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.
Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle
A massive, broad-winged raptor of the Andes and southern grasslands, recognized by its silvery flight feathers, short wedge tail, and sharply contrasting black chest patch against a white belly.
raptor
Common Flameback
A gold-backed Southeast Asian woodpecker whose bright red rump and bold black-and-white facial stripes make its shed feathers relatively easy to place among the region's 'flamebacks.'
woodpecker
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
Great Black-backed Gull
The world's largest gull, the Great Black-backed Gull shows strikingly dark slate-black mantle feathers contrasting with a pure white head and body, and is a powerful predator as well as scavenger along North Atlantic coasts.
seabird
Andean Siskin
A modestly plumaged high-Andean finch with streaky brown-olive feathering, adapted to cold paramo grasslands rather than showy display.
songbird
Andean Condor
The largest raptor by wingspan in the world, with mostly black plumage set off by a white neck ruff and bold white upperwing patches in males.
raptor
Great Grey Shrike
A pale gray Eurasian predator songbird with a black mask and long tail, often seen perched conspicuously atop bushes or wires while watching for prey.
songbird
Andean Hillstar
A high-altitude specialist hummingbird of the Andean puna, showing a white belly and, in males, a glittering green throat above a violet breast band.
hummingbird
Marabou Stork
A massive African scavenging stork with a bald pink head, an enormous bill, and a dangling throat pouch, often seen alongside vultures at carcasses and rubbish dumps.
wading bird
Greylag Goose
A bulky gray-brown goose, ancestor of most domestic geese breeds, recognized by its heavy orange-pink bill and a pale bluish-gray patch on the forewing.
waterfowl
Wandering Tattler
A uniformly slate-gray shorebird of rocky Pacific coastlines, lacking any wing pattern and constantly bobbing as it forages among tide pools.
shorebird
Juniper Titmouse
The Juniper Titmouse is a plain gray, crested songbird of the arid pinyon-juniper woodlands of the interior West, notable for its unmarked plumage and persistent, repetitive song.
songbird
Grey Warbler
The Grey Warbler is one of New Zealand's smallest birds, a plain grey-brown insect-eater best known for its long, trilling song rather than its understated plumage.
songbird
Mexican Jay
A blue-and-grey jay of oak and pine-oak canyons in the southwestern US and Mexico, distinguished from similar scrub-jays by its plain grey underparts without a breast band.
corvid
Beavan's Bullfinch
A compact, orange-breasted bullfinch of Himalayan and Chinese mountain forests, easily told by its gray cap and bold pale wing bar.
songbird
Somali Ostrich
A large flightless bird of the Horn of Africa closely related to the Common Ostrich, distinguished by the male's distinctive blue-grey neck and legs.
other
Great Slaty Woodpecker
The largest living woodpecker species, a huge slate-grey bird of South and Southeast Asian forests that typically travels in noisy family parties.
woodpecker
Red Wattlebird
The Red Wattlebird is Australia's largest mainland honeyeater, a grey-brown bird with a fleshy red wattle, yellow belly, and loud, unmusical calls.
songbird
Canada Jay
A famously tame, fluffy grey jay of the North American boreal forest, known for boldly approaching campers and caching food for winter survival.
corvid
Grey-necked Bunting
A plain, unstreaked Central Asian bunting with a grey head, pale pinkish underparts, and a distinctive pale eye-ring.
songbird
Sarus Crane
The tallest of all flying birds, a pale grey Asian crane with a strikingly red bare head and upper neck, resident year-round across its wetland range.
wading bird
Great Grey Owl
The longest owl in the world by overall length, cloaked in soft grey, finely mottled plumage and famous for its huge facial disc marked with distinct concentric rings.
owl
Red Collared-Dove
A small Asian dove with pronounced sexual dimorphism, the male showing a rich wine-red body while the female is a much duller grayish-brown.
dove pigeon
Shoebill
An unmistakable, prehistoric-looking African swamp bird named for its massive, shoe-shaped bill, with an overall slate blue-grey plumage and a shaggy crest at the back of the head.
wading bird