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.
Peregrine Falcon
A powerful, fast-flying falcon found on nearly every continent, famous for high-speed hunting stoops and identified by its slate-gray back, bold black facial 'moustache,' and finely barred underparts.
raptor
Mitred Conure
A largely green Andean conure marked by variable patches of red mottling around the face and eyes, along with scattered red feathering on the wings and legs.
parrot
Patagonian Conure
A large, earth-toned South American parrot notable for nesting in burrows dug into cliff faces, identified by its olive-brown upperparts and a bright yellow-and-red patch across the lower belly.
parrot
Mistle Thrush
The largest and boldest-marked of the common European thrushes, with large, rounded blackish spots on cream underparts and white corners visible on the outer tail feathers.
songbird
Peaceful Dove
A small, gentle Australian dove with fine dark barring across the neck and breast and a soft, pale blue ring around the eye.
dove pigeon
Military Macaw
A green macaw with a small red forehead patch and blue-edged wing and tail feathers, found in foothill forests and canyon country from Mexico to South America.
parrot
Paradise Tanager
One of the most vividly colored songbirds in the world, the Paradise Tanager combines a turquoise-green head, black back, red rump, and purplish-blue throat in a single small canopy bird.
songbird
Metallic Pigeon
The Metallic Pigeon is a dark island pigeon named for the glossy green-and-purple iridescent sheen across its neck feathers, often paired with a contrasting white throat.
dove pigeon
Palm Cockatoo
A large, distinctive black cockatoo with a shaggy crest and bright red bare facial skin that can flush more intensely when the bird is excited.
parrot
Merlin
A small, fast, direct-flying falcon of open northern landscapes, males showing slate-blue upperparts while females and juveniles are brown, both with heavily streaked underparts and no bold facial moustache.
raptor
Palm Tanager
A close relative of the Blue-gray Tanager, the Palm Tanager shows a more subdued olive-gray to greenish tone overall with darker wings and little of the brighter blue accent of its cousin.
songbird
Meadow Pipit
The Meadow Pipit is a small, streaky brown songbird of open country, its cryptic, heavily streaked feathers providing camouflage against grass and heather.
songbird
Palm-nut Vulture
An unusual, mostly white African vulture closely tied to oil palm groves and coastal wetlands, with black flight feathers and a partly black tail breaking up its pale plumage.
raptor
Meadow Bunting
The Meadow Bunting is an East Asian bunting of shrubby grassland and farmland edge, with breeding males showing a chestnut breast and rump set against a buff-and-black striped face.
songbird
Pale-vented Pigeon
A tropical pigeon of Central and South American lowlands, showing a warm purplish-bronze head and breast that gives way to a notably pale lower belly and vent.
dove pigeon
Mauritius Kestrel
The Mauritius Kestrel is a small, endemic island falcon famed as a major conservation success story, having recovered from a population of just a handful of individuals to a stable population in native forest habitat.
raptor
Pallas's Rosefinch
A rosefinch of Siberian and northeast Asian forests, with adult males showing an overall rose-pink plumage frosted with silvery-white on the head.
songbird
Masked Lapwing
A large, boldly patterned Australasian plover, the Masked Lapwing is best known for its striking yellow facial wattles and sharp wing spurs, with plain brown-and-white feathers that contrast with its ornate bare-part features.
shorebird
Pale-billed Woodpecker
A large Middle American woodpecker closely related to the Crimson-crested and Ivory-billed Woodpeckers, recognized by its fully red head and pale, ivory-toned bill.
woodpecker
Masked Duck
A small, secretive stiff-tailed duck; breeding males are rich cinnamon densely marked with black spots and a black facial mask, while females are duller brown with striped faces.
waterfowl
Palestine Sunbird
A small Middle Eastern sunbird whose males appear almost entirely glossy dark blue-black, with hidden orange tufts flashed during display.
songbird
Masked Booby
The largest booby species, with a clean white body set off by black flight feathers, a black tail, and a dark facial mask around the bill.
seabird
Painted Redstart
A boldly patterned black warbler with a bright red breast patch and large white patches on the wings and outer tail, constantly fanning its tail while foraging.
songbird
Martial Eagle
The Martial Eagle is Africa's largest eagle, with dark grey-brown upperparts, a white underside heavily spotted with brown-black, and immense broad wings built for powerful soaring over savanna.
raptor
Painted Bunting
Often called the most colorful songbird in North America, the male Painted Bunting shows a blue head, red underparts, and green back all on the same bird, while females are a uniform bright green.
songbird
Marsh Tit
A plain-plumaged woodland tit with a small, neat glossy black cap and bib set against pale buff-brown body feathers, with plain wings lacking any wingbar.
songbird
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
A yellowish-toned Empidonax flycatcher of western forests, showing a somewhat teardrop-shaped eye-ring and warm buffy wing bars.
songbird
Marsh Owl
The Marsh Owl is a plain, tawny-brown ground-nesting owl of African grasslands and marshes, distinguished by its inconspicuous ear tufts and preference for open, low vegetation.
owl
Pacific Wren
A tiny, dark rufous-brown wren of western old-growth forest understory, nearly identical to the Winter Wren but distinguished mainly by range and its distinctly different song.
songbird
Malachite Kingfisher
A jewel-toned African kingfisher with an electric-blue back and a shaggy blue-and-black crest, often seen perched low over quiet water.
other
Pacific Black Duck
The Pacific Black Duck is a mottled dark brown dabbling duck with a distinctive pale face crossed by dark eye stripes, common on wetlands across Australia and the Pacific.
waterfowl
Major Mitchell's Cockatoo
A pale pink cockatoo of Australia's arid interior, best known for its spectacular crest banded with red, yellow, and white when raised.
parrot
Ovenbird
A ground-dwelling warbler that looks more like a small thrush, with heavily streaked underparts and a bold orange crown stripe bordered in black.
songbird
Magnolia Warbler
A small, boldly patterned wood-warbler with a black "necklace" of streaking on a yellow breast, breeding in northern conifer forests.
songbird
Osprey
The Osprey is a fish-eating raptor with dark brown upperparts, a white head marked by a bold dark eye-stripe, white underparts, and long, angled wings showing a distinctive dark carpal patch and barred flight feathers.
raptor
Magnificent Frigatebird
A large, aerial seabird with long angular wings and a deeply forked tail, glossy black in males and marked with a white breast patch in females.
seabird
Oriental Pied Hornbill
The Oriental Pied Hornbill is a medium-sized Asian hornbill with strongly contrasting black-and-white plumage, including a tail marked with white outer feathers. It is one of the more adaptable hornbills, tolerating forest edge and even wooded parkland.
other
Magellanic Woodpecker
A spectacular, crow-sized woodpecker of Patagonian beech forests, with the male's entire head blazing red and crowned by a distinctive forward-curling crest.
woodpecker
Oriental Magpie
An East Asian magpie closely related to the Eurasian Magpie, recognized by its glossy black-and-white pattern and a somewhat shorter tail than its western relatives.
corvid
MacGillivray's Warbler
A western skulking warbler closely resembling the Mourning Warbler but distinguished by bold broken white crescents above and below the eye.
songbird
Oriental Greenfinch
An East Asian finch with olive-green body plumage and bright yellow flashes in the wings and tail, closely related to the European Greenfinch.
songbird
Madagascar Turtle Dove
A grey-brown dove of Madagascar and nearby islands, easily told by the neat black-and-white striped patch on the sides of its neck.
dove pigeon
Orchard Oriole
The smallest North American oriole, with adult males showing a rich chestnut body against a black hood and back, while females and young males wear a more subdued olive-yellow plumage.
songbird
Long-tailed Tit
A tiny, round-bodied tit with an extraordinarily long tail exceeding its body length, patterned in black, white, and soft dusky pink, among the most distinctive silhouettes in European woodland.
songbird
Orange-crowned Warbler
An overall dull olive-yellow warbler with faint, blurry underpart streaking and a mostly concealed orange crown patch rarely visible in the field.
songbird
Long-tailed Sylph
An Andean cloud-forest hummingbird whose male trails an extravagantly long, deeply forked, iridescent blue-green tail far exceeding the length of its body.
hummingbird
Orange-breasted Sunbird
A fynbos specialist sunbird from South Africa's Cape region, with males showing an iridescent green head, a violet nape band, and a bright orange breast.
songbird
Long-tailed Rosefinch
A rosefinch distinguished by its unusually long, graduated tail combined with pink and grey-brown streaked plumage in males.
songbird