Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
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
Sharp-tailed Grouse
A pale, prairie-and-brushland grouse with a short pointed tail, best known for the male's foot-stamping dance and popping purple neck sacs on the lek.
gamebird
Whistling Kite
A pale, long-winged raptor named for its distinctive whistling call, often seen soaring lazily over open country.
raptor
Sooty Shearwater
A dark, sooty-brown shearwater famous for one of the longest annual migrations of any bird, tracing a huge figure-eight loop across entire ocean basins.
seabird
Willow Tit
A small, plain tit nearly identical to the Marsh Tit but with a duller matte-black cap, favoring damp woodland and willow or birch scrub.
songbird
New Zealand Pigeon
A large, iridescent New Zealand forest pigeon with a metallic green-bronze head and back and a pure white breast, an important disperser of seeds from large native fruiting trees.
other
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
Snow Bunting
The northernmost-breeding songbird in the world, strikingly white in summer plumage and warm rusty-brown in winter flocks.
songbird
Rifleman
New Zealand's smallest bird, a tiny, tail-less-looking green-and-brown forest bird belonging to an ancient lineage found nowhere else on Earth.
songbird
Prairie Falcon
A pale, sandy-brown falcon of the arid West, identified in flight by dark patches under the wings near the body.
raptor
Whooper Swan
A large Eurasian swan with a yellow-and-black bill and a loud, bugling voice, breeding across the far north and famed for long migratory flights.
waterfowl
Pigeon Guillemot
A dark sooty-black North Pacific auk with a white wing patch crossed by a dark wedge, and bright red feet.
seabird
Wild Turkey
North America's largest gamebird, a bronze-iridescent forest turkey famous for the male's fanned tail and booming spring gobble.
gamebird
Northern Cardinal
A brilliant all-red songbird with a prominent crest and thick orange-red bill, common at backyard feeders across the eastern and central U.S.
songbird
Yellow-crowned Amazon
A mostly green Amazon parrot of northern South America with a small patch of yellow feathers on the crown.
parrot
Red-whiskered Bulbul
A perky, crested bulbul with white cheeks, a small red "whisker" patch behind the eye, and a red vent, popular in gardens across South and Southeast Asia.
songbird
Wilson's Bird-of-paradise
A small, dazzlingly colored bird-of-paradise found only on two Indonesian islands, with a bare turquoise crown and curled violet tail wires.
songbird
Purple-crested Turaco
A glossy green forest bird of southeastern Africa with a rounded purple crest and crimson flight feathers that flash brilliantly in flight.
other
White Tern
An entirely white, ethereal tern with large dark eyes that famously balances its single egg on a bare tree branch without building any nest at all.
seabird
Spot-billed Pelican
A greyish Asian pelican named for the dark spots that appear on its bill during the breeding season, with strongholds in protected wetlands of India, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia.
seabird
Toco Toucan
The largest and most familiar toucan species, instantly recognized by its enormous bright orange bill contrasting with glossy black plumage.
other
Southern Ground Hornbill
A large, mostly ground-dwelling African hornbill with black plumage, vivid red facial skin, and deep, booming dawn calls, walking savannas in tight-knit family groups.
other
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
Solitary Sandpiper
A dark, bold-eyed sandpiper of shaded pond edges that, true to its name, is almost always seen alone rather than in flocks.
shorebird
Yellow-hooded Blackbird
A marsh-dwelling blackbird whose males show a brilliant yellow head and breast contrasting sharply with an otherwise glossy black body.
songbird
Screaming Piha
A plain gray Amazonian cotinga famous for one of the loudest, most far-carrying calls in the rainforest despite its unremarkable appearance.
songbird
Wreathed Hornbill
A large Asian hornbill with a low, corrugated casque and a bare throat pouch, colored yellow in males and blue in females, that plays a key role dispersing rainforest fruit seeds.
other
Ring-necked Pheasant
An Asian-native, farmland-loving pheasant with an iridescent green head, red face wattles, and a long pointed tail on the flashy male.
gamebird
Village Weaver
A widespread, noisy African weaver whose breeding males show a black hood, a mottled black-and-yellow back, and red eyes, best known for large, busy nesting colonies.
songbird
Sungrebe
A secretive aquatic bird best known for the male's habit of carrying chicks in skin pouches under his wings while swimming.
other
Tree Pipit
A streaky ground-feeding songbird closely resembling the Meadow Pipit, but distinguished by its habit of singing from treetops during a memorable rising and parachuting display flight.
songbird
Noisy Pitta
A brilliantly coloured, shy rainforest ground bird known for its loud 'walk-to-work' call and habit of smashing snails on rocks.
songbird
Tawny Owl
A stocky, big-headed nocturnal owl of European woodlands, best known for its familiar hooting duet.
owl
Song Thrush
A warm brown, spot-breasted garden thrush famous for smashing snail shells on favorite stone "anvils" and for its loud, repetitive song.
songbird
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
A slender, secretive woodland bird nicknamed the 'rain crow' for its habit of calling before summer storms, marked by a downcurved yellow lower bill and rufous flight feathers.
other
Royal Tern
A large, orange-billed tern of sandy beaches and estuaries, second in size only to the Caspian Tern, often seen with a shaggy black crest streaming in the wind.
seabird
Welcome Swallow
A glossy blue-black swallow with a rufous forehead and throat, common across Australia and long regarded as a harbinger of spring.
songbird
Pectoral Sandpiper
A medium-sized, long-necked sandpiper with a sharply demarcated streaked breast band, favoring wet grassy meadows over open mudflats.
shorebird
Wood Pigeon
A large, common Eurasian pigeon easily told from its relatives by the bold white patches on its neck and wings.
other
Rock Bunting
A boldly head-striped bunting of dry, rocky hillsides and vineyards across southern Europe's warmer, hillier terrain.
songbird
White-headed Woodpecker
An unmistakable pine-forest woodpecker with an all-white head set against a glossy black body.
woodpecker
Paradise Tanager
One of the most vividly multicolored birds in the Amazon, with a turquoise head, black back, sky-blue underparts, and a glowing yellow-to-red rump.
songbird
Western Bluebird
A vivid blue thrush of the West with a blue (not orange) throat, chestnut breast and shoulders, and often a chestnut patch on the back.
songbird
Summer Tanager
The only entirely red bird in North America, the Summer Tanager male is a rosy-red songbird known for specializing in catching and de-stinging bees and wasps.
songbird
Verreaux's Eagle
A large, all-black eagle of African mountains and cliffs that specializes almost exclusively in hunting rock hyraxes.
raptor
Northern Fulmar
A stocky, gull-like tube-nosed seabird of northern oceans, recognized by its stiff, straight-winged gliding flight low over the waves.
seabird
Yellow-billed Grosbeak
A stocky finch with an oversized yellow bill tipped in black, a black head (in males), and grey-brown body plumage.
songbird