Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Lesser Prairie-Chicken
A small, pale prairie grouse of the southern Great Plains, closely related to the Greater Prairie-Chicken but adapted to drier shortgrass and shrub-steppe habitat.
gamebird
Mourning Warbler
A skulking gray-hooded warbler of dense northern thickets, whose breeding males show a dark, mourning-veil-like patch on the throat and breast.
songbird
Gray Flycatcher
A pale, long-tailed Empidonax flycatcher of sagebrush and pinyon-juniper country, distinguished by its habit of slowly dipping its tail downward.
songbird
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
Sharp-tailed Grouse
A grassland grouse with a pointed tail and a spring courtship dance featuring purple neck sacs, rapid foot-stamping, and rattling tail feathers.
gamebird
Cooper's Hawk
A medium-sized woodland hawk that has become a common backyard predator at bird feeders, agile enough to chase prey through dense cover.
raptor
Sooty Grouse
A large, dark mountain grouse of the Pacific coast ranges, closely related to the Dusky Grouse and known for the male's deep hooting courtship display.
gamebird
Bohemian Waxwing
A sleek, crested, silky-plumaged bird of the northern boreal forest that erupts south in unpredictable, nomadic winter flocks to feast on berries.
songbird
Black Swift
The largest North American swift, an all-dark bird that nests almost exclusively on cliff ledges behind or near waterfalls and in coastal sea caves.
other
Western Tanager
A vivid yellow-and-black tanager of western coniferous forests, with breeding males showing a striking orange-red head produced from a diet-derived pigment.
songbird
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
The only hummingbird that regularly breeds in eastern North America, with males showing a brilliant iridescent ruby-red throat that can flash black in poor light.
hummingbird
Gray-cheeked Thrush
A cold gray-toned northern thrush that breeds in remote subarctic forest and passes through the US mainly as an inconspicuous migrant.
songbird
Mourning Dove
A slender, soft-brown dove with a long pointed tail, one of the most abundant and widespread birds in North America, known for its mournful cooing call.
other
Boat-tailed Grackle
A large, glossy coastal grackle with a distinctive keel-shaped tail and dramatic size difference between the sexes.
songbird
Brown-capped Rosy-Finch
A stocky pink-tinged finch of the highest Rocky Mountain peaks, found nowhere else on Earth.
songbird
Swainson's Warbler
A plain, secretive brown warbler of dense southeastern thickets, more often heard than seen thanks to its loud, ringing song.
songbird
Violet-green Swallow
A shimmering western swallow with an iridescent green back, violet rump, and white patches that nearly wrap around the face and flanks.
songbird
White-headed Woodpecker
An unmistakable pine-forest woodpecker with an all-white head set against a glossy black body.
woodpecker
Hoary Redpoll
A pale, frosty-looking arctic finch, closely resembling the Common Redpoll but adapted to even colder, higher-latitude habitat.
songbird
Lewis's Woodpecker
An unusually crow-like woodpecker with iridescent greenish-black plumage, a pink belly, and a habit of catching insects on the wing.
woodpecker
Eurasian Collared-Dove
A pale, sandy-gray dove with a thin black half-collar on the neck, native to Eurasia and now widely established across North America after a rapid range expansion.
other
Yellow-breasted Chat
A large, oddly proportioned warbler relative with a bright yellow breast and a bizarre, varied song of whistles, cackles, and mimicry.
songbird
Couch's Kingbird
A south Texas specialty nearly indistinguishable from Tropical Kingbird in plumage, but recognized by its distinctive burry 'breeer' call.
songbird
Painted Redstart
A striking black warbler with a bright red breast patch and bold white wing patch, common in oak canyons of the Southwest.
songbird
Red-naped Sapsucker
A western sapsucker closely resembling the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, distinguished by a red patch extending onto the nape, and closely tied to mountain aspen groves.
woodpecker
Olive Warbler
A pine-forest specialist with a tawny-orange head and black mask, now classified in its own unique family separate from true warblers.
songbird
Hammond's Flycatcher
A small, grayish Empidonax flycatcher of mature western conifer forests, often foraging high in the canopy and best identified by voice.
songbird
Whiskered Screech-Owl
A small, gray, ear-tufted owl of southwestern oak canyons, best distinguished from the similar Western Screech-Owl by its distinctive irregular-rhythm song.
owl
Thick-billed Longspur
A stocky, heavy-billed shortgrass prairie longspur, the current official name (since 2020) for the species formerly called McCown's Longspur.
songbird
Hooded Oriole
A slender, long-tailed oriole strongly associated with palm trees, with males showing bright orange-yellow plumage and a black face and bib.
songbird
Cordilleran Flycatcher
A yellowish interior-mountain flycatcher virtually identical to the Pacific-slope Flycatcher, found in shaded coniferous canyons of the Rockies and Great Basin.
songbird
Eastern Meadowlark
A grassland songbird with a bright yellow breast crossed by a bold black V and a rich, flute-like whistled song.
songbird
Greater Sage-Grouse
North America's largest grouse, an iconic sagebrush specialist known for the male's elaborate booming lek display with inflated yellow air sacs.
gamebird
Great-tailed Grackle
A large, glossy, long-tailed blackbird with a loud, varied voice that has rapidly expanded across urban and agricultural North America.
songbird
Willow Ptarmigan
A tundra grouse that turns pure white in winter and rich rufous-brown in summer, the most widespread ptarmigan species and the official bird of Alaska.
gamebird
Swainson's Thrush
A buffy-faced forest thrush known for its upward-spiraling flute-like song and heavy nocturnal migration through much of North America.
songbird
Aplomado Falcon
A slender, elegant falcon of open grasslands with a bold facial pattern and a rusty band across the belly, rare and reintroduced in the U.S.
raptor
Hepatic Tanager
A dusky, brick-red tanager of southwestern mountain pine-oak forests, named for a rich red color reminiscent of liver tissue, with a distinctive dark gray cheek patch.
songbird
Northern Flicker
A large, brown, ground-foraging woodpecker with a bold black crescent bib and a flashing white rump patch visible when it flies.
woodpecker
Bullock's Oriole
The common western oriole, with males showing brilliant orange plumage, a bold black eyeline, and a large white wing patch.
songbird
Gray Jay
A fluffy, tame boreal-forest jay, officially renamed Canada Jay, known for its curiosity around campsites and its habit of hoarding food year-round.
songbird
Bronzed Cowbird
A stocky blackbird with a distinctive ruff of neck feathers and striking red eyes that, like other cowbirds, lays its eggs in the nests of other birds.
songbird
Mountain Quail
The largest North American quail, known for its long, straight, dagger-like head plume and chestnut throat patch.
gamebird
Curve-billed Thrasher
A common, noisy desert thrasher with a long downcurved bill and orange-red eyes, often seen atop cactus in the Southwest.
songbird
Black Vulture
A stocky, all-black scavenger with a bare gray head and short, broad wings, recognized in flight by white patches near the wingtips and quick, choppy flapping.
raptor
Cerulean Warbler
A sky-blue, canopy-dwelling warbler of mature eastern forests, among the fastest-declining North American warblers due to habitat loss on both its breeding and wintering grounds.
songbird
Northern Harrier
A slim, low-flying hawk of open marshes and fields, identified by its owl-like facial disc and white rump patch.
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