Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Lilac-breasted Roller
A dazzlingly multicolored African savanna bird famed for its acrobatic tumbling courtship flight display.
other
White-browed Robin-Chat
A large, richly colored African robin-chat prized for its loud, beautiful dawn song and bold white eyebrow stripe.
songbird
Yellow-crowned Bishop
A tiny African grassland bird whose breeding male dons a vivid golden-yellow and black plumage over marshy habitat.
songbird
Scarlet-chested Sunbird
A widespread African sunbird whose male shows a brilliant scarlet throat patch glowing against otherwise sooty-black plumage.
songbird
Marico Sunbird
A robust southern African sunbird with a broad maroon breast band and jet-black belly, common in acacia savanna and dry woodland.
songbird
Southern Red-billed Hornbill
A slender black-and-white southern African hornbill distinguished by its long, slim, bright red bill.
other
Cape Robin-Chat
A familiar southern African garden bird with an orange face and breast, grey belly, and a rich, melodious song.
songbird
Malachite Sunbird
A dazzling metallic-green sunbird of African highlands, with breeding males trailing long tail streamers as they feed on nectar-rich Proteas and aloes.
songbird
White-bellied Sunbird
A small southern African sunbird whose iridescent green head and clean white belly make it one of the easier local sunbirds to identify.
songbird
Collared Sunbird
A tiny, bright green sunbird of African forest edges, named for the narrow violet band the male wears across an otherwise yellow chest.
songbird
Purple Heron
A slender, reddish-necked relative of the Grey Heron that hides among reedbeds across Africa, Europe, and Asia.
wading-bird
Woodland Kingfisher
A vividly colored, non-aquatic African kingfisher famous for its loud trilling call from open perches.
other
Kentish Plover
A small, pale plover of Old World coasts and salt pans, the Eurasian and African counterpart of the American Snowy Plover.
shorebird
Masked Lovebird
A small East African parrot with a dark blackish-brown head, yellow collar, and a bold white eye-ring.
parrot
Fischer's Lovebird
A small East African parrot with an olive-green head, orange-red face, and a bold white eye-ring.
parrot
Egyptian Goose
A bulky, long-legged African waterfowl with a distinctive dark eye patch, chestnut breast patch, and pink legs.
waterfowl
Shoebill
An enormous, prehistoric-looking wading bird of African swamps, famous for its massive shoe-shaped bill and statue-like patience while hunting.
wading-bird
Little Bee-eater
A tiny, brilliantly colored African bee-eater with a green back, yellow throat, and black gorget, often seen perched low over grassland.
other
Violet-backed Starling
A small African starling with a striking sexual difference: males glow amethyst-violet while females are streaky brown and white.
songbird
Vulturine Guineafowl
A strikingly patterned East African gamebird with a bare vulture-like blue head and cascading cobalt-blue breast plumes.
gamebird
Red-and-yellow Barbet
A vividly patterned East African barbet with a scarlet head, black-spotted yellow underparts, and a habit of nesting in termite mounds.
other
Southern Red Bishop
A small African wetland bird whose breeding male turns a brilliant scarlet and black, nesting in dense reedbed colonies.
songbird
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
A common southern African savanna hornbill instantly recognizable by its black-and-white plumage and oversized curved yellow bill.
other
Meyer's Parrot
A widespread African savanna parrot with mostly brown-grey plumage set off by turquoise underparts and yellow shoulder patches.
parrot