Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Red-shouldered Hawk
A colorful woodland buteo with rich rufous shoulders and underparts, closely tied to river bottoms and swampy forest.
raptor
Red-tailed Hawk
North America's most familiar large hawk, often seen soaring over highways or perched on poles, named for the adult's brick-red tail.
raptor
Ferruginous Hawk
The largest North American buteo, a pale, rusty-shouldered hawk of the open western prairie and shrub-steppe.
raptor
Red Kite
A large, russet raptor with a deeply forked tail, effortless soaring flight, and a habit of scavenging carrion.
raptor
Red-winged Blackbird
A glossy black marsh bird whose males display bold red-and-yellow shoulder patches while perched and singing atop cattails.
songbird
Swainson's Hawk
A long-winged prairie hawk famous for one of the longest migrations of any North American raptor, traveling all the way to the pampas of Argentina.
raptor
Harris's Hawk
A dark chocolate-brown desert hawk famous for hunting cooperatively in family groups, unlike almost any other raptor.
raptor
Cooper's Hawk
A medium-sized woodland hawk that has become a common backyard predator at bird feeders, agile enough to chase prey through dense cover.
raptor
Gray Hawk
A compact, pale gray hawk of southwestern river woodlands, agile enough to chase lizards through dense cottonwood canopy.
raptor
Zone-tailed Hawk
A blackish hawk that mimics the flight and silhouette of Turkey Vultures, letting it sneak up on unsuspecting prey.
raptor
Ornate Hawk-Eagle
A powerful, crested forest eagle with a striking black-and-rufous head pattern and boldly barred underparts, a top predator of the Neotropical canopy.
raptor
Rough-legged Hawk
A large arctic-breeding hawk with feathered legs, seen across open fields and marshes farther south in winter, known for its habit of hovering while hunting.
raptor
Northern Hawk Owl
A long-tailed, falcon-shaped boreal owl that hunts by day from exposed treetop perches like a hawk.
owl
Broad-winged Hawk
A compact eastern forest hawk famous for gathering by the thousands into swirling migratory "kettles" each fall.
raptor
White-tailed Hawk
A striking pale-headed hawk of coastal Texas prairies, sometimes seen gathering at grass fires to catch fleeing prey.
raptor
Sharp-shinned Hawk
North America's smallest accipiter, a compact, forest-dwelling hawk built for quick, agile pursuit of small songbirds.
raptor
Short-tailed Hawk
A compact tropical buteo, found in Florida in both dark and light color forms, that hunts songbirds from high overhead.
raptor
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
Black-collared Hawk
A rufous wetland raptor with a pale head and a distinctive black band across the upper breast, specialized for hunting fish over open water.
raptor
African Harrier-Hawk
A grey African raptor famed for its unusually flexible, double-jointed legs, which let it reach deep into tree holes and weaver-bird nests to extract prey.
raptor
White-tailed Kite
A pale, elegant hawk with black shoulder patches that hunts by hovering gracefully over open fields on beating wings.
raptor
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
A compact, agile woodland hawk with short rounded wings and a long tail, built for high-speed chases through trees.
raptor
Osprey
A large, fish-eating hawk found near water nearly worldwide, easily known by its white underparts, dark eye-stripe, and dramatic feet-first dive for fish.
raptor
Merlin
A compact, fast-flying falcon that chases down small birds with relentless, low-level pursuit rather than a high stoop.
raptor