Feather & Bird Encyclopedia
Search and identify feathers by species — with feather type, plumage, colours, size, habitat, and how to tell them apart in the field.
Eurasian Spoonbill
A tall, all-white wading bird with a distinctive spoon-shaped bill, recognized by its clean white plumage and, in breeding season, a shaggy nape crest and pale yellow breast band.
wading bird
Barn Owl
An elegant, heart-faced owl whose golden, finely speckled upperparts and ghostly pale underside make its feathers instantly distinctive among owls.
owl
Australian Raven
A large, widespread Australian raven known for long, shaggy throat hackle feathers and a distinctive mournful, drawn-out call.
corvid
Eurasian Scops Owl
The Eurasian Scops Owl is a small, migratory owl of southern Europe and parts of Asia, known for its cryptic bark-patterned plumage and a monotonous, far-carrying whistled call.
owl
Great Egret
A tall, all-white heron with a long yellow bill and black legs, famous for the delicate plumes it grows during the breeding season.
wading bird
Red Crossbill
A stocky finch with a distinctively crossed bill adapted for prying seeds from conifer cones, males brick-red and females olive-toned.
songbird
Black-headed Gull
A small, gregarious Old World gull whose chocolate-brown (not black) hood and white leading-edge wing wedge make it easy to pick out from mixed flocks.
seabird
Greater Yellownape
A large, uniformly olive-green woodpecker of Asian forests, best recognized by its shaggy yellow nape crest rather than the black-and-white patterning typical of pied woodpeckers.
woodpecker
Lesser Yellownape
A smaller relative of the Greater Yellownape, sharing its olive-green body and yellow crest but distinguished by its modest size and a small red patch on the male's head.
woodpecker
Greater Flameback
A large, brilliantly colored Asian woodpecker whose golden 'flame' back gives the species its name, topped by a bushy red crest in males.
woodpecker
Little Raven
The smallest of Australia's raven species, common across farmland and open woodland in the continent's southeast.
corvid
Black-rumped Flameback
A widespread South Asian woodpecker whose golden back is paired with a black rump, the reverse of its red-rumped Southeast Asian cousin.
woodpecker
Chihuahuan Raven
A desert raven of the American Southwest, smaller than the Common Raven, with hidden white feather bases at the neck.
corvid
Channel-billed Toucan
A widespread Amazonian toucan with a mostly dark bill and warm yellow-orange chest, common in lowland rainforest canopy.
other
Golden-breasted Bunting
A brightly marked African bunting with a striped black-and-white head and vivid yellow underparts, common in savanna woodland.
songbird
Blue-tailed Bee-eater
A slender green bee-eater with a distinctive blue tail and rump, common across South and Southeast Asian lowlands.
other
Silver Gull
A common and adaptable Australian gull with white plumage, pale grey wings, and black wingtips marked with white spots.
seabird
Scottish Crossbill
A crossbill endemic to Scotland's native pinewoods, intermediate in bill size between the Common and Parrot Crossbills it closely resembles.
songbird
Clay-colored Sparrow
A pale, buffy sparrow with a gray nape and crisp brown ear patch outline, common in brushy prairie habitats.
songbird
Sanderling
The palest of the common small sandpipers, famous for chasing retreating waves on open sandy beaches in tight, fast-moving flocks.
shorebird
Hoary Redpoll
A pale, frosty-looking northern finch closely related to the Common Redpoll, breeding at even higher latitudes across the Arctic.
songbird
Yellow-vented Bulbul
A common Southeast Asian songbird with brown upperparts, pale underparts, a dark eye stripe, and a bright yellow vent patch.
songbird
Spotless Starling
A glossy black starling of Iberia and northwest Africa closely resembling the Common Starling but lacking the pale spangling in breeding plumage.
songbird
Red-vented Bulbul
A common South Asian songbird with a short crest, dark scaly-edged plumage, and a bright red patch under the tail.
songbird