Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Purple Martin
North America's largest swallow, a glossy blue-black aerial insectivore whose eastern population now nests almost entirely in birdhouses provided by people.
songbird
Western Tanager
A vivid yellow-and-black tanager of western coniferous forests, with breeding males showing a striking orange-red head produced from a diet-derived pigment.
songbird
Eastern Towhee
A striking sparrow relative with a black hood, rufous flanks, and white belly, known for its 'drink-your-tea' song and rustling leaf-litter foraging.
songbird
Brant
A small, dark sea goose with a black head, neck, and breast broken only by a small white neck patch, tightly tied to coastal eelgrass beds in winter.
waterfowl
Dickcissel
A grassland songbird resembling a small meadowlark, with breeding males showing a yellow breast, black bib, and a name derived from its buzzy, insect-like song.
songbird
Worm-eating Warbler
A plain buffy warbler with bold black head stripes, best known for its habit of probing curled dead leaves for caterpillars rather than eating earthworms.
songbird
Prairie Warbler
A bright yellow, tail-wagging warbler of shrubby old fields and scrub, with bold black facial markings and chestnut streaking on the back despite its misleading name.
songbird
Pinyon Jay
A uniformly blue, crestless, highly social jay of pinyon-juniper woodlands that lives in large, noisy flocks year-round.
songbird
Blue-winged Warbler
A bright yellow warbler with blue-gray wings, white wingbars, and a black eyeline, whose expanding range increasingly overlaps and hybridizes with the closely related Golden-winged Warbler.
songbird
California Condor
North America's largest flying land bird, an enormous black scavenger with a naked orange-pink head, brought back from the brink of extinction through intensive captive breeding.
raptor
Yellow-throated Warbler
A gray-backed warbler with a bright yellow throat and bold black-and-white face pattern, well adapted for creeping along bark and probing pine needle clusters and Spanish moss.
songbird
Eastern Whip-poor-will
A nocturnal master of camouflage, the Eastern Whip-poor-will is famous for its relentless, echoing chant that enlivens eastern forests on summer nights.
other
Mexican Whip-poor-will
A master of camouflage, this nocturnal nightjar of the southwestern mountains is best known for its rough, rolling chant heard throughout summer nights.
other
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Nicknamed the 'rain crow,' this secretive, elegant forest bird is renowned for its distinctive guttural calls and specialized appetite for hairy caterpillars.
other
Turkey Vulture
A large, dark scavenger with a naked red head and a distinctive tilting, V-shaped soaring flight, famed for its exceptional sense of smell.
raptor
Chuck-will's-widow
The largest nightjar in North America, renowned for its cryptic camouflage and its repetitive nocturnal call echoing through southeastern woodlands.
other
Mourning Dove
A slender, soft-brown dove with a long pointed tail, one of the most abundant and widespread birds in North America, known for its mournful cooing call.
other
Common Poorwill
The smallest North American nightjar, famous for its ability to enter a prolonged state of torpor to survive cold winters.
other
Common Pauraque
A master of camouflage, this widespread nocturnal nightjar of the Americas is famous for its distinctive nighttime whistling call and bright orange face patches.
other
Boreal Owl
A small, elusive owl of northern boreal forests with a squarish facial disc and a soft, high-pitched song heard mostly on cold winter nights.
owl
Common Grackle
A large, iridescent blackbird with a long keel-shaped tail and pale yellow eyes, common across eastern and central North America.
songbird
Greater Scaup
A robust diving duck of northern waters, best recognized by its rounded head, pale grey back, and preference for gathering in large, dense flocks on coastal bays and vast lakes.
waterfowl
Zone-tailed Hawk
A blackish hawk that mimics the flight and silhouette of Turkey Vultures, letting it sneak up on unsuspecting prey.
raptor
Great-tailed Grackle
A large, glossy, long-tailed blackbird with a loud, varied voice that has rapidly expanded across urban and agricultural North America.
songbird