Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Dovekie
The smallest North Atlantic auk, a plump black-and-white seabird that breeds in huge Arctic cliff colonies and winters at sea, often near pack ice.
seabird
Lesser Whitethroat
A neat, grey-toned warbler distinguished from its cousin the Common Whitethroat by a darker face mask and a distinctive, unmusical rattling song.
songbird
Yellow-billed Loon
The largest and rarest loon species, identified by its massive, pale, slightly upturned yellowish bill.
seabird
Sooty Tern
A truly pelagic tern with sooty black-brown upperparts and crisp white underparts that spends most of its life on the wing far out over tropical seas.
seabird
Red-breasted Merganser
A slim, shaggy double-crested sea duck with a thin serrated bill, the most marine of the mergansers.
waterfowl
Rock Pipit
A dark, streaky pipit found almost exclusively along rocky Atlantic and North Sea coastlines.
songbird
Brown Booby
A widespread tropical seabird with dark chocolate-brown upperparts sharply set off from a clean white belly and underwings.
seabird
Northern Bobwhite
A small, round-bodied quail of eastern grasslands, named for the male's clear, whistled "bob-WHITE" call.
gamebird
Black Scoter
An all-black sea duck whose males show a bright orange-yellow knob at the base of the bill.
waterfowl
Brant
A small, dark sea goose with a stubby black bill and neck, closely tied to coastal eelgrass beds.
waterfowl
Long-tailed Duck
An Arctic sea duck known for the male's long slender tail streamers and unusually complex seasonal plumages.
waterfowl
Western Kingbird
A pale gray-headed, lemon-bellied flycatcher commonly seen perched on wires and fence posts across open western landscapes.
songbird
Emperor Penguin
The tallest and heaviest of all penguin species, famous for breeding through the brutal Antarctic winter on open sea ice.
seabird
Black Phoebe
A sooty-black flycatcher with a crisp white belly that is almost always found perched near water, pumping its tail.
songbird
Black-throated Blue Warbler
A strikingly two-toned warbler; males are deep slate-blue above and jet-black below with a white belly, while females are plain brownish-olive with a small white wing spot.
songbird
Say's Phoebe
A soft cinnamon-bellied flycatcher of open, dry western landscapes that often nests on cliffs, barns, and abandoned buildings.
songbird
Tricolored Heron
A slender, dark-bodied heron of American coastal marshes with a bright white belly and neck stripe that sets it apart from all other herons.
wading-bird
Silvereye
A small olive-green bird with a distinctive white eye-ring, often seen in active flocks raiding garden fruit trees.
songbird
Great Egret
A tall, elegant, all-white heron with a long yellow bill and black legs, found on wetlands across nearly every continent.
wading-bird
Egyptian Vulture
A small, distinctive Old World vulture with dirty-white plumage and a bare yellow face, notable for using tools to crack open eggs.
raptor
Lazuli Bunting
The western counterpart of the Indigo Bunting, with males showing a sky-blue head and back, a warm orange breast band, and a white belly.
songbird
Alpine Swift
A large swift of mountain cliffs with a white belly and throat separated by a brown breast band, among the fastest fliers in level flight.
other
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
King Eider
An Arctic sea duck whose males sport a bulbous orange bill knob and a colorful blue-gray and mint-green head.
waterfowl