Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
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
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
Turkey Vulture
A large, dark scavenger with a naked red head and a distinctive tilting, V-shaped soaring flight, famed for its exceptional sense of smell.
raptor
White-throated Kingfisher
A vividly colored kingfisher with turquoise-blue upperparts, a chocolate-brown head, and a bright white throat, often seen far from water.
other
Western Screech-Owl
A small, tufted owl of the West, closely resembling its eastern counterpart but told apart by range and a distinctive accelerating call.
owl
Tundra Swan
A medium-sized white swan of the Arctic tundra, often showing a small yellow spot near the bill, that winters in large flocks on coastal wetlands.
waterfowl
Western Grebe
A large, elegant black-and-white grebe with a long swan-like neck, famous for its dramatic rushing courtship dance across the water.
waterfowl
Yellow-breasted Chat
A large, oddly proportioned warbler relative with a bright yellow breast and a bizarre, varied song of whistles, cackles, and mimicry.
songbird
Yellow-hooded Blackbird
A marsh-dwelling blackbird whose males show a brilliant yellow head and breast contrasting sharply with an otherwise glossy black body.
songbird
Whiskered Tern
A marsh tern with dark grey underparts, a black cap, and a crisp white cheek stripe that gives it a distinctive 'whiskered' face pattern.
seabird
Whooper Swan
A large Eurasian swan with a yellow-and-black bill and a loud, bugling voice, breeding across the far north and famed for long migratory flights.
waterfowl
Wild Turkey
North America's largest gamebird, a bronze-iridescent forest turkey famous for the male's fanned tail and booming spring gobble.
gamebird
Swainson's Hawk
A long-winged prairie hawk famous for one of the longest migrations of any North American raptor, traveling all the way to the pampas of Argentina.
raptor
Swallow Tanager
A short-billed, swallow-shaped tanager, with turquoise-blue males and grass-green females, that hawks insects on the wing and nests in burrows.
songbird
White-plumed Honeyeater
A small olive-yellow honeyeater with a slender white crescent-shaped plume on the side of the neck, common near inland rivers and eucalypts.
songbird
Southern Carmine Bee-eater
A spectacular pink-and-turquoise bee-eater of southern Africa that forms enormous cliffside breeding colonies along major rivers.
other
Scarlet-chested Sunbird
A widespread African sunbird whose male shows a brilliant scarlet throat patch glowing against otherwise sooty-black plumage.
songbird
Spinifex Pigeon
A small, richly cinnamon-colored ground pigeon of arid spinifex country, with a tall pointed crest and bold red-and-black facial markings.
other
Quaker Parrot
A grey-faced South American parakeet uniquely known for building large communal stick nests rather than nesting in tree cavities.
parrot
Red-faced Warbler
An unmistakable warbler with a brilliant red face and throat set against a gray body, found in high mountain forests of the Southwest.
songbird
Oriental Stork
A large East Asian stork closely related to the White Stork, distinguished by its black bill and endangered status due to wetland habitat loss.
wading-bird
Powerful Owl
Australia's largest owl, a massive nocturnal predator of eastern forests that feeds almost exclusively on possums and gliders.
owl
Ringed Kingfisher
The largest kingfisher in the Americas, easily recognized by its massive size, heavy bill, and entirely rufous-chestnut underparts.
other
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
A tiny, plain-faced olive-gray songbird with a bold white eye-ring and a surprisingly loud, rollicking song from a normally hidden red crown.
songbird