Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Cliff Swallow
A colonial swallow famous for building gourd-shaped mud nests in dense clusters under bridges, eaves, and cliffs.
songbird
Black-throated Sparrow
A striking desert sparrow with a bold black throat framed by crisp white eyebrow and whisker stripes.
songbird
Maned Duck
A common Australian duck, also called the Australian Wood Duck, known for its dark maned head and its habit of grazing on grass far from water.
waterfowl
Reddish Egret
An animated, shaggy-necked coastal egret famous for its erratic, staggering 'dancing' feeding style used to startle fish into range.
wading-birdEclectus Parrot
A large rainforest parrot famous for extreme sexual dimorphism, with males bright green and females vivid red and purple.
parrot
Boat-billed Heron
A bizarre, wide-eyed nocturnal heron of Latin American swamps, instantly recognizable by its enormous broad, boat-shaped bill.
wading-bird
Townsend's Warbler
A boldly patterned warbler of Pacific Northwest conifer forests, with a black-and-yellow face pattern, dark cheek patch, and streaked yellow breast.
songbird
Verdin
A tiny, active desert songbird with a bright yellow head and a chestnut shoulder patch, famous for its bulky twig nests.
songbird
Zone-tailed Hawk
A blackish hawk that mimics the flight and silhouette of Turkey Vultures, letting it sneak up on unsuspecting prey.
raptor
Wrentit
A drab, long-tailed skulker of Pacific coastal chaparral, far more often heard than seen, with a distinctive bouncing-ball song.
songbird
Swallow-tailed Kite
An unmistakable black-and-white raptor with a deeply forked tail that glides effortlessly over southern swamps.
raptor
Swainson's Warbler
A plain, secretive brown warbler of dense southeastern thickets, more often heard than seen thanks to its loud, ringing song.
songbird
Zebra Finch
A tiny, boldly patterned Australian finch famous for its orange cheek patch, fine barring, and near-constant chattering calls.
songbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
A striking marsh blackbird with a brilliant yellow head and breast on males, forming dense breeding colonies over open water.
songbird
Yellowhammer
A vividly yellow-headed bunting of farmland hedgerows, famous for its song often rendered as "a little bit of bread and no cheese."
songbird
Willow Tit
A small, plain tit nearly identical to the Marsh Tit but with a duller matte-black cap, favoring damp woodland and willow or birch scrub.
songbird
Wilson's Plover
A stocky coastal plover named for ornithologist Alexander Wilson, easily told by its oversized, heavy black bill.
shorebird
Welcome Swallow
A glossy blue-black swallow with a rufous forehead and throat, common across Australia and long regarded as a harbinger of spring.
songbird
Rose-coloured Starling
A striking pink-and-black starling that breeds in huge, irruptive colonies often tied to outbreaks of locusts and grasshoppers.
songbird
Snail Kite
A marsh-dwelling raptor with a slender, deeply hooked bill perfectly shaped for extracting apple snails from their shells.
raptor
Russet-backed Oropendola
A large, olive-brown to russet Amazonian icterid with a pale bill, forming noisy colonies of long hanging woven nests.
songbird
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
A striking black-and-white songbird whose breeding male sports a brilliant triangular rose-red patch on the breast and a massive pale bill.
songbird
Say's Phoebe
A soft cinnamon-bellied flycatcher of open, dry western landscapes that often nests on cliffs, barns, and abandoned buildings.
songbird
Nazca Booby
A large white booby of the eastern Pacific closely related to the Masked Booby, distinguished by its bright orange-pink bill.
seabird