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.
Kalij Pheasant
A forest pheasant of the Himalayan foothills and South Asia, with males showing overall glossy blue-black plumage and red facial skin, and considerable variation in pale scaling among subspecies.
gamebird
Hooded Oriole
A slender oriole closely tied to palm trees, with adult males showing a bright orange-yellow hood set off by a black face, throat, and back, and a notably curved bill.
songbird
Mexican Chickadee
The Mexican Chickadee is a mountain specialist found in high-elevation pine forests, notable for its extensive black bib that extends further down the chest than in most other chickadees.
songbird
Common Redstart
The Common Redstart is a small songbird named for its bright rufous-red tail feathers, which it constantly quivers, contrasting with a slate-grey back and black face in breeding males.
songbird
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
Golden-hooded Tanager
A jewel-like songbird of Central American and northern South American forests, the Golden-hooded Tanager combines a black facial mask with a turquoise-and-gold crown and blue-green body.
songbird
Flame-colored Tanager
A mountain-forest tanager of Mexico and Central America, the male Flame-colored Tanager combines orange-red body plumage with a distinctively black-streaked back and white wing bars.
songbird
Elliot's Pheasant
A richly patterned Chinese forest pheasant, with males showing a chestnut body, blue-grey head, crisp white throat patch, and a long chestnut tail barred in black and white.
gamebird
Bateleur
A striking African eagle relative known for its extremely short tail and rocking, tightrope-walker flight style, with black body plumage, a chestnut back, and pale flight feathers.
raptor
Zebra Dove
A small Southeast Asian dove covered in bold black-and-white barring across the neck, breast, and flanks, giving it a distinctly zebra-striped look.
dove pigeon
Willet
A large, plain-looking shorebird that transforms in flight, revealing a bold black-and-white wing pattern unlike any other North American sandpiper.
shorebird
Southern Red Bishop
A small African weaver whose breeding males turn brilliant scarlet and black, one of the most vividly colored birds of Africa's wetland grasses.
songbird
Southern White-faced Owl
A small grey African owl with a strikingly white facial disc rimmed in black and small ear tufts, known for dramatic threat and concealment postures.
owl
Spot-breasted Woodpecker
A South American woodpecker with a yellow-green barred back and a breast marked by bold black spots, favoring open and semi-open wooded habitat.
woodpecker
Scarlet Tanager
A jewel of the eastern deciduous forest canopy, the breeding male Scarlet Tanager combines brilliant scarlet body plumage with jet-black wings and tail.
songbird
Piping Plover
A pale, sand-colored North American plover with an often broken black breast band, closely tied to open sandy beaches and alkaline lakeshores.
shorebird
Puerto Rican Woodpecker
An island-endemic woodpecker found only in Puerto Rico, showing a bold black chest band across an otherwise pale, cream-colored underside.
woodpecker
Japanese Grosbeak
A large, heavy-billed finch of East Asian forests, recognized by its black head, gray-brown body, and oversized pale-yellow bill.
songbird
Hooded Merganser
The Hooded Merganser is a small, richly patterned fish-eating duck whose male displays a spectacular fan-shaped white crest bordered in black.
waterfowl
Mountain Chickadee
The Mountain Chickadee is a western conifer-forest specialist whose black cap is broken by a bold white eyebrow stripe not seen in other common chickadees.
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
Gray Catbird
A slim, uniformly slate-gray songbird named for its cat-like mewing call, with a black cap and a hidden rufous patch beneath the tail.
songbird
Gambel's Quail
A desert-dwelling quail of the southwestern United States, closely related to the California Quail but distinguished by a chestnut crown patch and a black belly patch on males.
gamebird
Common Green Magpie
A vividly green forest corvid with a bold black mask and chestnut wing patch, whose color can fade toward blue in old feathers.
corvid