Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Long-tailed Duck
A small, elegant Arctic sea duck with a uniquely long, slender tail in males and a complex seasonal plumage that changes more than almost any other duck.
waterfowl
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
A tall, long-legged, gregarious duck with a bright pink-red bill, gray face, chestnut body, and a bold black belly, often seen perching in trees.
waterfowl
Great Kiskadee
A big, boldly patterned flycatcher named for its loud 'kis-ka-dee' call, often seen near water snatching insects, small fish, and fruit.
songbird
White-winged Dove
A stocky desert dove with a bold white wing stripe visible even at rest, a key pollinator and seed disperser of saguaro cactus in the Sonoran Desert.
other
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Cape May Warbler
A boldly patterned boreal warbler with a chestnut cheek patch and tiger-striped breast, whose populations boom and bust with spruce budworm outbreaks.
songbird
Northern Mockingbird
A slender gray songbird famous for endlessly mimicking the songs and calls of other birds, with bold white wing patches visible in flight.
songbird
Great Gray Owl
One of the tallest owls in the world, with an enormous facial disk and the extraordinary ability to hear and catch rodents hidden beneath snow.
owl
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
California Towhee
A plain, uniformly brown towhee with a rusty undertail, common in California backyards and known for its sharp metallic chip call.
songbird
MacGillivray's Warbler
The western counterpart of the Mourning Warbler, a gray-hooded skulker distinguished by bold broken white eye-crescents above and below the eye.
songbird
Bewick's Wren
A slender, long-tailed wren with a bold white eyebrow, known for its varied song and once-widespread eastern range now largely lost.
songbird
Le Conte's Sparrow
A tiny, brightly colored, mouse-like sparrow of wet prairie and sedge marsh, more often glimpsed scurrying through grass than seen in the open.
songbird
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
Harris's Sparrow
North America's largest sparrow, with a black hood and bib framing a pink bill, breeding only in Canada and wintering on the Great Plains.
songbird
Allen's Hummingbird
A fiery, copper-and-green jewel of the Pacific coast, celebrated for the male's glowing orange throat and spectacular pendulum aerial dives.
hummingbird
Mallard
The Mallard is an abundant and highly recognizable dabbling duck, famous for the breeding male's iridescent green head and bright yellow bill.
waterfowl
Green-winged Teal
The smallest dabbling duck in North America, renowned for its agile flight, the male's striking green head stripe, and its brilliant green speculum.
waterfowl