Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Gyrfalcon
The largest falcon in the world, a powerful Arctic hunter that ranges from pure white to dark slate-gray in color.
raptor
Say's Phoebe
A soft cinnamon-bellied flycatcher of open, dry western landscapes that often nests on cliffs, barns, and abandoned buildings.
songbird
American Kestrel
North America's smallest and most colorful falcon, often seen perched on wires hunting insects and small rodents.
raptor
Wild Turkey
North America's largest gamebird, an iridescent bronze-and-green forest turkey famous for the male's fan-tailed strut and gobbling call.
gamebird
Painted Bunting
Often called the most colorful bird in North America, the male Painted Bunting displays an almost impossibly vivid patchwork of blue, green, and red.
songbird
Gray Partridge
A round, orange-faced partridge of open farm country, introduced to North America from Europe, with a distinctive chestnut horseshoe mark on the male's belly.
gamebird
Arizona Woodpecker
The only brown-backed woodpecker found in the United States, restricted to oak canyons of southeastern Arizona and New Mexico.
woodpecker
Cassin's Kingbird
A chunky gray-headed flycatcher of southwestern oak country, best told from the similar Western Kingbird by its darker chest and raspy voice.
songbird
Peregrine Falcon
The fastest animal on Earth, this powerful falcon stoops on other birds at speeds exceeding 300 km/h (200 mph).
raptor
Montezuma Quail
A round, secretive quail of southwestern oak woodlands, with a bold black-and-white harlequin facial pattern on males.
gamebird
White-tailed Hawk
A striking pale-headed hawk of coastal Texas prairies, sometimes seen gathering at grass fires to catch fleeing prey.
raptor
Common Merganser
A large, sleek fish-eating duck with a slender hooked, serrated bill; breeding males have a glossy dark green head and clean white body.
waterfowl
Hermit Thrush
A quietly spotted thrush known for its reddish tail, habit of slowly raising and lowering it, and hauntingly beautiful song.
songbird
Gilded Flicker
A large, desert-dwelling flicker with golden-yellow underwings that nests in the towering saguaro cactus.
woodpecker
Bobolink
A grassland songbird famous for the breeding male's striking black-and-white "backward tuxedo" plumage and one of the longest migrations of any North American songbird.
songbird
Red-headed Woodpecker
A striking, boldly patterned woodpecker with an entirely crimson head and a strongly contrasting black-and-white body, now declining across much of its range.
woodpecker
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
A plain brown swallow that nests in burrows in dirt banks, distinguished from other swallows by its uniform pale throat and lack of a breast band.
songbird
Mountain Chickadee
A gray-and-black chickadee of western mountain conifer forests, distinguished by a bold white eyebrow stripe.
songbird
Townsend's Solitaire
A slim, gray, upright thrush relative famous for defending juniper berry territories in winter and singing a long, warbling song.
songbird
Pileated Woodpecker
North America's largest common woodpecker, a crow-sized, mostly black bird with a flaming red crest, famous for excavating large rectangular holes in dead trees.
woodpecker
Orchard Oriole
The smallest North American oriole, with adult males showing a deep chestnut-and-black plumage rather than the bright orange of most other orioles.
songbird
Mexican Chickadee
A high-elevation Mexican chickadee that barely reaches the United States in the mountains of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.
songbird
Ferruginous Hawk
The largest North American buteo, a pale, rusty-shouldered hawk of the open western prairie and shrub-steppe.
raptor
Black-backed Woodpecker
A fire-following specialist woodpecker with a solid black back that thrives in recently burned conifer forests.
woodpecker
Hooded Merganser
A small, striking fish-eating duck with a large fan-shaped crest, breeding males show a bold black-and-white head patch that they can raise or flatten at will.
waterfowl
Chihuahuan Raven
A desert grassland raven, smaller than the Common Raven, with white-based neck feathers normally hidden beneath black plumage.
songbird
Ross's Goose
A small, compact white goose with black wingtips and a short, stubby bill, essentially a miniature version of the Snow Goose.
waterfowl
Harris's Hawk
A dark chocolate-brown desert hawk famous for hunting cooperatively in family groups, unlike almost any other raptor.
raptor
Red-eyed Vireo
A tireless singer of eastern and northern forests, nicknamed the 'preacher bird' for its endless repeated phrases, with a gray cap, white eyebrow, and red eye.
songbird
Lapland Longspur
A circumpolar Arctic breeder that winters in large flocks across open fields, with striking black-faced breeding males and rusty-naped winter birds.
songbird
Canada Goose
A large, familiar goose with a black head and neck, white chinstrap, and brown body, widespread across North America in a huge range of habitats.
waterfowl
Cliff Swallow
A colonial swallow famous for building gourd-shaped mud nests in dense clusters under bridges, eaves, and cliffs.
songbird
Sage Grouse
The largest grouse in North America, an obligate sagebrush specialist famous for the male's booming lek display with inflated yellow air sacs.
gamebird
California Condor
North America's largest flying land bird, an enormous black scavenger with a naked orange-pink head, brought back from the brink of extinction through intensive captive breeding.
raptor
Gray Vireo
A plain, uniformly gray, tail-flicking vireo of arid pinyon-juniper and chaparral country in the desert Southwest.
songbird
Clark's Nutcracker
A pale gray high-mountain corvid famous for caching tens of thousands of pine seeds each year and for its remarkable spatial memory.
songbird
Philadelphia Vireo
The smallest eastern vireo, with a yellow-washed underside and dark eye line, breeding in northern second-growth woodlands and often confused with Warbling Vireo and Tennessee Warbler.
songbird
Nuttall's Woodpecker
A small black-and-white woodpecker nearly endemic to California, closely tied to oak woodland and streamside groves.
woodpecker
Ruddy Duck
A small, compact diving duck with a stiff, often cocked-up tail; breeding males show a rich chestnut body and a striking bright blue bill.
waterfowl
American Crow
A highly intelligent, all-black corvid famous for its adaptability, problem-solving, and complex social behavior.
songbird
Ruddy Shelduck
A large, warm orange-brown duck with a paler head, often seen in pairs on open lakes and rivers across Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Europe.
waterfowl
Fish Crow
A smaller, coastal cousin of the American Crow best told apart by its distinctive nasal, two-note call.
songbird
Greylag Goose
A large, bulky pale gray-brown goose with a stout pink or orange bill, the wild ancestor of most domestic geese and widespread across Eurasia.
waterfowl
Purple Martin
North America's largest swallow, a glossy blue-black aerial insectivore whose eastern population now nests almost entirely in birdhouses provided by people.
songbird
Bar-headed Goose
A pale gray goose with two bold black bars across the back of a white head, famous for migrating at extreme altitudes over the Himalayas.
waterfowl
Dickcissel
A grassland songbird resembling a small meadowlark, with breeding males showing a yellow breast, black bib, and a name derived from its buzzy, insect-like song.
songbird
Long-tailed Duck
A small, elegant Arctic sea duck with a uniquely long, slender tail in males and a complex seasonal plumage that changes more than almost any other duck.
waterfowl
Golden Eagle
A massive, powerful eagle of open western landscapes, dark brown overall with golden feathering on the back of the head and neck.
raptor