Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Diamond Dove
A tiny Australian dove named for the scattering of white, diamond-like spots across its grey wings.
other
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
Flammulated Owl
A tiny, dark-eyed, migratory owl of western pine forests whose deep, ventriloquial hoot belies its diminutive size.
owl
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
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
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
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
Black-capped Chickadee
A small, energetic bird with a black cap and bib, white cheeks, and gray back, known for its cheerful "chick-a-dee-dee" call.
songbird
Corn Crake
A secretive, chicken-like grassland bird best known for its rasping, far-carrying 'crex-crex' call given at night.
other
Carolina Chickadee
A small southeastern chickadee nearly identical to the Black-capped Chickadee, best told apart by its faster four-note song.
songbird
Fieldfare
A striking grey-headed thrush that arrives in large, noisy flocks each winter to strip hedgerows and orchards of berries.
songbird
Eurasian Oystercatcher
A boldly pied black-and-white shorebird with a long orange bill and pink legs, common on European coasts and estuaries.
shorebird
Cassin's Vireo
A western vireo with a subdued gray-green head, white spectacles, and pale yellow flanks, once lumped with Blue-headed and Plumbeous Vireo as the 'Solitary Vireo.'
songbird
Franklin's Gull
A small, dapper prairie-nesting gull, sometimes called the 'prairie dove,' that undertakes one of the longest migrations of any gull, wintering along the Pacific coast of South America.
seabird
Black Phoebe
A sooty-black flycatcher with a crisp white belly that is almost always found perched near water, pumping its tail.
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
Bicolored Antbird
A plain rufous-brown antbird with a white throat and bare blue facial skin, one of the classic obligate army-ant followers of Central American forests.
songbird
Common Wood Pigeon
Europe's largest and most common pigeon, a plump gray bird with a white neck patch and bold white wing bars visible in flight.
other
Black-crowned Night-Heron
A stocky, thick-necked heron active mainly at dusk and night, with a glossy black crown and back, pale grey wings, and striking red eyes.
wading-bird
Canyon Towhee
A drab, grayish-brown desert towhee closely resembling the California Towhee but with a faint breast spot and rustier crown.
songbird
Chestnut-mandibled Toucan
One of the largest toucans in the Americas, with black plumage, a yellow bib, and a long bill that is mostly black above with a distinctive chestnut-brown lower mandible.
other
Brown-headed Cowbird
A brood-parasitic blackbird whose glossy brown head contrasts with the male's black body, famous for laying eggs in other birds' nests.
songbird
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch
A pink-washed alpine finch of high mountain tundra, with a gray patch on the back of the head that gives the species its name.
songbird
Crimson Rosella
A deep crimson-red parrot with blue cheeks and wings, common in forested and suburban parts of eastern Australia.
parrot
Bullock's Oriole
The common western oriole, with males showing brilliant orange plumage, a bold black eyeline, and a large white wing patch.
songbird
Common Redstart
A brightly colored migratory chat of open woodland, the male showing a grey back, black face, and fiery orange breast and tail, constantly quivering its rufous tail.
songbird
Australasian Figbird
A stocky oriole relative with a patch of bare red or pink skin around the eye; males show a grey head and olive-green body, while females are streaky brown, and both gather in noisy flocks at fruiting fig trees.
songbird
Blue-crowned Conure
A large, mostly green South American parakeet named for the pale blue wash across its forehead and crown.
parrot
Chukar
A bold, boldly barred Eurasian partridge introduced to the arid, rocky western United States, known for its distinctive black facial necklace and cackling call echoing across canyon terrain.
gamebird
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
Brahminy Kite
A striking chestnut-and-white kite of coastal wetlands across South and Southeast Asia and northern Australia.
raptor
Cinnamon Teal
A western dabbling duck whose drake is unmistakable with an all-over rich cinnamon-red body and a glowing red eye.
waterfowl
Blue-crowned Trogon
A South American trogon with a green head washed in blue on the crown, a black facial mask, and a yellow belly.
other
Cattle Egret
A stocky, short-necked white egret closely associated with grazing livestock, whose remarkable natural range expansion made it one of the most successful bird colonizations in modern history.
wading-bird
Audubon's Oriole
A secretive yellow-and-black oriole with a full black hood, found in the United States only in the dense brushlands of the lower Rio Grande Valley.
songbird
Bell's Vireo
A small, drab, hyperactive vireo of dense willow and mesquite thickets, known for its fast, chattering, question-and-answer song.
songbird
Cape Bulbul
A dark, sociable songbird endemic to South Africa's Cape region, easily recognized by its conspicuous white eye-ring.
songbird
Chestnut-eared Bunting
A bunting with a rich chestnut ear patch, a grey crown, and a necklace of dark streaks across a pale, buffy breast.
songbird
Connecticut Warbler
A large, chunky, notoriously secretive warbler with a bold white eyering, long legs, and a walking gait, breeding in remote boreal bogs and rarely seen well.
songbird
Cackling Goose
A smaller, stubby-billed look-alike of the Canada Goose, formerly considered the same species.
waterfowl
Common Yellowthroat
A skulking marsh warbler with a bright yellow throat, best known for the male's bold black facial mask and witchety-witchety-witchety song.
songbird
Cooper's Hawk
A medium-sized woodland hawk that has become a common backyard predator at bird feeders, agile enough to chase prey through dense cover.
raptor
Brown-headed Nuthatch
A tiny brown-capped nuthatch of southeastern pine forests, notable as one of the few birds known to use tools.
songbird
Broad-winged Hawk
A compact eastern forest hawk famous for gathering by the thousands into swirling migratory "kettles" each fall.
raptor
Australian Owlet-nightjar
A small, big-eyed nocturnal bird with soft grey-brown mottled plumage and whisker-like facial bristles, often seen peering from a tree hollow entrance by day.
other
D'Arnaud's Barbet
An East African ground barbet with black-and-white speckled plumage, a yellow face, and a bubbling duet call, often seen bobbing near termite mounds.
other
Australian Pelican
A large black-and-white pelican with the longest bill of any bird in the world, wandering widely across Australia's inland waterways in response to rainfall and flooding.
seabird
Blue-faced Honeyeater
A large, bold honeyeater with vivid turquoise-blue bare skin around the eye set against a black-and-white head and olive-green back.
songbird