Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Black-throated Trogon
A quiet lowland-forest trogon with a black face and throat, green upperparts, and a bright yellow belly.
other
Common Loon
An iconic North American lake bird famed for its striking black-and-white checkered plumage and haunting, wavering calls.
seabird
Cassin's Auklet
A small, plain sooty-gray auklet of the North Pacific that nests in burrows and forages mainly on krill and other tiny crustaceans.
seabird
Blue-headed Parrot
A stocky, short-tailed parrot with a rich blue head and neck, green body, and a bare pinkish-red patch of skin around the eye.
parrot
Bearded Bellbird
A striking cotinga whose male has a brown head, white body, and a curtain of dangling black wattles, and whose loud, bell-like call carries far through the forest.
songbird
Bank Swallow
The smallest North American swallow, brown above and white below with a crisp brown breast band, nesting colonially in burrows dug into sandy banks.
songbird
Crested Oropendola
A large, glossy black icterid with a chestnut rump, yellow outer tail feathers, and pale blue eyes, famous for its colonial hanging nests and gurgling display song.
songbird
Bridled Titmouse
A small, boldly patterned titmouse with a striking black-and-white "bridled" facial pattern, found in oak canyons of the Southwest.
songbird
Barnacle Goose
A compact black, white, and grey goose with a striking cream-white face, famous for nesting on sheer Arctic cliffs.
waterfowl
Bananaquit
A tiny, tame, constantly active nectar-feeder with a thin curved bill, gray-black upperparts, a bold white eyebrow stripe, and bright yellow underparts.
songbird
Common Greenshank
The Old World counterpart of the Greater Yellowlegs, a tall gray sandpiper with long greenish legs and a distinctive upturned bill.
shorebird
Arizona Woodpecker
The only brown-backed woodpecker found in the United States, restricted to oak canyons of southeastern Arizona and New Mexico.
woodpecker
Blue Crane
South Africa's national bird, a pale blue-grey crane with an oversized head and dark wingtip plumes that trail like a train.
wading-bird
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
A long-legged duck with a bright pink bill, chestnut body, and bold black belly that often perches in trees.
waterfowl
Baglafecht Weaver
A common East African highland weaver with a variable black-and-yellow head pattern that differs by region.
songbird
Cape May Warbler
A boldly patterned boreal warbler with a chestnut cheek patch and tiger-striped breast, whose populations boom and bust with spruce budworm outbreaks.
songbird
Common Chaffinch
One of Europe's most abundant finches, the male sporting a blue-gray crown and pink-buff breast, both sexes showing bold white wing bars.
songbird
Brandt's Cormorant
A stocky, dark cormorant of the Pacific coast known for a buffy throat patch bordered by a striking blue breeding pouch, nesting in dense colonies on coastal cliffs and islands.
seabird
Chinese Pond-Heron
A small East Asian heron that transforms from a plain streaky brown bird into a maroon-and-slate breeding beauty each spring.
wading-bird
Black Stork
A shy, glossy black-and-white stork of forested wetlands, far more secretive than its familiar cousin the White Stork.
wading-bird
Black-capped Vireo
A small vireo of Texas oak scrub with a glossy black cap, bold white spectacles, and a red eye, a conservation success story after habitat restoration and cowbird control.
songbird
Buff-tailed Coronet
An Andean hummingbird with green body plumage and a bold buffy-orange patch flashing in the wings and tail during flight.
hummingbird
Cockatiel
A small, crested Australian parrot recognized by its expressive head crest and bright orange cheek patches.
parrot
Cape Cormorant
A glossy black cormorant of the southern African coastline that forms some of the largest seabird breeding colonies in the world.
seabird
Cirl Bunting
A scarce, sedentary bunting of warm farmland, the male showing a black-and-yellow striped face and an olive breast band.
songbird
Common Swift
A sooty-brown, scythe-winged aerial specialist that spends nearly its entire life airborne, screaming past rooftops in fast, wheeling parties.
other
Common Starling
A glossy, iridescent black bird famous for its speckled winter plumage, noisy chattering song, and spectacular murmuration flocks.
songbird
Belted Kingfisher
A large, shaggy-crested, rattling-voiced kingfisher of North American waterways, in which the female is more colorful than the male.
other
Blue Grosbeak
A stocky, deep-blue finch-like bird with rich chestnut wingbars and a heavy silver bill, favoring brushy fields across the southern and central United States.
songbird
Common Whitethroat
An animated scrubland warbler with a grey head, bright white throat, and chestnut-fringed wings, often seen bursting into a brief song-flight above the hedgerow.
songbird
Common Grackle
A large, iridescent blackbird with a long keel-shaped tail and pale yellow eyes, common across eastern and central North America.
songbird
Cape Petrel
A striking black-and-white checkered petrel of the Southern Ocean, often called the Pintado Petrel, well known for following ships far from land.
seabird
Crimson-backed Tanager
A striking black tanager with a fiery crimson back and lower underparts, common in gardens and edge habitats of northern South America.
songbird
Blue-and-yellow Macaw
A large macaw with vivid sky-blue upperparts and golden-yellow underparts, found across much of tropical Central and South America.
parrot
Barrow's Goldeneye
A western diving duck closely related to the Common Goldeneye, the drake distinguished by a crescent-shaped white face patch and a steep purplish-black head.
waterfowl
Black-necked Stork
A tall, striking black-and-white stork with an iridescent black head and neck, found from South Asia to northern Australia, where it is sometimes locally called 'Jabiru.'
wading-bird
Botteri's Sparrow
A large, plain-faced grassland sparrow known for a distinctive accelerating song likened to a bouncing ball coming to a stop.
songbird
Common Cuckoo
A slender, hawk-like grey bird famous for its far-carrying call and its habit of laying eggs in the nests of other species.
other
Buff-banded Rail
A boldly barred, secretive rail with a chestnut nape and buff breast band, found skulking in wetland vegetation across Australia and the Pacific.
wading-bird
Chilean Flamingo
A pale pink South American flamingo distinguished by its gray legs with bright pink joints.
wading-bird
Bendire's Thrasher
A pale-eyed desert thrasher with a shorter, straighter bill than its relatives, and distinct arrowhead-shaped breast spots.
songbird
Arctic Loon
The Eurasian counterpart of the Pacific Loon, with a pale grey head, black throat, and a bold white flank patch visible while swimming.
seabird
Clapper Rail
A large, drab gray-brown rail of Atlantic and Gulf Coast salt marshes, best known for its harsh clattering call.
wading-bird
Chipping Sparrow
A small, slender sparrow with a bright rufous cap, black eye-line, and clean gray underparts, common in yards with conifers.
songbird
Black Swift
The largest North American swift, an all-dark bird that nests almost exclusively on cliff ledges behind or near waterfalls and in coastal sea caves.
other
Brambling
A striking orange, black, and white finch of the northern taiga that winters in flocks, often alongside chaffinches, feasting on beech mast.
songbird
California Gull
A medium-large western gull celebrated in Utah folklore for eating a devastating cricket infestation that threatened early Mormon settlers' crops.
seabird
Cape Sugarbird
A fynbos-endemic South African songbird with an extremely long tail and curved bill, closely tied to Protea flowers for nectar.
songbird