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.
Blue-necked Tanager
A brilliantly patterned South American tanager with a glossy blue head and neck set off by black upperparts and a warm chestnut belly patch.
songbird
Blue-crowned Conure
A robust green conure identified by a pale blue wash across the crown and forehead, larger and stockier than many similarly colored South American parakeets.
parrot
Blue-gray Tanager
One of the most familiar tanagers of Central and South America, the Blue-gray Tanager shows an overall soft blue-gray body accented by a brighter blue shoulder patch.
songbird
Blue-fronted Amazon
The Blue-fronted Amazon is a stocky green parrot from central South America best known for the pale blue patch across its forehead and its loud, far-carrying calls.
parrot
Blue-tailed Bee-eater
A slender green bee-eater with a distinctive blue tail and rump, common across South and Southeast Asian lowlands.
other
American Avocet
An elegant black-and-white wader with a distinctive upturned bill, showing a rusty cinnamon head and neck in breeding season.
shorebird
Common Gull
A neat, medium-sized gull of Europe and Asia known as Mew Gull in North American populations, the Common Gull shows pale gray back feathers, black wingtips with white spots, and a gentle, rounded head shape.
seabird
Common Kingfisher
A small, jewel-like bird whose brilliant structurally iridescent blue back feathers and warm orange underparts make it one of the most vividly colored birds along any river.
other
Common Kestrel
The Common Kestrel is a small falcon best known for its ability to hover in place while hunting, with long pointed wings and a distinctive tail that is blue-grey with a black band in males but barred rufous-brown in females.
raptor
Common Chaffinch
A common European finch with males showing a blue-grey crown and warm pinkish-brown breast, and females a more subdued olive-brown, both sharing bold double white wing bars and a greenish rump.
songbird
Common Bullfinch
A stocky, shy woodland finch with males showing rosy-pink underparts against a blue-grey back and black cap, and both sexes sharing a bold white rump patch that flashes distinctively in flight.
songbird
American Crow
A large, all-black corvid found nearly continent-wide, whose sturdy glossy-black feathers with a slight iridescent sheen are among the most commonly found large feathers in North America.
corvid
American Kestrel
The smallest and most colorful falcon in North America, a common sight perched on roadside wires, told by its rufous back and tail and, in males, contrasting blue-gray wings.
raptor
Common Peafowl Spalding
An aviculture strain blending Green and Indian Peafowl ancestry, showing iridescent scaled neck feathers, a tall crest, and a long ornamental train that draws on the coloring of both parent lines.
gamebird
Common Wood Pigeon
Europe's largest common pigeon, easily identified by its soft blue-grey feathers, a bold white wing bar, and white neck patches absent in smaller relatives.
dove pigeon
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
Common Ground Dove
One of the smallest doves in North America, a diminutive, scaly-patterned bird that flushes from the ground to reveal a flash of rufous in the wings.
dove pigeon
Belted Kingfisher
A stocky, large-headed North American kingfisher with a shaggy blue-grey crest and, in females, a distinctive rust-colored belly band.
other
Mountain Bluebird
A slender, sky-blue songbird of western North American high country, the male appearing almost entirely blue with no rusty breast patch, unlike its bluebird relatives.
songbird
Blue-winged Kookaburra
A northern relative of the Laughing Kookaburra, distinguished by more extensive blue in the wings and a harsher, less musical call.
other
Eurasian Teal
The Old World form of the common teal, closely related to the North American Green-winged Teal, told apart chiefly by a horizontal white scapular stripe rather than a vertical flank stripe.
waterfowl
Eurasian Magpie
A boldly pied corvid whose black feathers flash iridescent blue-green and purple in the light, with an unmistakably long, wedge-shaped tail.
corvid
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
Emerald Toucanet
The Emerald Toucanet is a small, mostly green toucan of Middle American and Andean cloud forests, its color allowing it to blend remarkably well into the foliage. Regional populations vary somewhat in throat color and bill pattern.
other