Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
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
Yellow-throated Warbler
A gray-backed warbler with a bright yellow throat and bold black-and-white face pattern, well adapted for creeping along bark and probing pine needle clusters and Spanish moss.
songbird
Common Eider
A large, heavy-bodied sea duck of northern coasts, breeding males are strikingly patterned in black and white with a pale green nape, while females are finely barred brown.
waterfowl
Common Redpoll
A tiny, hardy arctic finch with a red cap and black chin that irrupts south to feeders in some winters.
songbird
Common Nighthawk
A master of aerial acrobatics, the Common Nighthawk is a cryptically patterned nightjar easily recognized by the bold white bars on its long, pointed wings as it hunts insects at dusk.
other
Common Poorwill
The smallest North American nightjar, famous for its ability to enter a prolonged state of torpor to survive cold winters.
other
Common Goldeneye
A medium-sized diving duck named for its striking yellow eyes, known for the high-pitched whistling sound produced by its wings in flight.
waterfowl
Common Pauraque
A master of camouflage, this widespread nocturnal nightjar of the Americas is famous for its distinctive nighttime whistling call and bright orange face patches.
other
Common Shelduck
A large, goose-like duck with a bold white body crossed by a broad chestnut breast band and a glossy dark green head, common along Eurasian coasts.
waterfowl
Common Merganser
A large, sleek fish-eating duck with a slender hooked, serrated bill; breeding males have a glossy dark green head and clean white body.
waterfowl
Common Raven
A massive, highly intelligent black corvid with a wedge-shaped tail and deep croaking voice, found across a vast range of wild habitats.
songbird
Common Grackle
A large, iridescent blackbird with a long keel-shaped tail and pale yellow eyes, common across eastern and central North America.
songbird
Common Black Hawk
A broad-winged, all-black hawk tightly tied to desert rivers, where it wades and forages for crabs and other aquatic prey.
raptor
Common Ground Dove
North America's smallest dove, a tiny, scaly-patterned bird of the southern states that scurries on the ground and flashes rufous in its wings when it flies.
other
Yellow-throated Vireo
A canopy-dwelling eastern vireo with a bright yellow throat and spectacles, olive back, and a slow, burry song.
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
Red Crossbill
A stocky finch with uniquely crossed mandibles specially adapted to pry seeds from conifer cones.
songbird
American Crow
A highly intelligent, all-black corvid famous for its adaptability, problem-solving, and complex social behavior.
songbird
Bushtit
A tiny, plain gray-brown songbird that travels in noisy, tumbling flocks and builds an elaborate hanging sock-like nest.
songbird
Black Scoter
A small, entirely black sea duck; males have a simple bright yellow-orange knob at the base of the bill, the plainest but most vocal of the scoters.
waterfowl
Northern Cardinal
A brilliant all-red songbird with a prominent crest and thick orange-red bill, common at backyard feeders across the eastern and central U.S.
songbird
Rock Pigeon
The familiar city pigeon, descended from wild cliff-dwelling birds of Eurasia and North Africa, now found in urban centers worldwide in a huge range of colors and patterns.
other
Barn Owl
A pale, heart-faced owl of open farmland, famous for its ghostly white underside and near-silent, moth-like flight.
owl
Ring-necked Pheasant
A large, long-tailed introduced pheasant whose iridescent copper-and-green males are a familiar sight in farm country.
gamebird