Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Northern Gannet
The largest seabird in the North Atlantic, gleaming white with black wingtips and a golden-buff wash on the head, famous for spectacular high-speed plunge dives after fish.
seabird
Lesser Scaup
North America's most abundant diving duck, closely resembling the Greater Scaup but with a peaked crown and a purplish (rather than greenish) head gloss.
waterfowl
Great Hornbill
One of the largest hornbills, instantly recognizable by its massive yellow-and-black casque and deep, whooshing wingbeats audible from a distance.
other
Marbled Godwit
A large, cinnamon-buff shorebird with a long, slightly upturned bicolored bill, breeding on North American prairie wetlands and wintering along coasts.
shorebird
Greater Prairie-Chicken
A heavily barred prairie grouse famous for the male's booming courtship display, featuring orange air sacs and erect pinnae feathers on communal leks.
gamebird
McCown's Longspur
A thick-billed prairie longspur historically named for a 19th-century army officer; in 2020 the American Ornithological Society officially renamed the species Thick-billed Longspur.
songbird
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
Eurasian Wigeon
A Eurasian dabbling duck with a rich chestnut head and creamy forehead, an uncommon but regular visitor to North American coasts among flocks of American Wigeon.
waterfowl
Grasshopper Warbler
An extremely secretive, streaked warbler best known for its bizarre, mechanical, insect-like reeling song, often compared to the sound of a fishing reel being cast.
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
Barrow's Goldeneye
A western diving duck closely related to the Common Goldeneye, the drake distinguished by a crescent-shaped white face patch and a steep purplish-black head.
waterfowl
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
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
Emerald Toucanet
A small, compact toucan relative clothed almost entirely in bright green plumage, with a bicolored bill and, in many populations, a blue-tinged throat.
other
Greylag Goose
A large bulky gray-brown goose, ancestor of most domestic geese, with a heavy orange bill.
waterfowl
Tufted Duck
A compact Eurasian diving duck with a drooping head tuft, the drake strikingly patterned in black and white and occasionally found among scaup flocks in North America.
waterfowl
Yellow-throated Warbler
A gray-backed warbler with a bright yellow throat and bold black-and-white face pattern, well adapted for creeping along bark and probing pine needle clusters and Spanish moss.
songbird
Wood Duck
Widely considered one of the most strikingly colorful ducks in North America, the male wears an iridescent green-and-purple crest, chestnut breast, and bold white facial markings.
waterfowl
Wonga Pigeon
A large, plump ground-dwelling pigeon with grey upperparts, a white face and underside marked by bold black V-shaped bars, usually seen walking quietly on the forest floor.
other
Wreathed Hornbill
A large Asian hornbill with a low, corrugated casque and a bare throat pouch, colored yellow in males and blue in females, that plays a key role dispersing rainforest fruit seeds.
other
Red-faced Mousebird
The Red-faced Mousebird is a southern African species distinguished by its crimson face patch and sleek grey plumage, often seen scurrying through shrubs in small flocks.
other
Satin Bowerbird
A songbird best known for the male's glossy, satiny blue-black plumage, violet eyes, and elaborate stick bower decorated almost exclusively with blue objects to attract a mate.
songbird
Pacific Golden-Plover
A slender, long-legged golden-plover that migrates from Siberian and Alaskan tundra to a vast wintering range spanning Pacific islands, coastal Asia, and Australia.
shorebird
Northern Waterthrush
A boreal-breeding, thrush-like warbler of still-water wetlands and swamps, closely resembling Louisiana Waterthrush but favoring quieter water and showing a finely streaked throat.
songbird