Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Dark-eyed Junco
A small, highly variable sparrow-relative often called a "snowbird," typically dark gray or brown above with a contrasting white belly and pink bill.
songbird
Tufted Duck
A small diving duck of Eurasia, easily recognized by the male's striking black-and-white plumage, bright yellow eyes, and distinct hanging crest or 'tuft'.
waterfowl
Fish Crow
A smaller, coastal cousin of the American Crow best told apart by its distinctive nasal, two-note call.
songbird
Grace's Warbler
A gray-backed warbler of southwestern pine forests with a yellow throat and supercilium, resembling a smaller-scale Yellow-throated Warbler adapted to high pine canopy.
songbird
Black-throated Blue Warbler
A strikingly two-toned warbler; males are deep slate-blue above and jet-black below with a white belly, while females are plain brownish-olive with a small white wing spot.
songbird
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
Whiskered Screech-Owl
A small, gray, ear-tufted owl of southwestern oak canyons, best distinguished from the similar Western Screech-Owl by its distinctive irregular-rhythm song.
owl
Nashville Warbler
A small, active warbler with a gray head, bold white eyering, olive back, and bright yellow underparts, occurring in two disjunct eastern and western breeding populations.
songbird
Indigo Bunting
A small finch-like songbird whose breeding male appears brilliant all-over blue, produced entirely by feather structure rather than blue pigment.
songbird
Hairy Woodpecker
A medium-sized black-and-white woodpecker closely resembling the smaller Downy Woodpecker but with a proportionally much longer, chisel-like bill.
woodpecker
Chihuahuan Raven
A desert grassland raven, smaller than the Common Raven, with white-based neck feathers normally hidden beneath black plumage.
songbird
Black-capped Vireo
A small vireo of Texas oak scrub with a glossy black cap, bold white spectacles, and a red eye, a conservation success story after habitat restoration and cowbird control.
songbird
Bicknell's Thrush
A rare, high-elevation thrush of northeastern mountaintop spruce forests, nearly identical to Gray-cheeked Thrush but with a much smaller, more threatened range.
songbird
Calliope Hummingbird
The smallest bird in North America north of Mexico, famous for the male's spectacular magenta-striped throat and its remarkable high-altitude migration.
hummingbird
Common Poorwill
The smallest North American nightjar, famous for its ability to enter a prolonged state of torpor to survive cold winters.
other
Bank Swallow
The smallest North American swallow, brown above and white below with a crisp brown breast band, nesting colonially in burrows dug into sandy banks.
songbird
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
Green-winged Teal
The smallest dabbling duck in North America, renowned for its agile flight, the male's striking green head stripe, and its brilliant green speculum.
waterfowl
Green-tailed Towhee
A shy, olive-green towhee with a rufous cap and white throat, the smallest and most colorful of the towhees.
songbird
Elf Owl
The world's smallest owl, a sparrow-sized desert dweller that nests in old woodpecker holes in saguaro cacti.
owl
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
Lesser Goldfinch
The smallest North American goldfinch, a bright yellow-and-black finch of western gardens, scrub, and open woods.
songbird
White-tailed Ptarmigan
The smallest North American grouse, a hardy alpine specialist and the only ptarmigan with an all-white tail in every season.
gamebird
Least Flycatcher
The smallest and most vocal of the eastern Empidonax flycatchers, easily located by its emphatic, repetitive 'che-BEK' call.
songbird