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.
Snow Pigeon
The Snow Pigeon is a high-altitude Himalayan pigeon with a bold white head, underparts, and rump contrasting against grey-brown wings and a dark breast band.
dove pigeon
Dunnock
An unassuming, sparrow-like songbird with soft grey head and breast feathers and a streaked brown back, easily overlooked but distinct once compared with true sparrows.
songbird
Common Rosefinch
A finch in which breeding males show a rosy-red head, breast, and rump, while females and immatures are plain streaked brown, sparrow-like birds.
songbird
Short-toed Snake Eagle
The Short-toed Snake Eagle is a pale-bellied Eurasian eagle with brown upperparts, a mottled brown breast, finely barred flight and tail feathers, and a large owl-like head adapted for scanning the ground for reptile prey.
raptor
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
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
Mourning Collared Dove
A widespread African dove with a pale grey head, warm pinkish-brown breast, and a crisp black half-collar edged in white across the back of the neck.
dove pigeon
Common Myna
A bold, adaptable brown songbird with a glossy black head and bright yellow bare skin patch around the eye, now established in cities across much of the world.
songbird
California Quail
A familiar western quail known for the male's forward-drooping black head plume and scaled gray-brown body feathers, common in chaparral and suburban gardens alike.
gamebird
Bean Goose
A dark, orange-legged gray goose of Eurasian taiga and tundra, uniformly brown without the pale head-body contrast or bright bill color of related species.
waterfowl
American Oystercatcher
A large pied shorebird of American coastlines, with a black head and neck, brown rather than black back, and a long orange-red bill used to open shellfish.
shorebird
Australian Wood Duck
The Australian Wood Duck is a distinctive grazing duck, the male showing a dark chocolate-brown head with a low mane, often seen on pasture and grassland rather than open water.
waterfowl
Wood Thrush
A woodland thrush with a warm rufous-brown back brightest on the head, and a boldly spotted white breast that gives it one of the most striking feather patterns among eastern forest songbirds.
songbird
European Goldfinch
A strikingly patterned finch with a red face, black-and-white head markings, warm buff-brown body, and a vivid golden-yellow wing bar crossing otherwise black wings.
songbird
European Stonechat
The European Stonechat is a small, compact songbird whose breeding males show a jet-black head and orange-chestnut breast set off by white neck patches, against a mottled brown back.
songbird
Hamerkop
A small brown African wading bird named for its hammer-shaped head, formed by a thick bill and a backward-pointing crest, best known for building enormous domed stick nests.
wading bird
Golden-naped Finch
A Himalayan finch, also known by the alternate name Gold-naped Finch, whose male shows a black head brightened by a golden nape patch above a rich orange-brown body.
songbird
Chinese Grosbeak
A medium-sized East Asian finch with a black head, gray-brown body, and a bright yellow bill tipped in black, smaller and more widespread than its relative the Japanese Grosbeak.
songbird
Common Linnet
An open-country finch with a warm brown body overall, breeding males adding a crimson forehead and breast patch atop a grey head and chestnut back, with pale wing and tail panels visible in flight.
songbird
Northern Pygmy-Owl
A tiny, fierce diurnal owl of western mountain forests, notable for the false 'eyespots' on the back of its head. Its feathers show heavy white spotting on a rufous or gray-brown ground color.
owl
Bald Eagle
North America's national bird, whose pure white head and tail feathers contrasting with dark brown body plumage make the adult unmistakable, though immatures take years to acquire this pattern.
raptor
Rufous Owl
The Rufous Owl is a large, richly colored hawk-owl of northern Australia and New Guinea, its warm rufous-brown feathers finely barred throughout and its head rounded without ear tufts.
owl
Osprey
The Osprey is a fish-eating raptor with dark brown upperparts, a white head marked by a bold dark eye-stripe, white underparts, and long, angled wings showing a distinctive dark carpal patch and barred flight feathers.
raptor