Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Common Moorhen
A dark waterbird with a red-and-yellow bill and a white flank stripe, often seen jerking its head and flicking its tail while swimming.
wading-bird
Black-throated Sparrow
A striking desert sparrow with a bold black throat framed by crisp white eyebrow and whisker stripes.
songbird
Spotted Towhee
The western counterpart to the Eastern Towhee, distinguished by bold white spotting on its black back and wings.
songbird
Pied Avocet
A striking black-and-white wader with a slender upturned bill, famous as the emblem of British bird conservation.
shorebird
Moluccan Cockatoo
A large Indonesian cockatoo with soft white-to-salmon-pink plumage and a spectacular salmon-colored crest.
parrot
Hooded Merganser
The smallest North American merganser, with males sporting a dramatic fan-shaped black-and-white crest.
waterfowl
Whiskered Tern
A marsh tern with dark grey underparts, a black cap, and a crisp white cheek stripe that gives it a distinctive 'whiskered' face pattern.
seabird
Palm-nut Vulture
An unusual, mostly fruit-eating vulture with black-and-white plumage that lives near oil palms and waterways in West and Central Africa.
raptor
Scaled Quail
A bluish-gray desert quail nicknamed "cottontop" for its bushy white crest, with feathers edged to create a distinctive scaly look.
gamebird
Lazuli Bunting
The western counterpart of the Indigo Bunting, with males showing a sky-blue head and back, a warm orange breast band, and a white belly.
songbird
Harlequin Duck
A small, compact sea duck with intricately patterned slate-blue, chestnut, and white plumage, at home in whitewater rivers and pounding surf.
waterfowl
Horned Puffin
A black-and-white North Pacific puffin with a bright orange-and-yellow bill and a small dark 'horn' of skin above each eye.
seabird
Hairy Woodpecker
A medium-sized black-and-white woodpecker closely resembling the smaller Downy Woodpecker but with a proportionally much longer, chisel-like bill.
woodpecker
Lark Bunting
A gregarious prairie songbird whose breeding male turns entirely black with a bold white wing patch, Colorado's state bird.
songbird
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
Gentoo Penguin
The fastest-swimming penguin species, recognized by its bright orange-red bill and a white patch stretching above each eye.
seabird
Black Crowned-Crane
A striking West and Central African crane with a golden crown of bristle feathers, a black neck, and bold red and white facial patches.
wading-bird
Black Swan
A large, entirely black-plumaged swan native to Australia, with a bright red bill and curly white wing feathers revealed in flight.
waterfowl
Blue-footed Booby
An unmistakable brown-and-white booby famous for its bright blue feet, used in an elaborate courtship dance on Pacific coasts and islands.
seabird
Cuban Amazon
A vividly colored Caribbean amazon parrot with a white forehead and rosy throat patch, found only in Cuba, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands.
parrot
Alpine Swift
A large swift of mountain cliffs with a white belly and throat separated by a brown breast band, among the fastest fliers in level flight.
other
American Wigeon
A round-headed dabbling duck nicknamed 'baldpate' for the male's creamy white forehead crown that contrasts with an iridescent green eye patch.
waterfowl
Violet-backed Starling
A small African starling with a striking sexual difference: males glow amethyst-violet while females are streaky brown and white.
songbird
Snow Bunting
The northernmost-breeding songbird in the world, strikingly white in summer plumage and warm rusty-brown in winter flocks.
songbird