Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
California Towhee
A plain, uniformly brown towhee with a rusty undertail, common in California backyards and known for its sharp metallic chip call.
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
Bank Swallow
The smallest North American swallow, brown above and white below with a crisp brown breast band, nesting colonially in burrows dug into sandy banks.
songbird
Cape Petrel
A striking black-and-white checkered petrel of the Southern Ocean, often called the Pintado Petrel, well known for following ships far from land.
seabird
Common Quail
Europe's smallest gamebird, a secretive, migratory quail far more often heard than seen, giving a distinctive "wet-my-lips" call.
gamebird
Blue-winged Teal
A small, long-distance migrant dabbling duck whose drake shows a bold white crescent before the eye and a powder-blue wing patch in flight.
waterfowl
Black-collared Hawk
A rufous wetland raptor with a pale head and a distinctive black band across the upper breast, specialized for hunting fish over open water.
raptor
Crissal Thrasher
A secretive, unstreaked desert thrasher named for its chestnut undertail patch, usually detected by voice rather than sight.
songbird
Common Eider
A large, bulky sea duck of northern coasts, males boldly patterned black-and-white with a pale green nape and famous for their soft down.
waterfowl
Brewer's Blackbird
A glossy, pale-eyed blackbird of open western habitats, common in parking lots, parks, and farmland, with a purple-and-green iridescent sheen.
songbird
Common Pigeon
The familiar city pigeon, a highly adaptable descendant of the wild Rock Dove, seen worldwide in an enormous variety of plumage colors.
other
Black Grouse
A dramatic grouse famous for its communal spring "lek" displays, males glossy blue-black with a lyre-shaped tail, females mottled brown.
gamebird
Black Oystercatcher
An all-black shorebird of rocky Pacific coastlines, with a long orange bill perfectly suited to prying limpets and mussels from rocks.
shorebird
Western Rosella
The smallest of the rosellas, found only in southwestern Australia, with a red head and underparts, green back, and bright yellow cheek patches.
parrot
Vinous-throated Parrotbill
A tiny, cinnamon-brown, long-tailed songbird with a stubby parrot-like bill, usually seen moving through scrub in noisy, gregarious flocks.
songbird
Western Sandpiper
A tiny, abundant sandpiper with a longer, slightly drooped bill than its similar peep relatives, forming vast flocks at key coastal stopover sites.
shorebird
Violet Sabrewing
One of the largest hummingbirds in its Central American range, with males glowing deep violet-blue overall and a heavy, slightly curved black bill.
hummingbird
Western Plantain-eater
A large, grey-brown turaco relative of West African savanna, easily spotted by its heavy yellow-tipped bill and bold white wing patches in flight.
other
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
The brightest and most yellow of the eastern Empidonax flycatchers, breeding in boggy boreal forest and giving a soft, plaintive whistled call.
songbird
White-fronted Bee-eater
A colorful, colonially nesting African bee-eater with a white forehead, crimson throat patch, and green body, best known for its cooperative breeding system.
other
Whimbrel
A medium-sized curlew with a boldly striped crown and long decurved bill, found on nearly every coastline in the world outside the breeding season.
shorebird
Willow Warbler
A delicate, greenish leaf warbler best known for its sweet, descending, cascading song, one of the clearest signs of spring across much of Europe.
songbird
Vermilion Flycatcher
A tiny, brilliant scarlet-red flycatcher of southwestern deserts and riverbanks, among the most vividly colored songbirds in North America.
songbird
Yellow-legged Gull
A large gull of the Mediterranean and western Europe, similar to the Herring Gull but with yellow legs and a darker mantle, and a rare vagrant to eastern North America.
seabird