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.
Welcome Swallow
The Welcome Swallow is a small, agile aerial insectivore with glossy blue-black upperparts, a rufous face, and a deeply forked tail, common over open country and towns.
songbird
Thick-billed Murre
A stocky, high-latitude relative of the Common Murre, distinguished by blacker upperparts, a thicker bill marked with a pale line along the gape, and a hardier tolerance for icy waters.
seabird
Superb Starling
A dazzling East African songbird with glossy blue-green upperparts, a bold white breast band, and a warm chestnut-orange belly, common around towns and savanna.
songbird
Little Ringed Plover
A small Old World plover closely resembling the Common Ringed Plover but distinguished by a bright yellow eye-ring and a preference for freshwater riverbanks over coastal beaches.
shorebird
Sacred Ibis
A large white wading bird with a bare black head and curved black bill, historically significant in ancient Egyptian culture and common across African wetlands today.
wading bird
Rock Kestrel
The Rock Kestrel is the resident southern African counterpart of the Common Kestrel, sharing a rufous, black-spotted back and grey head, hunting over open grassland and farmland.
raptor
Hadada Ibis
A loud, common African ibis best known for its raucous dawn call and the iridescent bronze-green patch on its otherwise plain grey-brown wings.
wading bird
California Towhee
The California Towhee is a large, plain brown sparrow relative common in West Coast gardens and chaparral, best known for its rufous undertail and persistent chip calls.
songbird
California Quail
A familiar western quail known for the male's forward-drooping black head plume and scaled gray-brown body feathers, common in chaparral and suburban gardens alike.
gamebird
White-cheeked Pintail
A Caribbean and South American dabbling duck with a sharply demarcated white cheek and throat patch set against a dark crown, and a warm buffy body heavily marked with dark spots.
waterfowl
Golden-olive Woodpecker
A Neotropical woodpecker with a warm olive-golden back and grey face, ranging from Mexico through Central America into the Andean foothills of South America.
woodpecker
Sedge Wren
A tiny North American wren of wet sedge meadows, streaked above with a short indistinct eyebrow and a habit of cocking its short tail.
songbird
Scaled Dove
A small South American dove whose breast and neck feathers carry dark, crescent-shaped edges that overlap like fish scales.
dove pigeon
Ocellated Turkey
A striking Central American turkey with vivid blue-bronze iridescent body feathers and tail feathers marked with distinctive eye-shaped spots.
gamebird
Montezuma Quail
A round, secretive quail of southwestern grasslands, with males showing one of the boldest black-and-white facial patterns of any North American gamebird.
gamebird
Blue-necked Tanager
A brilliantly patterned South American tanager with a glossy blue head and neck set off by black upperparts and a warm chestnut belly patch.
songbird
Green-rumped Parrotlet
The Green-rumped Parrotlet is a tiny South American parrot, mostly green in both sexes, with males distinguished by blue patches on the wings and back.
parrot
Fulvous Owl
A tawny-toned relative of the Barred Owl found in Central American highland forests, recognizable by its warm fulvous coloring and heavy barring.
owl
Tufted Titmouse
The Tufted Titmouse is a common eastern woodland bird known for its jaunty gray crest feathers and soft, plain-gray body feathers washed with rust along the flanks.
songbird
Red-breasted Merganser
The Red-breasted Merganser is a slim, crested fish-eating duck with a shaggy double crest and a streaked rusty breast that sets it apart from its Common Merganser relative.
waterfowl
Prairie Warbler
A small yellow wood-warbler with chestnut streaks on the back and bold facial markings, common in shrubby old fields and pine barrens, often seen bobbing its tail.
songbird
Coal Tit
The smallest common European tit, with a black head, white cheeks, and a distinctive white patch on the nape, paired with buff underparts and two white wingbars on grey-olive wings.
songbird
Barrow's Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye is a striking western and northern diving duck distinguished from the similar Common Goldeneye by a crescent-shaped white face patch and bolder black markings on the back.
waterfowl
Australian Hobby
The Australian Hobby is a small, fast, dark-headed falcon resembling a miniature Peregrine, with slate-grey upperparts and rufous-orange underparts, common across open woodland and towns.
raptor