Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Black Vulture
A stocky, all-black scavenger with a bare gray head and short, broad wings, recognized in flight by white patches near the wingtips and quick, choppy flapping.
raptor
Cinereous Vulture
One of the largest flying birds on Earth, a huge dark vulture of mountains and steppe from Iberia to East Asia.
raptor
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
American Goldfinch
A small finch famous for the male's brilliant lemon-yellow breeding plumage and black cap, wings, and tail.
songbird
American Crow
A highly intelligent, all-black corvid famous for its adaptability, problem-solving, and complex social behavior.
songbird
American Avocet
An elegant black-and-white shorebird with a slender upturned bill and, in breeding season, a warm cinnamon-orange head and neck.
shorebird
American Three-toed Woodpecker
A boreal woodpecker with a barred black-and-white back, three toes per foot, and a taste for beetle-infested spruce.
woodpecker
Black Swift
The largest North American swift, an all-dark bird that nests almost exclusively on cliff ledges behind or near waterfalls and in coastal sea caves.
other
Black-billed Magpie
A striking black-and-white corvid with an extremely long tail and iridescent wings, common across open western rangeland.
songbird
Black-necked Stilt
A striking black-and-white shorebird with impossibly long, thin pink legs, wading gracefully through shallow water.
shorebird
Black-necked Swan
A striking South American swan with a snow-white body, jet-black head and neck, and a bright red knob at the base of its bill.
waterfowl
Black-headed Gull
An abundant Eurasian gull, despite its name actually sporting a chocolate-brown (not black) hood, and a rare but regular visitor to eastern North America.
seabird
Lesser Black-backed Gull
A medium-large European gull with a dark slate mantle and yellow legs, increasingly common as a wintering visitor to North America in recent decades.
seabird
Jabiru
The largest flying bird of the Americas, a towering white stork with a bald black head and a striking red band at the base of the neck.
wading-bird
Whooping Crane
North America's tallest bird, a rare, snow-white crane with black wingtips that has become a flagship symbol of wildlife conservation after nearly going extinct.
wading-bird
Pied-billed Grebe
A chunky, secretive brown grebe of the Americas, named for its thick, pale bill marked with a black ring in the breeding season.
waterfowl
Cocoi Heron
South America's largest heron, a tall grey-and-white bird with a black cap that fills the same niche as the Grey Heron.
wading-bird
Nanday Conure
A green South American parakeet with a striking black head 'hood', blue-washed wings, and red thighs.
parrot
Lesser Goldfinch
The smallest North American goldfinch, a bright yellow-and-black finch of western gardens, scrub, and open woods.
songbird
Black Scoter
An all-black sea duck whose males show a bright orange-yellow knob at the base of the bill.
waterfowl
Crested Caracara
A bold, long-legged raptor with a black cap and bare orange face, often seen walking on the ground scavenging alongside vultures.
raptor
Kelp Gull
A widespread Southern Hemisphere gull with a black back and white head, ecologically similar to the Great Black-backed Gull of the north, and a rare vagrant to the Gulf Coast of North America.
seabird
Chestnut-mandibled Toucan
One of the largest toucans in the Americas, with black plumage, a yellow bib, and a long bill that is mostly black above with a distinctive chestnut-brown lower mandible.
other
Hooded Merganser
The smallest North American merganser, with males sporting a dramatic fan-shaped black-and-white crest.
waterfowl