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 Crowned Crane
A West and Central African crane closely related to the Grey Crowned Crane, distinguished by darker neck feathering and the same striking golden crest and boldly patterned wings.
wading bird
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
White-backed Vulture
A widespread African savanna vulture, mostly brown overall but showing a distinctive whitish patch on the lower back that is especially visible in flight.
raptor
Booted Eagle
A small, buzzard-sized eagle occurring in two distinct color forms, both showing feathered legs down to the toes and pale patches at the base of the primaries in flight.
raptor
Mallard
The world's most familiar duck, identifiable from almost any single wing feather by its glossy blue speculum bordered in white, shared by both sexes.
waterfowl
Far Eastern Curlew
The largest curlew species in the world, the Far Eastern Curlew is a dark, heavily streaked shorebird with an exceptionally long bill, dependent on East Asian-Australasian tidal mudflats for its migration.
shorebird
Iceland Gull
A pale, gentle-faced gull of the North Atlantic Arctic, the Iceland Gull shows pale gray back feathers and white to very pale wingtips, smaller and more delicately built than the similar Glaucous Gull.
seabird
Terek Sandpiper
A distinctive sandpiper with a long, strongly upturned bill and short orange-yellow legs, the Terek Sandpiper shows plain pale gray-brown feathers with a dark scapular streak and an animated feeding style.
shorebird
Greater Kestrel
The Greater Kestrel is a robust southern African kestrel, larger than the Common Kestrel, with a barred rufous back, pale underparts, and a distinctive pale eye.
raptor
Blakiston's Fish Owl
One of the largest owls on Earth, a massive, shaggy fish-hunting owl of remote river forests in the Russian Far East and Japan, with correspondingly huge, loosely structured feathers.
owl
Spectacled Eider
The Spectacled Eider is a large, localized arctic sea duck named for the male's bold white, black-rimmed eye patches that give the appearance of goggles set against a pale green head.
waterfowl
Lanner Falcon
The Lanner Falcon is a widespread African and southern European falcon recognized by its rufous cap and blue-grey back, with lightly streaked pale underparts.
raptor
Seychelles Kestrel
The Seychelles Kestrel is one of the smallest kestrels in the world, endemic to the granite islands of the Seychelles, with dark rufous-brown, spotted plumage.
raptor
Blue Crane
South Africa's national bird, a pale blue-grey crane with unusually long, trailing wing-tip feathers that can nearly brush the ground when the bird is standing.
wading bird
Ring-billed Gull
A common, adaptable medium-sized gull of North America named for the black band around its bill, the Ring-billed Gull shows pale gray back feathers and yellow legs, thriving in habitats from lakeshores to parking lots.
seabird
Great Egret
A tall, all-white heron with a long yellow bill and black legs, famous for the delicate plumes it grows during the breeding season.
wading bird
Ruppell's Vulture
A large African vulture best known for its scaly, scalloped-looking plumage created by pale-edged dark brown feathers, and famous for flying at higher altitudes than almost any other bird.
raptor
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
Tawny Eagle
A variably colored eagle of Africa's open plains, ranging from pale sandy-tawny to dark blackish-brown among individuals, generally lacking the bold markings seen in many other eagles.
raptor
Spotted Kestrel
The Spotted Kestrel is a resident kestrel of Indonesian islands, closely related to the Common Kestrel, with a boldly spotted rufous back and pale, spotted underparts.
raptor
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
Zone-tailed Hawk
A blackish hawk that closely mimics the flight silhouette and dark coloring of the Turkey Vulture, distinguished mainly by its banded tail feathers.
raptor
Zenaida Dove
A warm cinnamon-brown Caribbean dove closely related to the Mourning Dove, told apart by its shorter, rounded tail edged in white.
dove pigeon
Yellow-winged Cacique
A glossy black songbird of Mexico's Pacific slope, distinguished by a shaggy crest and a bold yellow patch on the wing, and known for its noisy colonial nesting behavior.
songbird
Yellow Warbler
A widespread, almost entirely yellow warbler of streamside willows and wet thickets, with males showing fine rufous-red streaking across an otherwise bright yellow breast.
songbird
Yellow-tufted Woodpecker
An Amazonian woodpecker with mostly black plumage set off by bright yellow tufts on the forehead and a red crown patch.
woodpecker
Yellow-throated Warbler
A gray-backed wood-warbler with a bright yellow throat and bold black-and-white facial pattern, often seen creeping along branches in pine and cypress woodland.
songbird
Yellow-throated Vireo
The Yellow-throated Vireo is a canopy-dwelling songbird with a vivid yellow throat and spectacles set against an olive-green back and clean white wing bars.
songbird
Banded Kestrel
The Banded Kestrel is a Madagascar-endemic falcon marked by fine, dense barring across nearly the entire body, giving it a distinctly patterned appearance among kestrels.
raptor
Yellow-rumped Warbler
One of North America's most abundant warblers, easily known by small bright-yellow patches on the rump, sides, and crown set against streaky gray-brown feathers.
songbird
Sun Parakeet
A vividly golden-yellow and orange parrot of the Guiana Shield in South America, with green and blue accents in the wings, prized in aviculture.
parrot
Yellow-naped Amazon
The Yellow-naped Amazon is a large Central American parrot recognized by the bright yellow band across the back of its neck, set against otherwise all-green plumage.
parrot
Wilson's Phalarope
A slim, needle-billed shorebird of prairie wetlands, Wilson's Phalarope shows a striking chestnut neck stripe in breeding plumage and plain gray-and-white feathers otherwise, unusual among birds for its reversed sexual dichromatism.
shorebird
Yellow-hooded Blackbird
A marsh-dwelling blackbird of northern South America, with males showing a bright yellow hood and breast against an otherwise black body, often seen perched on reeds and grass stems.
songbird
Golden Eagle
A powerful upland raptor whose dark brown plumage and golden nape feathers give it its name, with young birds showing crisp white flight-feather patches that fade with age.
raptor
Yellow-headed Blackbird
The Yellow-headed Blackbird is a large, striking marsh bird easily identified by its bright yellow head and breast contrasting sharply with glossy black body plumage and a bold white wing patch.
songbird
Pink Pigeon
A pale pink-headed pigeon found only on Mauritius, its soft blush-colored head and underparts contrasting with warm rufous-brown wings and a long graduated tail.
dove pigeon
Yellow-headed Amazon
A large green amazon parrot of Mexico and Central America, named for its yellow-washed head, with a red shoulder patch and blue in the wing visible in flight.
parrot
Nicobar Pigeon
The Nicobar Pigeon is a striking island pigeon with long, shimmering hackle-like neck feathers in shifting metallic greens and coppers, set off by a pure white tail.
dove pigeon
Yellow-eyed Junco
A montane junco of the southwestern borderlands, distinguished from its dark-eyed relative by a striking pale yellow eye.
songbird
Red-footed Falcon
The Red-footed Falcon is a small, gregarious falcon of eastern European and Asian steppes, males a striking dark slate-grey with rusty leggings, females patterned orange-buff with grey barring above.
raptor
Yellow-fronted Canary
A small African finch with a bright yellow face and underparts set off by a bold black malar stripe and streaked olive-green back.
songbird
Hooded Vulture
A small, slender African vulture with plain dark brown plumage and a distinctive whitish downy hood of feathers on the head and neck.
raptor
Yellow-collared Lovebird
A small lovebird with a dark, mask-like head, a bright yellow collar and breast, and a green body, native to north-central Tanzania.
parrot
Wattled Crane
The largest crane in Africa, a grey wading bird with a black cap, striking white feathers hanging from the throat, and long fleshy wattles dangling below the face.
wading bird
Yellow-breasted Greenfinch
A Himalayan finch with bright yellow underparts, a greyish head, and yellow flashes in the wings and tail visible in flight.
songbird
New Zealand Falcon
The New Zealand Falcon, or karearea, is the country's only native falcon, a fast, powerfully built raptor of forest and high country with dark brown upperparts and heavily streaked cream underparts.
raptor
Yellow-breasted Chat
The Yellow-breasted Chat is an oversized, thick-billed relative of the wood-warblers with a bright yellow throat and a habit of hiding deep in tangled thickets.
songbird