Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Common Starling
A glossy, iridescent black bird famous for its speckled winter plumage, noisy chattering song, and spectacular murmuration flocks.
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
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
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
Cape Glossy Starling
A stocky southern African starling whose plumage shimmers with brilliant iridescent blue-green in the sun.
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
Violet-backed Starling
A small African starling with a striking sexual difference: males glow amethyst-violet while females are streaky brown and white.
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
Common Redstart
A brightly colored migratory chat of open woodland, the male showing a grey back, black face, and fiery orange breast and tail, constantly quivering its rufous tail.
songbird
Common Yellowthroat
A skulking marsh warbler with a bright yellow throat, best known for the male's bold black facial mask and witchety-witchety-witchety song.
songbird
Common Nighthawk
A cryptically patterned, long-winged aerial insect-hunter often seen at dusk with erratic, bat-like flight and a nasal "peent" call.
other
Common Redshank
A medium-sized, noisy sandpiper of European wetlands, nicknamed "the warden of the marshes" for its loud alarm calls, and easily told by its bright orange-red legs.
shorebird
Common Sandpiper
The Old World counterpart of the Spotted Sandpiper, a small, constantly bobbing shorebird found along rivers, streams, and lakes across Europe, Asia, and Africa.
shorebird
Common Goldeneye
A hardy cavity-nesting diving duck named for its brilliant golden-yellow eye, the drake bearing a round white cheek spot on a glossy dark green head.
waterfowl
Common Rosefinch
A sparrow-shaped finch whose adult males glow raspberry-red on the head and breast, best known for its cheerful, whistled song.
songbird
Common Murre
A slender, penguin-like auk with a dark brown-black back and white underparts, breeding in dense, noisy cliff colonies.
seabird
Common Pauraque
A resident Rio Grande Valley nightjar often spotted along roadsides at night by its reflective red eyeshine.
other
Common Redpoll
A tiny, hardy arctic finch with a red cap and black chin that irrupts south to feeders in some winters.
songbird
Common Kingfisher
A vivid jewel-toned kingfisher with electric-blue upperparts and orange underparts, often glimpsed as a flash of color over slow-moving rivers and ponds.
other
Common Loon
An iconic North American lake bird famed for its striking black-and-white checkered plumage and haunting, wavering calls.
seabird
Common Swift
A sooty-brown, scythe-winged aerial specialist that spends nearly its entire life airborne, screaming past rooftops in fast, wheeling parties.
other
Common Whitethroat
An animated scrubland warbler with a grey head, bright white throat, and chestnut-fringed wings, often seen bursting into a brief song-flight above the hedgerow.
songbird
Common Cuckoo
A slender, hawk-like grey bird famous for its far-carrying call and its habit of laying eggs in the nests of other species.
other