Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Cape Glossy Starling
A stocky southern African starling whose plumage shimmers with brilliant iridescent blue-green in the sun.
songbird
Common Starling
A glossy, iridescent black bird famous for its speckled winter plumage, noisy chattering song, and spectacular murmuration flocks.
songbird
Superb Starling
A common, strikingly colorful East African starling with a metallic blue-green back, chestnut belly, and a bold white breast band, familiar around safari camps and towns.
songbird
European Starling
A stocky, iridescent black songbird introduced to North America in the 1890s, known for its speckled winter plumage, versatile mimicry, and massive flocks.
songbird
Rose-coloured Starling
A striking pink-and-black starling that breeds in huge, irruptive colonies often tied to outbreaks of locusts and grasshoppers.
songbird
Golden-breasted Starling
A dazzling East African starling with a shimmering emerald-and-violet body, golden-yellow belly, and an extravagantly long tail.
songbird
Asian Koel
A large, red-eyed cuckoo whose loud, rising 'ko-el' call announces the arrival of spring and summer across South Asian towns.
other
Violet-backed Starling
A small African starling with a striking sexual difference: males glow amethyst-violet while females are streaky brown and white.
songbird
White-cheeked Starling
A sooty grey-brown starling with a bold white face patch and orange-yellow bill, common in farmland and cities across East Asia.
songbird
Asian Brown Flycatcher
A plain, understated grey-brown flycatcher best identified by its upright posture, white eye-ring, and habit of sallying out after insects.
songbird
Greater Blue-eared Starling
A widespread African starling with glossy blue-green plumage and a violet-blue ear patch, often confused with the closely related Lesser Blue-eared Starling.
songbird
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
Purple Sunbird
A tiny, hyperactive sunbird whose breeding male glitters iridescent purple-black in the sun.
songbird
Black-hooded Oriole
A vivid golden-yellow oriole with a solid black hood and black-and-yellow wings, often heard before it is seen in leafy canopy.
songbird
Japanese Tit
A cheerful East Asian tit with a glossy black head, white cheek patches, and a bold black stripe down its yellowish-white underside.
songbird
Spectacled Owl
A large, dark-headed owl named for the bold white "spectacles" that ring its eyes, with a strikingly different all-white juvenile plumage.
owl
Little Blue Heron
A small heron of American wetlands, slate-blue as an adult but confusingly all-white as a juvenile, undergoing a mottled transition in its second year.
wading-bird
Ring-necked Pheasant
An Asian-native, farmland-loving pheasant with an iridescent green head, red face wattles, and a long pointed tail on the flashy male.
gamebird
Rhinoceros Hornbill
A striking Southeast Asian rainforest hornbill named for its large, upward-curving red-and-yellow casque resembling a rhinoceros horn.
other
Sarus Crane
The world's tallest flying bird, a grey crane with a bare red head and neck, revered in South Asian culture as a symbol of marital fidelity.
wading-bird
Painted Stork
A colorful South and Southeast Asian stork with a white and pink body, black-barred wings, and a curved orange-yellow bill.
wading-bird
Northern Lapwing
A crested, iridescent plover of European and Asian farmland, known for its tumbling display flights and wheezy "pee-wit" call.
shorebird
Indian Skimmer
A striking black-capped skimmer of South Asian rivers, now Endangered due to widespread loss of undisturbed sandbar habitat along major waterways.
seabird
Chinese Bulbul
A widespread East Asian bulbul with an olive-green body, a black-and-white patterned head, and a distinctive white patch behind the eye.
songbird