Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Veery
A uniformly tawny thrush of moist woodlands, named for its breezy, downward-spiraling song of repeated "veer" notes.
songbird
Verdin
A tiny, active desert songbird with a bright yellow head and a chestnut shoulder patch, famous for its bulky twig nests.
songbird
Zebra Finch
A tiny, boldly patterned Australian finch famous for its orange cheek patch, fine barring, and near-constant chattering calls.
songbird
Yellowhammer
A vividly yellow-headed bunting of farmland hedgerows, famous for its song often rendered as "a little bit of bread and no cheese."
songbird
Willow Tit
A small, plain tit nearly identical to the Marsh Tit but with a duller matte-black cap, favoring damp woodland and willow or birch scrub.
songbird
Wilson's Plover
A stocky coastal plover named for ornithologist Alexander Wilson, easily told by its oversized, heavy black bill.
shorebird
Say's Phoebe
A soft cinnamon-bellied flycatcher of open, dry western landscapes that often nests on cliffs, barns, and abandoned buildings.
songbird
Russet-backed Oropendola
A large, olive-brown to russet Amazonian icterid with a pale bill, forming noisy colonies of long hanging woven nests.
songbird
Oilbird
A unique nocturnal, cave-dwelling fruit-eater that navigates pitch-black caverns using echolocation clicks like a bat.
other
Red-breasted Sapsucker
A Pacific coast woodpecker with an entirely crimson-red head and breast that drills neat rows of sap wells in tree bark.
woodpecker
Sprague's Pipit
A secretive, pale grassland songbird of the northern Great Plains, best known for its extraordinary high, circling flight song.
songbird
Musk Lorikeet
A small, fast-flying green lorikeet of southeastern Australia distinguished by its red face patch and namesake musky scent.
parrot
Greater Yellowlegs
A tall, elegant sandpiper with bright yellow legs and a loud, ringing alarm call that has earned it the nickname "telltale."
shorebird
Mute Swan
A large, all-white swan with an orange bill and black knob, famous for its graceful, S-curved neck and elegant presence on lakes and parks.
waterfowl
House Sparrow
A stocky, chunky-billed sparrow closely tied to human settlements, with males showing a gray crown, chestnut nape, and black bib.
songbird
Grey Partridge
A dumpy, orange-faced gamebird of open farmland, now declining sharply across much of its range due to agricultural change.
gamebird
House Wren
A small, plain brown wren with fine dark barring on the wings and tail, known for its bubbly song and readiness to nest in birdhouses.
songbird
Least Bittern
The smallest heron in North America, an elusive marsh dweller that clambers through cattails with the help of long grasping toes.
wading-bird
Eurasian Wryneck
A cryptically patterned, bark-colored relative of woodpeckers named for its ability to twist its head almost fully around.
woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
North America's smallest woodpecker, a friendly black-and-white bird with a small bill, common at backyard feeders across the continent.
woodpecker
Florida Scrub-Jay
A crestless blue-and-gray jay found nowhere in the world except Florida's rapidly shrinking scrub-oak habitat.
songbird
Gray Catbird
A slate-gray songbird with a neat black cap and a rusty patch under the tail, named for its distinctive cat-like mewing call.
songbird
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
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