Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Mew Gull
A small, gentle-faced gull of the Pacific Northwest, recently split from the Eurasian Common Gull and now officially known as the Short-billed Gull.
seabird
Greater Blue-eared Starling
A widespread African starling with glossy blue-green plumage and a violet-blue ear patch, often confused with the closely related Lesser Blue-eared Starling.
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
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
Morepork
New Zealand's only surviving native owl, a small, compact brown owl named for its distinctive, far-carrying "more-pork" call heard after dark.
owl
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
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
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
Long-billed Corella
A white cockatoo of southeastern Australia with a distinctively long, slender bill and pink-red markings across the face and throat.
parrot
Meyer's Parrot
A widespread African savanna parrot with mostly brown-grey plumage set off by turquoise underparts and yellow shoulder patches.
parrot
Hen Harrier
A slim, long-winged harrier of open moorland; the pale grey male is nicknamed the 'grey ghost', while the streaky brown female is known as a 'ringtail'.
raptor
Knysna Turaco
A shy emerald-green forest turaco of South Africa's southern and eastern woodlands, best known for its far-carrying koorrr call and crimson wing flash.
other
Grey Butcherbird
A grey-backed relative of the Pied Butcherbird with a black mask and white underparts, known for its musical, flute-like calls.
songbird
Marbled Murrelet
A small North Pacific seabird unique among auks for nesting solitarily high in the mossy branches of old-growth conifers, far from the coast.
seabird
Little Grebe
A tiny, round, chestnut-faced grebe of the Old World, often heard giving a whinnying trill from dense waterside vegetation before it is seen.
waterfowl
Galapagos Penguin
The smallest banded penguin and the only penguin species found north of the equator, confined entirely to the volcanic shores of the Galapagos Islands.
seabird
Fork-tailed Flycatcher
An elegant open-country flycatcher with a black cap, pale gray back, and an extremely long, deeply forked black tail trailing behind it in flight.
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
California Thrasher
A large, dark, long-billed thrasher endemic to California chaparral, more often heard singing than seen in its dense scrub habitat.
songbird
Common Nighthawk
A cryptically patterned, long-winged aerial insect-hunter often seen at dusk with erratic, bat-like flight and a nasal "peent" call.
other
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
Bewick's Swan
The Eurasian counterpart of the Tundra Swan, a compact white swan with a rounded yellow-and-black bill pattern that is unique to each individual.
waterfowl
Bearded Reedling
A long-tailed, tawny reedbed specialist; males sport a striking grey head with a black "moustache" despite the misleading name Bearded Tit.
songbird
Couch's Kingbird
A south Texas specialty nearly indistinguishable from Tropical Kingbird in plumage, but recognized by its distinctive burry 'breeer' call.
songbird