed, migratory owl of western pine forests whose deep, ventriloquial hoot belies its diminutive size.
owl
Golden-headed Quetzal
An Andean cloud-forest quetzal with iridescent green plumage, a golden-bronze sheen on the crown, and a crimson-red breast, but lacking the extremely long tail streamers of the Resplendent Quetzal.
other
European Serin
A tiny, streaky, canary-like finch of southern and central Europe with a bright yellow-green rump and a fast, jingling song.
songbird
European Bee-eater
One of Europe's most vividly colored birds, a swallow-shaped hunter of flying insects with chestnut, yellow, and turquoise plumage.
other
European Turtle Dove
A warm-toned, scaly-backed migrant dove famed for its purring song, now sharply declining across much of its European range.
other
Golden Whistler
A striking, stocky songbird whose males wear a bold black, white, and golden-yellow pattern and deliver a loud, ringing whistled song.
songbird
Gray Partridge
A round, orange-faced European partridge introduced to North American farm country, best known as the 'Hun' among upland game hunters, with a chestnut horseshoe mark on the male's belly.
gamebird
Evening Grosbeak
A bulky, big-billed finch with bold black, white, and gold plumage, once a common winter visitor to feeders but now sharply declining.
songbird
Grasshopper Warbler
An extremely secretive, streaked warbler best known for its bizarre, mechanical, insect-like reeling song, often compared to the sound of a fishing reel being cast.
songbird
Goliath Heron
The world's largest heron, a towering African giant with a massive chestnut head and dagger-like bill built for spearing big fish.
wading-bird
Eurasian Hoopoe
An unmistakable pinkish-brown bird with a tall erectile crest, boldly barred wings, and a long curved bill, named for its distinctive call.
other
Field Sparrow
A small, pink-billed sparrow with a plain gray face and rusty cap, known for its sweet accelerating 'bouncing ball' song.
songbird
Eastern Phoebe
A plain grayish-brown flycatcher that pumps its tail while perched and famously nests on bridges, eaves, and other man-made structures.
songbird
Eared Grebe
The most numerous grebe in the world, known for its fan-shaped golden ear plumes and mass staging at hypersaline lakes.
waterfowl
European Stonechat
A small, perky chat of gorse-covered heathland, the male showing a black head, white collar patches, and a bright orange breast, with a call like clicking stones.
songbird
Eurasian Jay
A colorful, secretive woodland corvid famous for its striking blue wing patch and habit of hoarding acorns.
songbird
Dunlin
A medium-small sandpiper with a distinctive drooped bill tip and, in breeding plumage, a bold black belly patch, often seen in large swirling flocks over mudflats.
shorebird
Galapagos Penguin
The smallest banded penguin and the only penguin species found north of the equator, confined entirely to the volcanic shores of the Galapagos Islands.
seabird
European Robin
A small, plump songbird with a bright orange-red face and breast, one of the most familiar and beloved garden birds in Europe.
songbird
European Roller
A stocky, crow-sized bird with brilliant blue plumage and a chestnut back, named for its spectacular tumbling courtship flight.
other
Gang-gang Cockatoo
A small grey cockatoo of southeastern Australia's mountain forests, with males sporting a striking scarlet, wispy-crested head.
parrot
Eastern Wood-Pewee
A quiet, olive-gray flycatcher of eastern woodlands, best known for its plaintive, slurred "pee-a-wee" song.
songbird
Eurasian Magpie
A boldly pied corvid with a long, iridescent tail, known for its intelligence and adaptability to human landscapes.
songbird
Emperor Goose
A stocky, silvery-grey goose with a scaled feather pattern, a white head and hindneck, and a strong preference for rocky Arctic and subarctic coastlines.
waterfowl
Giant Hummingbird
The largest hummingbird species in the world, a grayish-brown Andean bird nearly the size of a swallow with slow, distinctly visible wingbeats.
hummingbird
Egyptian Vulture
A small, distinctive Old World vulture with dirty-white plumage and a bare yellow face, notable for using tools to crack open eggs.
raptor
Fork-tailed Sunbird
A tiny, iridescent sunbird of southern China and Vietnam, named for the male's elongated, forked tail streamers.
songbird
Gray Flycatcher
A pale, long-tailed Empidonax flycatcher of sagebrush and pinyon-juniper country, distinguished by its habit of slowly dipping its tail downward.
songbird
Glaucous-winged Gull
A large, pale gull of the Pacific Northwest coast whose wingtips blend almost seamlessly with its gray mantle, and which frequently hybridizes with the darker Western Gull.
seabird
Dalmatian Pelican
The largest of the world's pelican species, a greyish-white giant with shaggy curled nape feathers and a striking orange-red pouch, once seriously threatened but now slowly recovering.
seabird
Eurasian Curlew
The largest wader in Europe, with a long downcurved bill and a haunting, bubbling call that echoes across moorland and estuaries alike.
shorebird