Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Australian Owlet-nightjar
A small, big-eyed nocturnal bird with soft grey-brown mottled plumage and whisker-like facial bristles, often seen peering from a tree hollow entrance by day.
other
Australian Pelican
A large black-and-white pelican with the longest bill of any bird in the world, wandering widely across Australia's inland waterways in response to rainfall and flooding.
seabird
Bank Myna
A pale bluish-grey myna with an orange bare-skin eye patch, common around towns and riverbanks of the Indian subcontinent, where it nests in burrows in earthen banks.
songbird
Common Redshank
A medium-sized, noisy sandpiper of European wetlands, nicknamed "the warden of the marshes" for its loud alarm calls, and easily told by its bright orange-red legs.
shorebird
Common Sandpiper
The Old World counterpart of the Spotted Sandpiper, a small, constantly bobbing shorebird found along rivers, streams, and lakes across Europe, Asia, and Africa.
shorebird
Black-legged Kittiwake
A true oceanic gull that spends most of its life far from land, breeding in dense, noisy colonies on sheer sea cliffs and named for its distinctive 'kitti-waaake' call.
seabird
Caspian Tern
The largest tern in the world, a gull-sized bird with a massive coral-red bill and a harsh, crow-like call, found on coasts and large lakes across every continent except Antarctica.
seabird
Brown-crested Flycatcher
The largest of the North American Myiarchus flycatchers, a bushy-crested, cavity-nesting bird of desert washes and saguaro country with a rolling 'whit-will-do' call.
songbird
Bobolink
A grassland songbird famous for the breeding male's striking black-and-white "backward tuxedo" plumage and one of the longest migrations of any North American songbird.
songbird
African Harrier-Hawk
A grey African raptor famed for its unusually flexible, double-jointed legs, which let it reach deep into tree holes and weaver-bird nests to extract prey.
raptor
African Fish Eagle
A striking white-headed, chestnut-bodied eagle found near lakes and rivers across sub-Saharan Africa, celebrated for its unmistakable, far-carrying call.
raptor
Malachite Sunbird
A dazzling metallic-green sunbird of African highlands, with breeding males trailing long tail streamers as they feed on nectar-rich Proteas and aloes.
songbird
Tui
An iridescent, dark New Zealand honeyeater with a distinctive white throat tuft, famed for its extraordinarily varied, bell-like and mechanical song.
songbird
White Stork
The iconic white-and-black European stork with a long red bill and legs, famous for nesting on rooftops and chimneys and for its folklore association with delivering babies.
wading-bird
Variable Oystercatcher
A coastal New Zealand shorebird with a long, chisel-like orange-red bill, notable for its variable plumage ranging from fully black to a pied black-and-white form.
shorebird
Wattled Jacana
A chestnut-and-black marsh bird with extraordinarily long toes that let it walk across floating lily pads, notable for its role-reversed breeding system.
wading-bird
Three-wattled Bellbird
A Central American cotinga whose male sports three long, worm-like black wattles dangling from the base of the bill and delivers an explosive, far-carrying call.
songbird
Whitehead
A small, sociable North Island endemic songbird with a plain grey-brown body and a distinctive whitish head, usually encountered in noisy, active foraging flocks.
songbird
Toco Toucan
The largest and most familiar toucan species, instantly recognized by its enormous bright orange bill contrasting with glossy black plumage.
other
Waved Albatross
The only albatross species found in the tropics, breeding almost exclusively on a single Galapagos island and famous for its elaborate bill-fencing courtship dance.
seabird
Red-headed Woodpecker
A striking, boldly patterned woodpecker with an entirely crimson head and a strongly contrasting black-and-white body, now declining across much of its range.
woodpecker
Ornate Hawk-Eagle
A powerful, crested forest eagle with a striking black-and-rufous head pattern and boldly barred underparts, a top predator of the Neotropical canopy.
raptor
Rough-legged Hawk
A large arctic-breeding hawk with feathered legs, seen across open fields and marshes farther south in winter, known for its habit of hovering while hunting.
raptor
Red-crowned Crane
A rare, exceptionally elegant East Asian crane with mostly white plumage, a black neck, and a small patch of bare red skin on the crown, revered as a symbol of luck and longevity.
wading-bird