Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Ross's Goose
A small, compact white goose resembling a miniature Snow Goose with a shorter, stubbier bill.
waterfowl
Shore Lark
A striking ground-dwelling lark with a black-and-yellow face pattern and small black feather 'horns' on the crown.
songbird
Osprey
A large, fish-eating hawk found near water nearly worldwide, easily known by its white underparts, dark eye-stripe, and dramatic feet-first dive for fish.
raptor
Olive-backed Oriole
An olive-green songbird with cream underparts finely streaked in dark grey, a red eye, and a rich, fluty, far-carrying song.
songbird
Palm Tanager
A common, unassuming tropical tanager with olive-gray to grayish-brown plumage and slightly darker wings, frequently seen alongside the more colorful Blue-gray Tanager.
songbird
Ringed Kingfisher
The largest kingfisher in the Americas, easily recognized by its massive size, heavy bill, and entirely rufous-chestnut underparts.
other
Pygmy Nuthatch
A tiny, highly social nuthatch of western pine forests, notable for cooperative breeding with helper birds at the nest.
songbird
Red-crowned Crane
A rare, exceptionally elegant East Asian crane with mostly white plumage, a black neck, and a small patch of bare red skin on the crown, revered as a symbol of luck and longevity.
wading-bird
Nene
Hawaii's state bird and the world's rarest goose, a buff-necked, black-faced goose descended from Canada Geese that adapted to life on volcanic terrain.
waterfowl
Superb Fairywren
A tiny, cooperatively breeding songbird whose breeding males flash brilliant iridescent blue against black, a familiar sight in southeastern Australian gardens.
songbird
Ruby-topaz Hummingbird
A small, dazzling hummingbird whose male sports a fiery ruby-red crown and glowing golden-topaz throat that shift dramatically with the angle of light.
hummingbird
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
Sparkling Violetear
A large, vocal Andean hummingbird with shimmering green plumage and iridescent violet patches on the ear coverts and chest.
hummingbird
Red-faced Mousebird
The Red-faced Mousebird is a southern African species distinguished by its crimson face patch and sleek grey plumage, often seen scurrying through shrubs in small flocks.
other
Philadelphia Vireo
The smallest eastern vireo, with a yellow-washed underside and dark eye line, breeding in northern second-growth woodlands and often confused with Warbling Vireo and Tennessee Warbler.
songbird
Steller's Jay
A bold, crested jay of western conifer forests with a striking black head and deep blue body.
songbird
Princess Parrot
A slender, long-tailed Australian desert parrot with soft pink, olive, and blue plumage and a highly nomadic lifestyle.
parrot
Orange-winged Parrot
A medium-sized Amazon parrot with a green body, a yellow-and-blue face pattern, and a bright orange patch in the wing that flashes in flight.
parrot
Scarlet Macaw
A large, brilliantly red macaw with blue and yellow wing patches, ranging from Mexico through Central America into the Amazon Basin.
parrot
Northern Lapwing
A crested, iridescent plover of European and Asian farmland, known for its tumbling display flights and wheezy "pee-wit" call.
shorebird
Ostrich
The world's largest and heaviest living bird, a flightless African species built for speed on the open savanna.
other
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
One of the most common hummingbirds of Central America, with iridescent green upperparts, a rufous tail, and a reddish bill tipped in black.
hummingbird
Rock Pigeon
The familiar city pigeon, a highly variable dove descended from wild cliff-dwelling stock, now found in cities and towns worldwide.
other
Pale-headed Rosella
A pale-headed relative of the Eastern Rosella, with a creamy-white head, blue cheeks, and blue underparts, found across Queensland and northern New South Wales.
parrot
Pied Avocet
A striking black-and-white wader with a slender upturned bill, famous as the emblem of British bird conservation.
shorebird
Southern Giant Petrel
A massive, bulky Southern Ocean petrel with a huge pale bill, often seen scavenging carcasses on subantarctic beaches, earning it the nickname "stinker."
seabird
Rock Dove
The wild cliff-dwelling ancestor of all domestic and feral pigeons, native to Europe, North Africa, and Asia.
other
Red-necked Phalarope
A small, needle-billed shorebird that spins in tight circles on the water to stir up food, with brighter-plumaged females and a largely oceanic lifestyle outside the breeding season.
shorebird
Pompadour Cotinga
A striking cotinga with males in deep magenta-purple plumage set off by bold white wings, found in the canopy of Amazonian and Guiana Shield forests.
songbird
Rufous-tailed Jacamar
A slender, iridescent green bird with a needle-thin bill and rufous underparts that hawks insects from perches along forest edges.
other
Rivoli's Hummingbird
One of the largest hummingbirds found in the United States, with a male whose head glitters violet and green against an otherwise dark body.
hummingbird
Peach-faced Lovebird
A small, stocky African parrot with a bright peach-pink face and vivid green body, one of the most familiar lovebird species.
parrot
Scott's Oriole
A yucca-loving oriole of the arid Southwest, with males showing lemon-yellow underparts contrasting against a solid black head and back.
songbird
Pelagic Cormorant
A slim, iridescent black-green cormorant of rugged North Pacific coastlines, showing a thin bill and small head crests in breeding plumage, nesting precariously on narrow sea cliff ledges.
seabird
Spotted Nutcracker
A stocky, chocolate-brown corvid densely spotted with white, specialized for harvesting and caching conifer seeds in mountain forests.
songbird
Stock Dove
A blue-grey pigeon of farmland and parkland, smaller and neater than the Woodpigeon, lacking any white in the plumage.
other
Sandhill Crane
A tall grey North American crane with a bare red crown, best known for the spectacular mass migration gatherings along the Platte River.
wading-bird
Scarlet Ibis
A brilliant, all-scarlet wading bird of South American mangroves, its vivid color built directly from the crustaceans it eats.
wading-bird
Northern Saw-whet Owl
One of North America's smallest owls, a secretive forest dweller named for a call once likened to a saw blade being sharpened.
owl
Rockhopper Penguin
A small, feisty crested penguin known for hopping between boulders rather than waddling, with spiky yellow head plumes and red eyes.
seabird
Red-and-green Macaw
One of the largest macaws, with a mostly crimson-red body, broad green wing band, and a bare white face crossed by fine lines of tiny red feathers.
parrot
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
A chunky, non-migratory sparrow of rocky hillsides marked by a rusty cap and a black-and-white striped face.
songbird
Snowy Egret
A small, brilliant white egret of the Americas known for its black bill and legs paired with striking bright yellow feet, nicknamed its 'golden slippers.'
wading-bird
Red-cockaded Woodpecker
A rare cooperative-breeding woodpecker of the southeastern pine forests that excavates its nest exclusively in living, old-growth pines.
woodpecker
Northwestern Crow
A small, coastal crow of the Pacific Northwest closely resembling the American Crow and often found foraging along tidelines.
songbird
Society Finch
A small, domesticated estrildid finch derived from the wild White-rumped Munia, bred over centuries into a range of plumage colors and patterns.
songbird
Red-crowned Parakeet
A small, bright green New Zealand parakeet with a crimson crown and eye-stripe, now largely restricted to predator-free offshore islands and forest reserves.
parrot
Rainbow Bee-eater
A slender, jewel-colored bird with a rainbow of green, blue, and chestnut plumage that hawks bees and other insects on the wing.
other