Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
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
Little Bee-eater
A tiny, brilliantly colored African bee-eater with a green back, yellow throat, and black gorget, often seen perched low over grassland.
other
Violet-backed Starling
A small African starling with a striking sexual difference: males glow amethyst-violet while females are streaky brown and white.
songbird
Vulturine Guineafowl
A strikingly patterned East African gamebird with a bare vulture-like blue head and cascading cobalt-blue breast plumes.
gamebird
Red-and-yellow Barbet
A vividly patterned East African barbet with a scarlet head, black-spotted yellow underparts, and a habit of nesting in termite mounds.
other
Southern Red Bishop
A small African wetland bird whose breeding male turns a brilliant scarlet and black, nesting in dense reedbed colonies.
songbird
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
A common southern African savanna hornbill instantly recognizable by its black-and-white plumage and oversized curved yellow bill.
other
Meyer's Parrot
A widespread African savanna parrot with mostly brown-grey plumage set off by turquoise underparts and yellow shoulder patches.
parrot
Black-collared Barbet
A stocky African barbet with a vivid red face and throat bordered by a black collar, famous for its synchronized duet calls.
other
Cape Weaver
The Cape Weaver is a bright yellow South African endemic songbird renowned for the male's intricately woven, hanging nest colonies.
songbird
Greater Flamingo
The largest and palest flamingo species, widespread across Africa, southern Europe, and Asia.
wading-bird
Variable Sunbird
A small, widespread East African sunbird whose male plumage pattern shifts noticeably from one region to the next, giving the species its name.
songbird
Speckled Mousebird
The Speckled Mousebird is a common African bird with a long tail and soft grey-brown plumage that scurries through foliage in acrobatic little flocks, mouse-like.
other
D'Arnaud's Barbet
An East African ground barbet with black-and-white speckled plumage, a yellow face, and a bubbling duet call, often seen bobbing near termite mounds.
other
Southern Carmine Bee-eater
A spectacular pink-and-turquoise bee-eater of southern Africa that forms enormous cliffside breeding colonies along major rivers.
other
Hooded Vulture
A small, drab, bare-faced vulture of Africa that scavenges close to towns and villages and has suffered catastrophic population declines.
raptor
Red-billed Quelea
A small, sparrow-like African weaver famous for forming the largest flocks of any wild bird species, sometimes numbering in the millions.
songbird
Red-billed Oxpecker
A specialized African bird that clings to buffalo, giraffe, and other large mammals, picking off ticks with its slender red bill.
songbird
Peach-faced Lovebird
A small, stocky African parrot with a bright peach-pink face and vivid green body, one of the most familiar lovebird species.
parrot
Pink-backed Pelican
A relatively small, drab greyish pelican of African wetlands, named for a subtle pink tinge on the back that is often difficult to see in the field.
seabird
Marabou Stork
A huge African scavenger stork with a bald pink head, massive bill, and one of the largest wingspans of any living land bird.
wading-bird
Hartlaub's Turaco
A green, forest-dwelling turaco of the East African highlands, marked by bold white facial markings and a glossy blue-black crest.
other
Goliath Heron
The world's largest heron, a towering African giant with a massive chestnut head and dagger-like bill built for spearing big fish.
wading-bird
Crested Barbet
A boldly spotted yellow, red, and black African barbet with a shaggy crest, best known for its long, monotonous trilling call.
other