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.
Griffon Vulture
A large Old World vulture with warm tawny-brown body feathers, contrasting dark flight feathers, and a distinctive white downy ruff at the base of the neck.
raptor
Greater White-fronted Goose
A brown, scale-patterned goose named for the band of white feathers at the base of its bill, with variable black barring across the belly that gives it the nickname "specklebelly."
waterfowl
Black Rosy-Finch
A dark, blackish-brown alpine finch of western North America's highest peaks, set off by rosy-pink wing feathering and a grey crown patch.
songbird
Balsas Screech-Owl
A little-known small owl endemic to Mexico's Balsas River basin, with subdued grey-brown, finely vermiculated plumage suited to dry tropical forest.
owl
Tambourine Dove
The Tambourine Dove is a small forest dove with a strikingly white face and underparts set against brown upperparts marked with dark wing spots.
dove pigeon
Swainson's Warbler
Swainson's Warbler is a plain, secretive brown warbler of southeastern thickets, best known for a rich, ringing song rather than bold plumage.
songbird
Little Wattlebird
The Little Wattlebird is a large, grey-brown honeyeater with a rufous wing patch and a long tail, best known for its harsh, coughing calls.
songbird
Little Bittern
The Old World counterpart to the Least Bittern, a tiny, secretive marsh heron with a black cap and back in males and warmer brown tones in females.
wading bird
Song Sparrow
The Song Sparrow is a widespread, geographically variable sparrow whose brown-streaked feathers often converge into a distinctive central dark spot on the breast.
songbird
Common Sandpiper
The Old World counterpart to the Spotted Sandpiper, this small brown-and-white shorebird constantly bobs its tail as it forages along freshwater edges.
shorebird
Asian Koel
A vocal, sexually dimorphic cuckoo found across South and Southeast Asia, males glossy black and females brown with dense pale spotting.
other
Bar-tailed Godwit
A high-Arctic-breeding godwit renowned for extraordinary nonstop transoceanic migratory flights, showing a finely barred tail and rich brick-red breeding underparts quite different from the bold black tail of the related Black-tailed Godwit.
shorebird
Corsican Finch
A close relative of the Citril Finch restricted to Corsica and Sardinia, showing a duller, browner plumage than its mainland counterpart.
songbird
Wild Turkey
A large North American gamebird with iridescent bronze-green body feathers, a broad fan-shaped tail banded in dark brown and buff, and a bare, colorful head.
gamebird
White-tailed Eagle
A massive coastal eagle whose short, white, wedge-shaped tail feathers and pale straw head contrast strongly with dark brown body plumage in adults.
raptor
Sharp-tailed Grouse
A prairie grouse recognized by its mottled brown plumage, V-shaped chevron markings on the underside, and a short, pointed central tail used in a distinctive courtship dance.
gamebird
Spotted Eagle-Owl
A common, adaptable eagle-owl of African savanna and rocky country, mottled grayish-brown with bold dark spotting, often seen roosting near human settlements.
owl
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
Northern Saw-whet Owl
One of the smallest owls in North America, with soft reddish-brown, white-streaked plumage, no ear tufts, and a distinctive whitish facial disc bordered by a dark rim.
owl
Mottled Owl
A medium-sized, ear-tuftless wood owl of Neotropical forest, its feathers finely mottled in dark and pale brown, with whitish eyebrows and buffy, streaked underparts.
owl
Lark Bunting
A North American prairie songbird whose breeding males turn nearly all black with a bold white wing patch, a striking contrast to the streaky brown females.
songbird
Kaka
A large forest parrot of New Zealand, the Kaka has olive-brown plumage that conceals a flash of bright crimson under the wings and across the rump, revealed in flight.
parrot
Indian Peacock-Pheasant
A forest-floor gamebird of South and Southeast Asia whose grayish-brown plumage is studded with dozens of shimmering blue-green eyespots across the wings and long tail.
gamebird
Cinereous Vulture
One of the heaviest flying raptors, with uniformly dark brown plumage, a dense dark ruff, and broad flight feathers adapted for soaring across open Eurasian terrain.
raptor