Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Magnificent Frigatebird
A huge black seabird with an enormous wingspan and deeply forked tail, best known for the male's inflatable scarlet throat pouch.
seabird
Brown-crested Flycatcher
The largest of the North American Myiarchus flycatchers, a bushy-crested, cavity-nesting bird of desert washes and saguaro country with a rolling 'whit-will-do' call.
songbird
Blue-and-white Flycatcher
A vivid forest flycatcher; the male is deep blue above with a black face and throat and a clean white belly.
songbird
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
Purple-throated Fruitcrow
A social, all-black cotinga whose males flash a glossy magenta-purple throat patch, usually seen moving through the forest canopy in small groups.
songbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
An elegant pale gray flycatcher with an extraordinarily long, deeply forked tail and salmon-pink flanks, a signature bird of Texas and Oklahoma grasslands.
songbird
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
A barred, zebra-backed woodpecker of south Texas brushlands with a bright golden-orange patch on the nape and forehead.
woodpecker
African Paradise Flycatcher
An elegant sub-Saharan African songbird with a glossy blue-black crested head, chestnut plumage, and long trailing tail streamers in males.
songbird
House Sparrow
A stocky, chunky-billed sparrow closely tied to human settlements, with males showing a gray crown, chestnut nape, and black bib.
songbird
Merlin
A compact, fast-flying falcon that chases down small birds with relentless, low-level pursuit rather than a high stoop.
raptor
Inca Dove
A tiny, pale dove of the desert Southwest whose feathers appear scalloped like fish scales and whose flight flashes rusty wing patches.
other
Common Ground Dove
A tiny, scaly-breasted dove of the southeastern and southern US, small enough to be mistaken for a sparrow until it flushes and shows rufous flashes in the wings.
other
Red Junglefowl
The wild ancestor of the domestic chicken, sporting a fiery orange-red neck, glossy dark tail, and bold red comb.
gamebird
Greylag Goose
A large bulky gray-brown goose, ancestor of most domestic geese, with a heavy orange bill.
waterfowl
Atlantic Canary
A small, streaky yellow-green finch native to the Canary Islands, Azores, and Madeira, and the wild ancestor of the familiar Domestic Canary.
songbird
Malleefowl
A ground-dwelling mound-building bird of arid mallee scrub, camouflaged in intricately mottled grey, brown, black, and chestnut plumage.
gamebird
Gyrfalcon
The largest falcon in the world, a powerful Arctic hunter that ranges from pure white to dark slate-gray in color.
raptor
Chimney Swift
A dark, cigar-shaped aerial bird that nests almost exclusively in chimneys across eastern North America, spending nearly its entire life on the wing.
other
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
White Tern
An entirely white, ethereal tern with large dark eyes that famously balances its single egg on a bare tree branch without building any nest at all.
seabird
Spruce Grouse
A tame, dark forest grouse of the northern boreal woods that relies so heavily on camouflage it often allows extremely close approach, earning it the nickname "fool hen."
gamebird
Masked Booby
The largest booby species, brilliant white with black flight feathers, a dark facial mask, and a bright yellow bill.
seabird
Acorn Woodpecker
A boldly patterned, clown-faced woodpecker famous for its highly social behavior and its habit of stockpiling thousands of acorns in communal granary trees.
woodpecker
Kaka
A large, olive-brown New Zealand forest parrot with brilliant crimson underwings, related to the alpine kea and known for its raucous calls and playful, acrobatic behavior.
parrot