Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Russet-backed Oropendola
A large, olive-brown to russet Amazonian icterid with a pale bill, forming noisy colonies of long hanging woven nests.
songbird
Neotropic Cormorant
The smallest and most widespread cormorant in the Americas outside North America's temperate zone, slender and long-tailed with a thin white border at the base of the bill in breeding plumage.
seabird
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
A striking black-and-white songbird whose breeding male sports a brilliant triangular rose-red patch on the breast and a massive pale bill.
songbird
Ruddy Shelduck
A warm orange-brown, goose-like duck with a pale head and dark tail, often seen in pairs on open wetlands.
waterfowl
Red-breasted Merganser
A slim, shaggy double-crested sea duck with a thin serrated bill, the most marine of the mergansers.
waterfowl
Southern Boobook
Australia's smallest and most common owl, best known for its distinctive two-note 'boobook' or 'mopoke' call.
owl
Spinifex Pigeon
A small, richly cinnamon-colored ground pigeon of arid spinifex country, with a tall pointed crest and bold red-and-black facial markings.
other
Red-bellied Woodpecker
A medium-sized eastern woodpecker with a black-and-white barred back and a red-capped head, whose faint pinkish belly wash is rarely visible in the field.
woodpecker
Red Crossbill
A stocky finch with uniquely crossed mandibles specially adapted to pry seeds from conifer cones.
songbird
Short-eared Owl
A pale, ground-nesting owl of open country that hunts by day in low, buoyant, moth-like flight over fields and marshes.
owl
Red Knot
A chunky, robust sandpiper renowned for one of the longest migrations of any bird, famously refueling on horseshoe crab eggs at Delaware Bay.
shorebird
Orchard Oriole
The smallest North American oriole, with adult males showing a deep chestnut-and-black plumage rather than the bright orange of most other orioles.
songbird
Quaker Parrot
A grey-faced South American parakeet uniquely known for building large communal stick nests rather than nesting in tree cavities.
parrot
Pinyon Jay
A uniformly blue, crestless, highly social jay of pinyon-juniper woodlands that lives in large, noisy flocks year-round.
songbird
Rose-crowned Fruit Dove
A small, brightly colored fruit dove with a green body, a rose-pink crown, a grey breast, and a rich yellow-orange belly patch.
other
Silvereye
A small olive-green bird with a distinctive white eye-ring, often seen in active flocks raiding garden fruit trees.
songbird
Rock Wren
A pale, grayish-brown wren of arid rocky landscapes, known for bobbing on boulders and building pebble-paved nest paths.
songbird
Rainbow Pitta
A jewel-toned, ground-dwelling rainforest bird of tropical northern Australia with a black head, emerald back, and scarlet belly.
songbird
Snowy Owl
A large, powerful white owl of the Arctic tundra, occasionally seen far south in winter hunting open fields by day.
owl
Speckled Tanager
A small, brightly patterned tanager whose yellow-green plumage is covered in a fine scattering of black spots.
songbird
Nazca Booby
A large white booby of the eastern Pacific closely related to the Masked Booby, distinguished by its bright orange-pink bill.
seabird
Phainopepla
A slim, crested desert songbird; glossy jet-black males and soft gray females that depend heavily on mistletoe berries.
songbird
Red-faced Warbler
An unmistakable warbler with a brilliant red face and throat set against a gray body, found in high mountain forests of the Southwest.
songbird
Palm Warbler
A ground-loving, tail-bobbing warbler with a rusty cap in breeding plumage, often seen walking on open ground far more than most other warblers.
songbird
Pacific Black Duck
Australia's most widespread dabbling duck, mottled dark brown with a bold dark eye-stripe and cream-buff face.
waterfowl
Spotted Antbird
A small, boldly spotted antbird of Central American and Chocó forests that habitually follows army ant swarms to catch fleeing insects.
songbird
Red-headed Weaver
A distinctive African weaver with a bright red head, throat, and bill on breeding males, set off against pale grey underparts and a mixed red-and-black back.
songbird
Northern Bobwhite
A small, round-bodied quail of eastern grasslands, named for the male's clear, whistled "bob-WHITE" call.
gamebird
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
A glossy black cockatoo widespread across mainland Australia, with males showing bold red tail panels and females a spotted, orange-barred pattern.
parrot
Star Finch
A small Australian grass finch with a scarlet face mask, olive-green body flecked with white spots, and a red tail and rump.
songbird
Semipalmated Sandpiper
A small, gray-brown sandpiper with a short, straight bill and partially webbed toes, famous for forming massive migratory flocks at coastal staging sites.
shorebird
Resplendent Quetzal
A dazzling, iridescent green cloud-forest bird with a crimson breast and, in the male, spectacular tail streamers that can trail well beyond a meter in length.
other
Sand Martin
A small brown-and-white swallow relative that nests colonially in burrows dug into sandy banks and cliffs.
songbird
Red-shouldered Hawk
A colorful woodland buteo with rich rufous shoulders and underparts, closely tied to river bottoms and swampy forest.
raptor
Rook
A highly social farmland crow with a bare, pale grey-white face patch and a peaked, shaggy crown.
songbird
Ornate Hawk-Eagle
A powerful, crested forest eagle with a striking black-and-rufous head pattern and boldly barred underparts, a top predator of the Neotropical canopy.
raptor
Red-billed Oxpecker
A specialized African bird that clings to buffalo, giraffe, and other large mammals, picking off ticks with its slender red bill.
songbird
Red-legged Partridge
A boldly patterned partridge with a striped black-and-white throat patch, a red bill, and red legs, native to southwestern Europe.
gamebird
Sooty Grouse
A large, dark Pacific-coast mountain grouse, the coastal counterpart of the Dusky Grouse, known for the male's deep hooting display from tall conifers.
gamebird
Oriental Stork
A large East Asian stork closely related to the White Stork, distinguished by its black bill and endangered status due to wetland habitat loss.
wading-bird
Red-throated Loon
The smallest and most lightly built loon, distinguished in summer by a wine-red throat patch and a habit of holding its bill tilted upward.
seabird
Painted Stork
A colorful South and Southeast Asian stork with a white and pink body, black-barred wings, and a curved orange-yellow bill.
wading-bird
Rufous Hummingbird
A tiny, fiery-orange hummingbird famous for its feisty temperament and one of the longest migrations of any bird its size.
hummingbird
Rhinoceros Auklet
A dusky-brown North Pacific auk named for the pale horn-like projection on its bill that develops in breeding season.
seabird
Scarlet Tanager
A brilliant scarlet-and-black canopy songbird of mature eastern forests, whose vivid breeding male molts into olive-yellow plumage for the winter.
songbird
Nuttall's Woodpecker
A small black-and-white woodpecker nearly endemic to California, closely tied to oak woodland and streamside groves.
woodpecker
Regent Parrot
A slender, long-tailed yellow parrot of mallee and river red gum country, named for its rich golden plumage.
parrot
Pacific Wren
A tiny, dark, round-bodied wren of humid Pacific coast forests with a fast, buzzy, high-pitched song.
songbird