Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Brewer's Sparrow
A famously plain, pale grayish sparrow of sagebrush country best known for its long, buzzy, canary-like trilling song.
songbird
Black-hooded Oriole
A vivid golden-yellow oriole with a solid black hood and black-and-yellow wings, often heard before it is seen in leafy canopy.
songbird
Couch's Kingbird
A south Texas specialty nearly indistinguishable from Tropical Kingbird in plumage, but recognized by its distinctive burry 'breeer' call.
songbird
Arctic Tern
A slender, graceful tern famous for undertaking the longest migration of any animal, traveling from Arctic breeding grounds to Antarctic waters and back each year.
seabird
Chestnut-collared Longspur
A shortgrass prairie specialist whose breeding male shows black underparts, a chestnut collar, and a striking black-and-white tail pattern.
songbird
Australian Ringneck
A widespread, variably colored Australian parrot identified by the narrow yellow band across its hindneck.
parrot
Bewick's Wren
A slender, long-tailed wren with a bold white eyebrow, known for its varied song and once-widespread eastern range now largely lost.
songbird
Black-backed Woodpecker
A fire-following specialist woodpecker with a solid black back that thrives in recently burned conifer forests.
woodpecker
Boreal Owl
A small, elusive owl of northern boreal forests with a squarish facial disc and a soft, high-pitched song heard mostly on cold winter nights.
owl
Bar-tailed Godwit
A long-billed godwit famous for making the longest recorded nonstop migratory flights of any bird, connecting Arctic breeding grounds with wintering coasts across the Old World and Australasia.
shorebird
Bewick's Swan
The Eurasian counterpart of the Tundra Swan, a compact white swan with a rounded yellow-and-black bill pattern that is unique to each individual.
waterfowl
Capped Heron
A pale, elegant heron with a black cap, blue facial skin, and creamy-buff plumage found around South American wetlands.
wading-bird
Black Drongo
A glossy black, red-eyed bird with a deeply forked tail, famous for fearlessly mobbing crows and raptors.
songbird
Bush Stone-curlew
A large, cryptic ground bird with enormous yellow eyes and an eerie, wailing call heard mostly after dark.
shorebird
Baltimore Oriole
A brilliant flame-orange and black songbird of eastern North America, named for the heraldic colors of Lord Baltimore, known for its hanging pouch nest.
songbird
Blue-fronted Amazon
A green Amazon parrot of central South America known for its bright blue forehead and variable yellow face.
parrot
Common Murre
A slender, penguin-like auk with a dark brown-black back and white underparts, breeding in dense, noisy cliff colonies.
seabird
Black-tailed Godwit
A long-legged, long-billed godwit of European wet meadows, easily identified in flight by its bold white wing stripe and black tail band.
shorebird
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
A slender, blue-gray songbird with a long, expressive black-and-white tail, constantly flicking as it hunts tiny insects.
songbird
California Scrub-Jay
A crestless, bold blue-and-gray jay of West Coast oak woodlands and suburban yards, closely tied to acorn crops.
songbird
Costa's Hummingbird
A desert-dwelling hummingbird whose male sports a vivid violet-purple crown and gorget extended into flared mustache-like streamers.
hummingbird
Australian Wood Duck
A distinctive grey-brown duck with a dark chocolate head and small mane, more often seen grazing on grass than swimming.
waterfowl
Boreal Chickadee
A brown-capped chickadee of the northern boreal forest, quieter and less familiar than its black-capped relative.
songbird
Common Moorhen
A dark waterbird with a red-and-yellow bill and a white flank stripe, often seen jerking its head and flicking its tail while swimming.
wading-bird
California Towhee
A plain, uniformly brown towhee with a rusty undertail, common in California backyards and known for its sharp metallic chip call.
songbird
Common Potoo
A large, cryptically patterned nocturnal bird that perches bolt upright on broken branch stubs, vanishing into the bark by day.
other
Brown-capped Rosy-Finch
A stocky pink-tinged finch of the highest Rocky Mountain peaks, found nowhere else on Earth.
songbird
Black-browed Albatross
The most abundant and widespread albatross species, easily identified by the bold dark stripe through its eye and its yellow-orange bill.
seabird
Common Rosefinch
A sparrow-shaped finch whose adult males glow raspberry-red on the head and breast, best known for its cheerful, whistled song.
songbird
Black-legged Kittiwake
A true oceanic gull that spends most of its life far from land, breeding in dense, noisy colonies on sheer sea cliffs and named for its distinctive 'kitti-waaake' call.
seabird
Bald Eagle
The United States' national bird, a massive fish-eating eagle known for its white head and tail and huge wingspan.
raptor
Ashy Drongo
A slate-grey drongo with a forked tail and red eyes, often seen wintering in gardens and forest edges.
songbird
Bull-headed Shrike
A compact, big-headed predatory songbird with a rufous crown, black mask, and hooked bill, known for impaling prey on thorns.
songbird
Common Pauraque
A resident Rio Grande Valley nightjar often spotted along roadsides at night by its reflective red eyeshine.
other
Clark's Grebe
A large, pale grebe closely resembling the Western Grebe, distinguished by a brighter orange bill and white plumage encircling the eye.
waterfowl
Common Redpoll
A tiny, hardy arctic finch with a red cap and black chin that irrupts south to feeders in some winters.
songbird
Broad-billed Motmot
A smaller forest motmot with a rufous chest and face, a green back and crown, and a broad, wide-based bill, often perching quietly low in the understorey.
other
Black-collared Barbet
A stocky African barbet with a vivid red face and throat bordered by a black collar, famous for its synchronized duet calls.
other
Chuck-will's-widow
The largest nightjar in North America, best known for its far-carrying, repetitive nighttime call that gives the bird its name.
other
Crested Caracara
A bold, long-legged raptor with a black cap and bare orange face, often seen walking on the ground scavenging alongside vultures.
raptor
Cory's Shearwater
A large, gull-like shearwater of the Atlantic Ocean, with brownish-grey upperparts, a yellowish bill, and a slow, languid flight low over the waves.
seabird
Black-crested Titmouse
A gray titmouse of Texas woodlands, distinguished by a jaunty black crest and pale forehead.
songbird
Australian King Parrot
A large, long-tailed parrot of eastern Australian forests, with males sporting a brilliant scarlet head and underparts against a green back.
parrot
Common Kingfisher
A vivid jewel-toned kingfisher with electric-blue upperparts and orange underparts, often glimpsed as a flash of color over slow-moving rivers and ponds.
other
Cerulean Warbler
A sky-blue, canopy-dwelling warbler of mature eastern forests, among the fastest-declining North American warblers due to habitat loss on both its breeding and wintering grounds.
songbird
Australian Magpie
A familiar, boldly black-and-white Australian bird famed for its rich, warbling song and territorial swooping during the breeding season.
songbird
Barred Owl
A large, dark-eyed forest owl known for its distinctive 'who-cooks-for-you' call and vertically streaked belly.
owl
Bee Hummingbird
The world's smallest bird, a Cuban hummingbird barely larger than a large insect, with the breeding male sporting an iridescent rose-pink head and throat.
hummingbird