Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Great-tailed Grackle
A large, glossy, long-tailed blackbird with a loud, varied voice that has rapidly expanded across urban and agricultural North America.
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
Barrow's Goldeneye
A striking sea duck of western North America and Iceland, known for the male's crescent-shaped facial patch and distinctive purplish head.
waterfowl
Chuck-will's-widow
The largest nightjar in North America, renowned for its cryptic camouflage and its repetitive nocturnal call echoing through southeastern woodlands.
other
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
Great Horned Owl
A powerful, large-eared owl found across nearly every habitat in the Americas, capable of taking prey larger than itself.
owl
Common Pauraque
A master of camouflage, this widespread nocturnal nightjar of the Americas is famous for its distinctive nighttime whistling call and bright orange face patches.
other
Northern Bobwhite
A small, heavily patterned ground-dwelling quail of eastern North America, famous for its clear, whistled 'bob-white!' call.
gamebird
Savannah Sparrow
A streaky, ground-dwelling sparrow with a yellow eyebrow patch and short notched tail, widespread across open grassy habitats in North America.
songbird
Wood Duck
Renowned for its breathtakingly colorful plumage, the Wood Duck is a unique, tree-nesting waterfowl found in forested wetlands across North America.
waterfowl
Rivoli's Hummingbird
One of the largest hummingbirds in North America, Rivoli's Hummingbird dazzles with its towering size, deep purple crown, and brilliant emerald throat.
hummingbird
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
European Starling
A stocky, iridescent black songbird introduced to North America in the 1890s, known for its speckled winter plumage, versatile mimicry, and massive flocks.
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
Swainson's Thrush
A buffy-faced forest thrush known for its upward-spiraling flute-like song and heavy nocturnal migration through much of North America.
songbird
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
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
Chimney Swift
A dark, cigar-shaped aerial bird that nests almost exclusively in chimneys across eastern North America, spending nearly its entire life on the wing.
other
Willow Flycatcher
A plain, greenish-brown Empidonax flycatcher best identified by its sneezy 'fitz-bew' song, breeding in dense willow thickets across North America.
songbird
Summer Tanager
The only entirely red bird in North America, the Summer Tanager male is a rosy-red songbird known for specializing in catching and de-stinging bees and wasps.
songbird
Saltmarsh Sparrow
A tidal marsh specialist with a bright orange face and crisp streaked breast, among the most threatened songbirds in North America due to sea level rise.
songbird
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
The only hummingbird that regularly breeds in eastern North America, with males showing a brilliant iridescent ruby-red throat that can flash black in poor light.
hummingbird
Mourning Dove
A slender, soft-brown dove with a long pointed tail, one of the most abundant and widespread birds in North America, known for its mournful cooing call.
other
Eurasian Collared-Dove
A pale, sandy-gray dove with a thin black half-collar on the neck, native to Eurasia and now widely established across North America after a rapid range expansion.
other