Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Louisiana Waterthrush
A large, thrush-like ground warbler tied closely to clear, fast-moving forest streams, constantly bobbing its tail as it walks along the water's edge.
songbird
Little Blue Heron
A small heron of American wetlands, slate-blue as an adult but confusingly all-white as a juvenile, undergoing a mottled transition in its second year.
wading-bird
Little Wattlebird
A streaky brown-grey honeyeater with a rufous wing patch, one of Australia's larger honeyeaters, despite lacking the fleshy face wattles of its close relatives.
songbird
Great Cormorant
A large, widespread cormorant with glossy black-and-bronze plumage, a white throat patch, and a white breeding-season thigh patch, found across much of the Old World.
seabird
Indigo Bunting
A small finch-like songbird whose breeding male appears brilliant all-over blue, produced entirely by feather structure rather than blue pigment.
songbird
Great Bustard
One of the heaviest flying birds in the world, a massive steppe and farmland bird famous for the male's elaborate courtship display of inflated white plumes.
other
Dusky Grouse
A large, gray-toned interior mountain grouse whose males give a deep, far-carrying series of hoots from conifer perches during spring display.
gamebird
Garden Warbler
A deliberately plain, featureless warbler whose lack of markings is itself the best clue to its identity, best appreciated for its rich, sustained song.
songbird
Elegant Tern
A slender crested tern with a long, drooping orange bill, concentrated in enormous colonies on just a handful of islands in the Gulf of California.
seabird
Dark-eyed Junco
A small, highly variable sparrow-relative often called a "snowbird," typically dark gray or brown above with a contrasting white belly and pink bill.
songbird
European Stonechat
A small, perky chat of gorse-covered heathland, the male showing a black head, white collar patches, and a bright orange breast, with a call like clicking stones.
songbird
Chestnut-mandibled Toucan
One of the largest toucans in the Americas, with black plumage, a yellow bib, and a long bill that is mostly black above with a distinctive chestnut-brown lower mandible.
other
Common Snipe
The Eurasian counterpart to Wilson's Snipe, a cryptically striped marsh bird with a very long bill, famed for the winnowing sound of its aerial display.
shorebird
Broad-billed Motmot
A smaller forest motmot with a rufous chest and face, a green back and crown, and a broad, wide-based bill, often perching quietly low in the understorey.
other
Bearded Bellbird
A striking cotinga whose male has a brown head, white body, and a curtain of dangling black wattles, and whose loud, bell-like call carries far through the forest.
songbird
Blue Grosbeak
A stocky, deep-blue finch-like bird with rich chestnut wingbars and a heavy silver bill, favoring brushy fields across the southern and central United States.
songbird
Cassin's Kingbird
A chunky gray-headed flycatcher of southwestern oak country, best told from the similar Western Kingbird by its darker chest and raspy voice.
songbird
Common Ringed Plover
A small Eurasian plover with a single black breast band and orange legs, closely resembling its American counterpart, the Semipalmated Plover.
shorebird
Common Ground Dove
A tiny, scaly-breasted dove of the southeastern and southern US, small enough to be mistaken for a sparrow until it flushes and shows rufous flashes in the wings.
other
Wood Sandpiper
A slim, spotted Eurasian sandpiper with a bright pale eyebrow, often found in small groups around shallow freshwater marshes and flooded grassland.
shorebird
Greater Scaup
A rounded-headed diving duck of large open waters, the drake showing a glossy greenish-black head and pale gray back, closely resembling the smaller Lesser Scaup.
waterfowl
Worm-eating Warbler
A plain buffy warbler with bold black head stripes, best known for its habit of probing curled dead leaves for caterpillars rather than eating earthworms.
songbird
Variegated Fairywren
A small, colorful fairywren whose breeding males combine blue, black, and a bright chestnut shoulder patch, found widely across mainland Australia's scrub and woodland.
songbird
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