Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Barn Swallow
The most widespread swallow in the world, easily known by its deeply forked tail, steel-blue back, and rufous throat.
songbird
Louisiana Waterthrush
A large, thrush-like ground warbler tied closely to clear, fast-moving forest streams, constantly bobbing its tail as it walks along the water's edge.
songbird
Cactus Wren
The largest North American wren, a bold, heavily spotted desert bird that nests within the spiny protection of cholla and cactus.
songbird
Northern Waterthrush
A boreal-breeding, thrush-like warbler of still-water wetlands and swamps, closely resembling Louisiana Waterthrush but favoring quieter water and showing a finely streaked throat.
songbird
Canyon Wren
A rock-clinging wren with a bright white throat and rusty body, famous for its cascading, whistled song echoing through canyons.
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
Brown-headed Nuthatch
A tiny brown-capped nuthatch of southeastern pine forests, notable as one of the few birds known to use tools.
songbird
American Tree Sparrow
A rusty-capped sparrow with a bicolored bill and a dark central breast spot, a true winter visitor to much of North America despite its name.
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
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
California Towhee
A plain, uniformly brown towhee with a rusty undertail, common in California backyards and known for its sharp metallic chip call.
songbird
Red-winged Blackbird
A glossy black marsh bird whose males display bold red-and-yellow shoulder patches while perched and singing atop cattails.
songbird
Prairie Falcon
A pale, sandy-brown falcon of the arid West, identified in flight by dark patches under the wings near the body.
raptor
Chipping Sparrow
A small, slender sparrow with a bright rufous cap, black eye-line, and clean gray underparts, common in yards with conifers.
songbird
Tree Swallow
A gleaming blue-green and white cavity-nesting swallow, one of the earliest swallows to arrive each spring and among the most cold-hardy.
songbird
Lincoln's Sparrow
A shy, finely streaked sparrow with a buffy breast band, often described as the best-dressed sparrow, that skulks low in dense cover.
songbird
MacGillivray's Warbler
The western counterpart of the Mourning Warbler, a gray-hooded skulker distinguished by bold broken white eye-crescents above and below the eye.
songbird
Savannah Sparrow
A streaky, ground-dwelling sparrow with a yellow eyebrow patch and short notched tail, widespread across open grassy habitats in North America.
songbird
Grasshopper Sparrow
A small, flat-headed, short-tailed sparrow of grasslands whose thin insect-like song resembles a grasshopper's buzz.
songbird
Downy Woodpecker
North America's smallest woodpecker, a friendly black-and-white bird with a small bill, common at backyard feeders across the continent.
woodpecker
Bridled Titmouse
A small, boldly patterned titmouse with a striking black-and-white "bridled" facial pattern, found in oak canyons of the Southwest.
songbird
Willow Flycatcher
A plain, greenish-brown Empidonax flycatcher best identified by its sneezy 'fitz-bew' song, breeding in dense willow thickets across North America.
songbird
Wilson's Warbler
A small, bright yellow warbler with an olive back and, in males, a neat round black cap, often seen flicking its tail as it forages actively in low shrubs.
songbird
Wrentit
A drab, long-tailed skulker of Pacific coastal chaparral, far more often heard than seen, with a distinctive bouncing-ball song.
songbird
American Goldfinch
A small finch famous for the male's brilliant lemon-yellow breeding plumage and black cap, wings, and tail.
songbird
Altamira Oriole
The largest oriole in the United States, a bright orange bird found only in the Rio Grande Valley of extreme south Texas, famous for weaving the longest hanging nest of any North American bird.
songbird
Black-throated Sparrow
A striking desert sparrow with a bold black throat framed by crisp white eyebrow and whisker stripes.
songbird
Canada Warbler
A slate-gray and yellow warbler notable for the bold necklace of black streaking across its breast and the yellow "spectacles" framing its eyes.
songbird
Lark Sparrow
A boldly patterned sparrow with a chestnut-and-white harlequin face and a distinctive rounded tail edged in white.
songbird
Tennessee Warbler
A plain, energetic warbler with a gray head, white eyebrow stripe, and olive back, named for a stray specimen collected in Tennessee though it neither breeds nor regularly winters there.
songbird
Bewick's Wren
A slender, long-tailed wren with a bold white eyebrow, known for its varied song and once-widespread eastern range now largely lost.
songbird
Gray Catbird
A slate-gray songbird with a neat black cap and a rusty patch under the tail, named for its distinctive cat-like mewing call.
songbird
Le Conte's Sparrow
A tiny, brightly colored, mouse-like sparrow of wet prairie and sedge marsh, more often glimpsed scurrying through grass than seen in the open.
songbird
Clay-colored Sparrow
A pale, delicately patterned sparrow with a gray nape and brown-streaked crown, giving its distinctive buzzy insect-like song from prairie shrubs.
songbird
Black-headed Grosbeak
The western counterpart to the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, with males showing warm cinnamon-orange underparts and a bold black-and-white patterned head.
songbird
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
A tiny, plain-faced olive-gray songbird with a bold white eye-ring and a surprisingly loud, rollicking song from a normally hidden red crown.
songbird
Gray Hawk
A compact, pale gray hawk of southwestern river woodlands, agile enough to chase lizards through dense cottonwood canopy.
raptor
Pine Warbler
A softly plumaged, olive-yellow warbler tightly tied to pine forests, notable among warblers for regularly eating seeds and visiting bird feeders.
songbird
Merlin
A compact, fast-flying falcon that chases down small birds with relentless, low-level pursuit rather than a high stoop.
raptor
Botteri's Sparrow
A large, plain-faced grassland sparrow known for a distinctive accelerating song likened to a bouncing ball coming to a stop.
songbird
Phainopepla
A slim, crested desert songbird; glossy jet-black males and soft gray females that depend heavily on mistletoe berries.
songbird
Zone-tailed Hawk
A blackish hawk that mimics the flight and silhouette of Turkey Vultures, letting it sneak up on unsuspecting prey.
raptor
Red-tailed Hawk
North America's most familiar large hawk, often seen soaring over highways or perched on poles, named for the adult's brick-red tail.
raptor
Indigo Bunting
A small finch-like songbird whose breeding male appears brilliant all-over blue, produced entirely by feather structure rather than blue pigment.
songbird
Chestnut-sided Warbler
A bright yellow-capped warbler with bold chestnut stripes down the flanks in breeding plumage, a bird that has benefited from second-growth habitat.
songbird
Snail Kite
A marsh-dwelling raptor with a slender, deeply hooked bill perfectly shaped for extracting apple snails from their shells.
raptor
Black-capped Chickadee
A small, energetic bird with a black cap and bib, white cheeks, and gray back, known for its cheerful "chick-a-dee-dee" call.
songbird
Blackburnian Warbler
A dazzling warbler with a blazing orange throat and face on breeding males, often glimpsed high in conifer treetops and nicknamed the 'firethroat.'
songbird