Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Wreathed Hornbill
A large Asian hornbill with a low, corrugated casque and a bare throat pouch, colored yellow in males and blue in females, that plays a key role dispersing rainforest fruit seeds.
other
Crested Oropendola
A large, glossy black icterid with a chestnut rump, yellow outer tail feathers, and pale blue eyes, famous for its colonial hanging nests and gurgling display song.
songbird
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
Painted Bunting
Often called the most colorful bird in North America, the male Painted Bunting displays an almost impossibly vivid patchwork of blue, green, and red.
songbird
Purple-backed Fairywren
A close relative of the Variegated Fairywren adapted to Australia's arid interior, with breeding males showing purplish-blue tones and a small chestnut shoulder patch.
songbird
Ruddy Duck
A small, chunky stiff-tailed diving duck; breeding males show a chestnut body, black cap, white cheeks, and a bright blue bill.
waterfowl
Superb Bird-of-paradise
A montane bird-of-paradise whose male transforms into an oval black cape with a glowing blue breast shield during his famous dancing display.
songbird
Grey Heron
A tall, pale grey wading bird widespread across the Old World, closely resembling North America's Great Blue Heron in shape and habits.
wading-bird
Common Kingfisher
A vivid jewel-toned kingfisher with electric-blue upperparts and orange underparts, often glimpsed as a flash of color over slow-moving rivers and ponds.
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
Cerulean Warbler
A sky-blue, canopy-dwelling warbler of mature eastern forests, among the fastest-declining North American warblers due to habitat loss on both its breeding and wintering grounds.
songbird
White-winged Dove
A stocky desert-southwest dove with a bold white wing stripe and a red eye ringed in blue, closely tied historically to the blooming and fruiting of saguaro cactus.
other
Varied Bunting
A desert bunting whose male appears deep purple-blue with a rosy nape patch in good light, but nearly black in shade, found in thorny borderland scrub.
songbird
Palm Tanager
A common, unassuming tropical tanager with olive-gray to grayish-brown plumage and slightly darker wings, frequently seen alongside the more colorful Blue-gray Tanager.
songbird
Brandt's Cormorant
A stocky, dark cormorant of the Pacific coast known for a buffy throat patch bordered by a striking blue breeding pouch, nesting in dense colonies on coastal cliffs and islands.
seabird
Turquoise Cotinga
A dazzling, range-restricted cotinga whose male glows turquoise-blue with a rich purple throat and breast patch, found only in a small area of southern Central America.
songbird
Superb Starling
A common, strikingly colorful East African starling with a metallic blue-green back, chestnut belly, and a bold white breast band, familiar around safari camps and towns.
songbird
Takahe
A large, flightless, deep blue-and-green New Zealand rail once thought extinct for fifty years until its dramatic rediscovery in remote Fiordland tussock country in 1948.
other
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
Montezuma Oropendola
A large Central American icterid with a chestnut body, black head, orange-tipped bill, and bare blue-and-pink facial skin, known for colonial hanging nests and loud gurgling calls.
songbird
Greater Scaup
A rounded-headed diving duck of large open waters, the drake showing a glossy greenish-black head and pale gray back, closely resembling the smaller Lesser Scaup.
waterfowl
Lesser Scaup
North America's most abundant diving duck, closely resembling the Greater Scaup but with a peaked crown and a purplish (rather than greenish) head gloss.
waterfowl