Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Common Merganser
A large, sleek fish-eating duck with a slender hooked, serrated bill; breeding males have a glossy dark green head and clean white body.
waterfowl
Eastern Towhee
A striking sparrow relative with a black hood, rufous flanks, and white belly, known for its 'drink-your-tea' song and rustling leaf-litter foraging.
songbird
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
A tiny, plain-faced olive-gray songbird with a bold white eye-ring and a surprisingly loud, rollicking song from a normally hidden red crown.
songbird
Hooded Merganser
A small, striking fish-eating duck with a large fan-shaped crest, breeding males show a bold black-and-white head patch that they can raise or flatten at will.
waterfowl
Common Nighthawk
A master of aerial acrobatics, the Common Nighthawk is a cryptically patterned nightjar easily recognized by the bold white bars on its long, pointed wings as it hunts insects at dusk.
other
Hooded Warbler
A vivid yellow-faced warbler of eastern forest understory whose males wear a bold black hood, and which flashes white outer tail feathers as it flicks its tail while foraging.
songbird
Hutton's Vireo
A plain, year-round resident vireo of western oak woodlands, easily confused with the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, with a broken white eye-ring and two wing bars.
songbird
Brant
A small, dark sea goose with a black head, neck, and breast broken only by a small white neck patch, tightly tied to coastal eelgrass beds in winter.
waterfowl
Common Shelduck
A large, goose-like duck with a bold white body crossed by a broad chestnut breast band and a glossy dark green head, common along Eurasian coasts.
waterfowl
Red-breasted Merganser
A slender, crested fish-eating duck with a thin serrated bill, breeding males show a shaggy dark green head, white collar, and rusty streaked breast.
waterfowl
Nashville Warbler
A small, active warbler with a gray head, bold white eyering, olive back, and bright yellow underparts, occurring in two disjunct eastern and western breeding populations.
songbird
Canvasback
The Canvasback is a large, elegant diving duck easily recognized by its distinctive long, sloping profile and the male's striking white body, reddish-brown head, and black chest.
waterfowl
Blue-winged Warbler
A bright yellow warbler with blue-gray wings, white wingbars, and a black eyeline, whose expanding range increasingly overlaps and hybridizes with the closely related Golden-winged Warbler.
songbird
Tennessee Warbler
A plain, energetic warbler with a gray head, white eyebrow stripe, and olive back, named for a stray specimen collected in Tennessee though it neither breeds nor regularly winters there.
songbird
Golden-winged Warbler
A gray-and-white warbler with a bold golden wing patch and yellow crown, once common in shrubby eastern habitat but now steeply declining and prone to hybridizing with Blue-winged Warbler.
songbird
Osprey
A large, fish-eating hawk found near water nearly worldwide, easily known by its white underparts, dark eye-stripe, and dramatic feet-first dive for fish.
raptor
Yellow-throated Warbler
A gray-backed warbler with a bright yellow throat and bold black-and-white face pattern, well adapted for creeping along bark and probing pine needle clusters and Spanish moss.
songbird
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Nicknamed the 'rain crow,' this secretive, elegant forest bird is renowned for its distinctive guttural calls and specialized appetite for hairy caterpillars.
other
Eastern Phoebe
A plain grayish-brown flycatcher that pumps its tail while perched and famously nests on bridges, eaves, and other man-made structures.
songbird
Red-winged Blackbird
A glossy black marsh bird whose males display bold red-and-yellow shoulder patches while perched and singing atop cattails.
songbird
American Redstart
An acrobatic warbler often called 'the butterfly bird' for its habit of fanning bold orange or yellow tail and wing patches while flushing insects.
songbird
Black-chinned Hummingbird
A highly adaptable western hummingbird famous for the male's velvet-black throat and glittering violet collar, often seen pumping its tail while feeding.
hummingbird
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
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