Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ birds — with size, habitat, diet, voice, behavior, and the field marks that tell them apart.
Bush Stone-curlew
A large, cryptic ground bird with enormous yellow eyes and an eerie, wailing call heard mostly after dark.
shorebird
Curlew Sandpiper
A graceful sandpiper with a long, evenly curved bill and, in breeding plumage, a rich brick-red body unlike any other small sandpiper.
shorebird
Eurasian Curlew
The largest wader in Europe, with a long downcurved bill and a haunting, bubbling call that echoes across moorland and estuaries alike.
shorebird
Long-billed Curlew
North America's largest shorebird, unmistakable for its extremely long, dramatically downcurved bill and warm cinnamon-buff plumage.
shorebird
Whimbrel
A medium-sized curlew with a boldly striped crown and long decurved bill, found on nearly every coastline in the world outside the breeding season.
shorebird
European Stonechat
A small, perky chat of gorse-covered heathland, the male showing a black head, white collar patches, and a bright orange breast, with a call like clicking stones.
songbird
Apostlebird
A dusty grey, ground-foraging Australian bird famous for moving through open woodland in noisy, cooperative family groups traditionally said to number around twelve.
songbird
Curve-billed Thrasher
A common, noisy desert thrasher with a long downcurved bill and orange-red eyes, often seen atop cactus in the Southwest.
songbird
Curl-crested Aracari
An unmistakable toucan relative with a crown of glossy, curled black feathers resembling patent-leather curls, plus a vividly patterned yellow-and-black bill.
other
Cockatoo
A family of large, crested parrots native to Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, distinguished by their erectile crests and mostly white, black, pink, or grey plumage.
parrot
Song Thrush
A warm brown, spot-breasted garden thrush famous for smashing snail shells on favorite stone "anvils" and for its loud, repetitive song.
songbird
Mexican Jay
A plain blue-and-gray jay of southwestern mountain oak woodlands that lives in cooperative family flocks year-round.
songbird
Hawfinch
Europe's largest finch, a stocky, shy woodland bird with an enormous, powerful bill built for cracking cherry stones.
songbird
Greater Coucal
A large, crow-sized cuckoo-family bird with glossy black body, chestnut wings, and a deep, resonant booming call.
other
Harris's Hawk
A dark chocolate-brown desert hawk famous for hunting cooperatively in family groups, unlike almost any other raptor.
raptor
Green Wood Hoopoe
A glossy, iridescent African bird with a long curved red bill and tail, known for its raucous cackling calls and tight-knit family groups.
other
Ruddy Turnstone
A stocky, boldly patterned shorebird that flips stones, shells, and seaweed on the beach with its short, wedge-shaped bill in search of food.
shorebird
Blue-winged Kookaburra
A large, pale-eyed kingfisher of northern Australia known for its harsh, cackling calls given by family groups at dawn and dusk.
other
Olive Warbler
A pine-forest specialist with a tawny-orange head and black mask, now classified in its own unique family separate from true warblers.
songbird
Southern Ground Hornbill
A large, mostly ground-dwelling African hornbill with black plumage, vivid red facial skin, and deep, booming dawn calls, walking savannas in tight-knit family groups.
other
African Skimmer
A slender riverine skimmer of sub-Saharan Africa with an orange-yellow, black-tipped bill, sharing the family's unique lower-mandible-skimming feeding technique.
seabird
Superb Fairywren
A tiny, cooperatively breeding songbird whose breeding males flash brilliant iridescent blue against black, a familiar sight in southeastern Australian gardens.
songbird
White Tern
An entirely white, ethereal tern with large dark eyes that famously balances its single egg on a bare tree branch without building any nest at all.
seabird
Variegated Fairywren
A small, colorful fairywren whose breeding males combine blue, black, and a bright chestnut shoulder patch, found widely across mainland Australia's scrub and woodland.
songbird