Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Blackburnian Warbler
A dazzling warbler with a blazing orange throat and face on breeding males, often glimpsed high in conifer treetops and nicknamed the 'firethroat.'
songbird
Willet
A plain gray-brown sandpiper that transforms in flight, flashing a bold black-and-white wing pattern unlike any other North American shorebird.
shorebird
Willie Wagtail
A small, confident black-and-white bird constantly wagging its tail from side to side, well known for its cheerful song and bold habit of mobbing much larger birds.
songbird
Varied Thrush
A striking Pacific Northwest thrush resembling a robin dressed in slate-gray and burnt orange, known for its eerie, single-note whistled song.
songbird
White-tailed Ptarmigan
The smallest North American ptarmigan and the only one found in the contiguous United States, an alpine specialist with an all-white tail in every season.
gamebird
Swallow-winged Puffbird
A distinctive puffbird with long, pointed swallow-like wings and a chestnut rump, often seen perched on riverside snags sallying for insects like a swallow.
other
Sooty Tern
A truly pelagic tern with sooty black-brown upperparts and crisp white underparts that spends most of its life on the wing far out over tropical seas.
seabird
Roseate Tern
A slender, pale tern with very long tail streamers and a faint rosy blush on the breast, prized by birders for its elegant, almost ghostly flight.
seabird
Red-headed Weaver
A distinctive African weaver with a bright red head, throat, and bill on breeding males, set off against pale grey underparts and a mixed red-and-black back.
songbird
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
A glossy black cockatoo widespread across mainland Australia, with males showing bold red tail panels and females a spotted, orange-barred pattern.
parrot
Semipalmated Sandpiper
A small, gray-brown sandpiper with a short, straight bill and partially webbed toes, famous for forming massive migratory flocks at coastal staging sites.
shorebird
New Zealand Robin
A tame, upright New Zealand forest bird, dark grey-black above with a pale belly, well known for boldly following walkers and foraging on the forest floor within easy view.
songbird
Shoebill
An enormous, prehistoric-looking wading bird of African swamps, famous for its massive shoe-shaped bill and statue-like patience while hunting.
wading-bird
Northern Wheatear
An upright, ground-loving songbird of open country, instantly recognizable in flight by its bold white rump and one of the longest migrations of any small songbird.
songbird
New Zealand Fantail
A tiny, energetic New Zealand bird best known for its wide, fan-shaped tail and its habit of following walkers through the bush to snap up disturbed insects.
songbird
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
Java Sparrow
A sleek grey-and-white estrildid finch with a bold black head, white cheek patch, and a large pink bill, native to Indonesia and widely introduced elsewhere.
songbird
Great Potoo
The largest potoo, a nocturnal bird that perches upright on bare branches by day, camouflaged as a broken stub, and gives an eerie, growling call at night.
other
Lapland Longspur
A circumpolar Arctic breeder that winters in large flocks across open fields, with striking black-faced breeding males and rusty-naped winter birds.
songbird
Long-billed Curlew
North America's largest shorebird, unmistakable for its extremely long, dramatically downcurved bill and warm cinnamon-buff plumage.
shorebird
Great Jacamar
The largest and heaviest-billed jacamar, glittering coppery-green with a chestnut belly, favoring the shaded interior of lowland rainforest.
other
Grey Crowned-Crane
A dazzling African crane with a spectacular crown of stiff golden feathers, a grey body, and vivid red and white cheek patches; the national bird of Uganda.
wading-bird
Hutton's Vireo
A plain, year-round resident vireo of western oak woodlands, easily confused with the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, with a broken white eye-ring and two wing bars.
songbird
Least Tern
The smallest tern in North America, a fast, energetic flier that nests in open sand and gravel and is especially vulnerable to disturbance and habitat loss.
seabird