Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Yellow-legged Gull
A large gull of the Mediterranean and western Europe, similar to the Herring Gull but with yellow legs and a darker mantle, and a rare vagrant to eastern North America.
seabird
Eurasian Bittern
A famously secretive reedbed heron known across Europe for the male's deep, foghorn-like booming call rather than for being seen.
wading-bird
Red-legged Partridge
A boldly patterned partridge with a striped black-and-white throat patch, a red bill, and red legs, native to southwestern Europe.
gamebird
Redwing
The smallest European thrush, easily told by its bold cream eyebrow stripe and warm red-orange flanks, arriving in large flocks each winter from the north.
songbird
Willow Warbler
A delicate, greenish leaf warbler best known for its sweet, descending, cascading song, one of the clearest signs of spring across much of Europe.
songbird
Eurasian Spoonbill
An elegant white wading bird with a distinctive flat, spoon-shaped black-and-yellow bill, found sweeping shallow wetlands from Europe to Asia.
wading-bird
Common Sandpiper
The Old World counterpart of the Spotted Sandpiper, a small, constantly bobbing shorebird found along rivers, streams, and lakes across Europe, Asia, and Africa.
shorebird
Common Buzzard
A broad-winged, soaring hawk of Europe and Asia with highly variable plumage, commonly seen circling over farmland and woodland edges.
raptor
Gray Partridge
A round, orange-faced European partridge introduced to North American farm country, best known as the 'Hun' among upland game hunters, with a chestnut horseshoe mark on the male's belly.
gamebird
Bonelli's Eagle
A powerful, agile eagle of Mediterranean cliffs and gorges, Bonelli's Eagle is a fast, low-flying hunter of rabbits and gamebirds across southern Europe, Africa, and Asia.
raptor
Ortolan Bunting
A warm-toned migratory bunting with a grey-green head, yellow throat, and pink-buff underparts, breeding across open, sun-baked farmland of Europe.
songbird
Common Tern
A widespread, medium-sized tern found across North America, Europe, and Asia, with a black cap, red-orange bill, and deeply forked tail typical of the group.
seabird
Little Bunting
A diminutive, chestnut-faced bunting of the far northern taiga, a scarce but regular vagrant to western Europe outside its core Siberian and Asian range.
songbird
Common Crane
A tall grey crane widespread across Europe and Asia, known for its bold black-and-white head pattern, red crown patch, and loud bugling calls given during migration.
wading-bird
Eurasian Pygmy Owl
Europe's smallest owl, a sparrow-sized predator of northern coniferous forest that hunts by day as often as by night.
owl
Rock Bunting
A boldly head-striped bunting of dry, rocky hillsides and vineyards across southern Europe's warmer, hillier terrain.
songbird
Black Woodpecker
Europe's largest woodpecker, an all-black, crow-sized bird with a striking red crown and powerful excavating bill.
woodpecker
Common Wood Pigeon
Europe's largest and most common pigeon, a plump gray bird with a white neck patch and bold white wing bars visible in flight.
other
Mistle Thrush
Europe's largest common thrush, a bold, greyish, heavily spotted bird nicknamed the 'stormcock' for singing loudly even in wild, wintry weather.
songbird
Goldcrest
One of Europe's smallest birds, a tiny olive-green sprite with a vivid black-bordered crown stripe, constantly flitting through conifer foliage.
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
Eurasian Nuthatch
A compact, blue-grey woodland bird famous for its ability to climb head-first down tree trunks, and for wedging nuts into bark crevices to hammer them open.
songbird