Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Brown-headed Cowbird
A brood-parasitic blackbird whose glossy brown head contrasts with the male's black body, famous for laying eggs in other birds' nests.
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
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
Brown Pelican
A familiar coastal seabird known for its dramatic head-first plunge-dives from height into the ocean to catch fish, once endangered by DDT but now fully recovered.
seabird
Bronzed Cowbird
A stocky blackbird with a distinctive ruff of neck feathers and striking red eyes that, like other cowbirds, lays its eggs in the nests of other birds.
songbird
House Finch
A common backyard finch with the male showing rosy red on the head and breast and heavily streaked brown flanks.
songbird
Whitehead
A small, sociable North Island endemic songbird with a plain grey-brown body and a distinctive whitish head, usually encountered in noisy, active foraging flocks.
songbird
Tawny Owl
A stocky, big-headed nocturnal owl of European woodlands, best known for its familiar hooting duet.
owl
Common Myna
A brown-bodied, black-headed myna with bright yellow bill, legs, and bare eye patch, one of the world's most successful urban-adapted birds.
songbird
Masked Lovebird
A small East African parrot with a dark blackish-brown head, yellow collar, and a bold white eye-ring.
parrot
Ruddy Shelduck
A warm orange-brown, goose-like duck with a pale head and dark tail, often seen in pairs on open wetlands.
waterfowl
Canada Goose
A familiar large goose with a black head and neck, white chinstrap, and brown body, common on lawns and lakes across North America.
waterfowl
Yellow-billed Grosbeak
A stocky finch with an oversized yellow bill tipped in black, a black head (in males), and grey-brown body plumage.
songbird
Hamerkop
A uniquely shaped brown wading bird with a hammer-shaped head, famed for building enormous, elaborate stick nests.
wading-bird
Golden Eagle
A massive, powerful eagle of open western landscapes, dark brown overall with golden feathering on the back of the head and neck.
raptor
Dunnock
An unassuming, streaky brown European songbird with a gray head and breast, often seen shuffling quietly beneath hedges and shrubs.
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
Australian Wood Duck
A distinctive grey-brown duck with a dark chocolate head and small mane, more often seen grazing on grass than swimming.
waterfowl
White-throated Kingfisher
A vividly colored kingfisher with turquoise-blue upperparts, a chocolate-brown head, and a bright white throat, often seen far from water.
other
Willow Ptarmigan
A tundra grouse and Alaska's state bird, turning pure white in winter and rich mottled rufous-brown in summer, with males retaining a chestnut head and neck longest into spring.
gamebird
Northern Pintail
An elegant, slender dabbling duck named for the male's long, needle-like tail, marked by a chocolate-brown head and a crisp white neck stripe.
waterfowl
Bearded Bellbird
A striking cotinga whose male has a brown head, white body, and a curtain of dangling black wattles, and whose loud, bell-like call carries far through the forest.
songbird
Australasian Figbird
A stocky oriole relative with a patch of bare red or pink skin around the eye; males show a grey head and olive-green body, while females are streaky brown, and both gather in noisy flocks at fruiting fig trees.
songbird
Black-capped Vireo
A small vireo of Texas oak scrub with a glossy black cap, bold white spectacles, and a red eye, a conservation success story after habitat restoration and cowbird control.
songbird