Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Yellow-crowned Bishop
A tiny African grassland bird whose breeding male dons a vivid golden-yellow and black plumage over marshy habitat.
songbird
Western Capercaillie
The world's largest grouse, a massive, turkey-sized bird of old pine forest famed for its bizarre, gurgling courtship display.
gamebird
White-winged Chough
A glossy black, red-eyed Australian woodland bird that forages in noisy cooperative flocks and flashes white wing patches in flight.
songbird
Sociable Weaver
A small Kalahari finch-weaver famous for building the largest communal stick nests of any bird, sometimes housing hundreds of pairs.
songbird
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
Purple Gallinule
A vividly colored marsh bird with iridescent purple-blue plumage, a pale blue frontal shield, and oversized bright yellow feet.
wading-bird
Green Bee-eater
A slender emerald-green bird with elongated central tail feathers and a black eye stripe, an agile aerial hunter of bees and wasps.
other
Guianan Cock-of-the-rock
A brilliant yellow-orange bird of the Guiana Shield with a striking disc-shaped crest, famed for the males' elaborate lek courtship displays.
other
Henslow's Sparrow
A secretive prairie sparrow with a large flat head, olive face, and one of the most unimpressive songs of any North American bird.
songbird
Little Gull
The smallest gull in the world, a dainty, tern-like bird best known for its distinctive blackish underwings, unique among gulls.
seabird
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker
The smallest woodpecker in Japan, a sparrow-sized bird finely barred in brown and white, with males showing a tiny red spot on the head.
woodpecker
Malleefowl
A ground-dwelling mound-building bird of arid mallee scrub, camouflaged in intricately mottled grey, brown, black, and chestnut plumage.
gamebird
Glossy Ibis
The world's most widespread ibis, a dark, iridescent wading bird with a long down-curved bill found on wetlands across the globe.
wading-bird
Corn Crake
A secretive, chicken-like grassland bird best known for its rasping, far-carrying 'crex-crex' call given at night.
other
Chuck-will's-widow
The largest nightjar in North America, best known for its far-carrying, repetitive nighttime call that gives the bird its name.
other
Blue Crane
South Africa's national bird, a pale blue-grey crane with an oversized head and dark wingtip plumes that trail like a train.
wading-bird
Bohemian Waxwing
A sleek, crested, silky-plumaged bird of the northern boreal forest that erupts south in unpredictable, nomadic winter flocks to feast on berries.
songbird
Amazonian Motmot
A striking green forest bird with a blue-and-black crown and a long tail ending in bare-shafted rackets that it swings like a pendulum.
other
White-throated Toucan
A large Amazonian rainforest bird famous for its massive orange-and-black bill, glossy black body, and bright white throat and chest patch.
other
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
Kori Bustard
The Kori Bustard is Africa's heaviest flying bird, a stately grassland giant known for its intricate grey plumage and elaborate male courtship display.
other
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
Green Wood Hoopoe
A glossy, iridescent African bird with a long curved red bill and tail, known for its raucous cackling calls and tight-knit family groups.
other
Eurasian Spoonbill
An elegant white wading bird with a distinctive flat, spoon-shaped black-and-yellow bill, found sweeping shallow wetlands from Europe to Asia.
wading-bird