Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Gray-cheeked Thrush
A cold gray-toned northern thrush that breeds in remote subarctic forest and passes through the US mainly as an inconspicuous migrant.
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
Emperor Penguin
The tallest and heaviest of all penguin species, famous for breeding through the brutal Antarctic winter on open sea ice.
seabird
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
Dark-eyed Junco
A small, highly variable sparrow-relative often called a "snowbird," typically dark gray or brown above with a contrasting white belly and pink bill.
songbird
Barn Owl
A pale, heart-faced owl of open farmland, famous for its ghostly white underside and near-silent, moth-like flight.
owl
Fieldfare
A striking grey-headed thrush that arrives in large, noisy flocks each winter to strip hedgerows and orchards of berries.
songbird
California Thrasher
A large, dark, long-billed thrasher endemic to California chaparral, more often heard singing than seen in its dense scrub habitat.
songbird
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
Cinnamon Teal
A western dabbling duck whose drake is unmistakable with an all-over rich cinnamon-red body and a glowing red eye.
waterfowl
Bullock's Oriole
The common western oriole, with males showing brilliant orange plumage, a bold black eyeline, and a large white wing patch.
songbird
Carolina Chickadee
A small southeastern chickadee nearly identical to the Black-capped Chickadee, best told apart by its faster four-note song.
songbird
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
Crimson Sunbird
A brilliant scarlet-and-yellow sunbird and the national bird of Singapore.
songbird
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
Brown Thrasher
A large, rich reddish-brown songbird with heavy dark streaking below and bright yellow eyes, known for an extensive repertoire of paired song phrases.
songbird
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Corn Crake
A secretive, chicken-like grassland bird best known for its rasping, far-carrying 'crex-crex' call given at night.
other
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
Black Phoebe
A sooty-black flycatcher with a crisp white belly that is almost always found perched near water, pumping its tail.
songbird
Cactus Wren
The largest North American wren, a bold, heavily spotted desert bird that nests within the spiny protection of cholla and cactus.
songbird
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
Canyon Towhee
A drab, grayish-brown desert towhee closely resembling the California Towhee but with a faint breast spot and rustier crown.
songbird
Brahminy Kite
A striking chestnut-and-white kite of coastal wetlands across South and Southeast Asia and northern Australia.
raptor
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
Bell's Vireo
A small, drab, hyperactive vireo of dense willow and mesquite thickets, known for its fast, chattering, question-and-answer song.
songbird
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
Cackling Goose
A smaller, stubby-billed look-alike of the Canada Goose, formerly considered the same species.
waterfowl
Crimson Rosella
A deep crimson-red parrot with blue cheeks and wings, common in forested and suburban parts of eastern Australia.
parrot
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
Booted Racket-tail
A tiny Andean hummingbird with fluffy white leg puffs ("boots") and, in males, long wire-thin tail streamers tipped with tiny racket-shaped flags.
hummingbird
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
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
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
Blue-crowned Conure
A large, mostly green South American parakeet named for the pale blue wash across its forehead and crown.
parrot
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
Bachman's Sparrow
A secretive southeastern sparrow of open pine savanna, celebrated for one of the most beautiful songs of any North American sparrow.
songbird
Chihuahuan Raven
A desert grassland raven, smaller than the Common Raven, with white-based neck feathers normally hidden beneath black plumage.
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
Cape Bulbul
A dark, sociable songbird endemic to South Africa's Cape region, easily recognized by its conspicuous white eye-ring.
songbird
Chinese Bulbul
A widespread East Asian bulbul with an olive-green body, a black-and-white patterned head, and a distinctive white patch behind the eye.
songbird