Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Black-chinned Hummingbird
A widespread western hummingbird whose males show a velvety black throat edged with a thin band of iridescent purple.
hummingbird
Bay-headed Tanager
A vividly colored tanager with a rich chestnut head and glowing turquoise-green body, common in forest canopy from Central to South America.
songbird
Black-billed Magpie
A striking black-and-white corvid with an extremely long tail and iridescent wings, common across open western rangeland.
songbird
Brewer's Sparrow
A famously plain, pale grayish sparrow of sagebrush country best known for its long, buzzy, canary-like trilling song.
songbird
Black-backed Woodpecker
A fire-following specialist woodpecker with a solid black back that thrives in recently burned conifer forests.
woodpecker
Couch's Kingbird
A south Texas specialty nearly indistinguishable from Tropical Kingbird in plumage, but recognized by its distinctive burry 'breeer' call.
songbird
Canada Jay
The official current name for the Gray Jay, a fluffy, remarkably tame boreal-forest corvid famous for hoarding food and visiting campsites.
songbird
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
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
Common Pochard
A diving duck with a rounded chestnut head, red eye, and pale grey body in the male, often seen in large rafts on open lakes.
waterfowl
Bell's Sparrow
A dark-headed California scrub sparrow, the close relative and former conspecific of the Sagebrush Sparrow.
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
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
A slender, blue-gray songbird with a long, expressive black-and-white tail, constantly flicking as it hunts tiny insects.
songbird
Bufflehead
North America's smallest diving duck, the compact drake striking with a large white patch wrapping around an iridescent black-and-purple head.
waterfowl
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 Snipe
The Eurasian counterpart to Wilson's Snipe, a cryptically striped marsh bird with a very long bill, famed for the winnowing sound of its aerial display.
shorebird
Brown-capped Rosy-Finch
A stocky pink-tinged finch of the highest Rocky Mountain peaks, found nowhere else on Earth.
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 Rosefinch
A sparrow-shaped finch whose adult males glow raspberry-red on the head and breast, best known for its cheerful, whistled song.
songbird
Bush Stone-curlew
A large, cryptic ground bird with enormous yellow eyes and an eerie, wailing call heard mostly after dark.
shorebird
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
California Scrub-Jay
A crestless, bold blue-and-gray jay of West Coast oak woodlands and suburban yards, closely tied to acorn crops.
songbird
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
Common Murre
A slender, penguin-like auk with a dark brown-black back and white underparts, breeding in dense, noisy cliff colonies.
seabird
Common Potoo
A large, cryptically patterned nocturnal bird that perches bolt upright on broken branch stubs, vanishing into the bark by day.
other
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 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
Ashy Drongo
A slate-grey drongo with a forked tail and red eyes, often seen wintering in gardens and forest edges.
songbird
Blue-fronted Amazon
A green Amazon parrot of central South America known for its bright blue forehead and variable yellow face.
parrot
Common Pauraque
A resident Rio Grande Valley nightjar often spotted along roadsides at night by its reflective red eyeshine.
other
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
Common Redpoll
A tiny, hardy arctic finch with a red cap and black chin that irrupts south to feeders in some winters.
songbird
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
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
Bald Eagle
The United States' national bird, a massive fish-eating eagle known for its white head and tail and huge wingspan.
raptor
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
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
Black-crested Titmouse
A gray titmouse of Texas woodlands, distinguished by a jaunty black crest and pale forehead.
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
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
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
Australian Magpie
A familiar, boldly black-and-white Australian bird famed for its rich, warbling song and territorial swooping during the breeding season.
songbird
Baglafecht Weaver
A common East African highland weaver with a variable black-and-yellow head pattern that differs by region.
songbird
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
Common Greenshank
The Old World counterpart of the Greater Yellowlegs, a tall gray sandpiper with long greenish legs and a distinctive upturned bill.
shorebird
Black Stork
A shy, glossy black-and-white stork of forested wetlands, far more secretive than its familiar cousin the White Stork.
wading-bird