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.
Red-crowned Woodpecker
A small, widespread woodpecker of northern South America with a barred black-and-white back and a bright red crown on males.
woodpecker
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
A plain gray-breasted sparrow of rocky, brushy hillsides, identified by its rufous crown and a bold black malar stripe.
songbird
Grey Crowned Night Heron
A secretive, forest-dwelling night heron of South and Southeast Asia, cloaked in warm chestnut-rufous plumage with a blackish crown and short nape crest.
wading bird
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
A stocky, thick-billed night heron with a bold black-and-white head pattern and a pale, straw-colored crown, often found near crustacean-rich coastal waters.
wading bird
Yellow-crowned Woodpecker
A small South Asian woodpecker recognized by a yellow patch on the forecrown, paired with a classic black-and-white barred back and streaked underparts.
woodpecker
Eurasian Blackcap
A plain grey-brown warbler whose crown feathers immediately reveal its sex: solid glossy black in males, warm reddish-brown in females and juveniles.
songbird
Eurasian Wigeon
The Old World counterpart to the American Wigeon, with a rich chestnut head, pale cream crown stripe, and grey axillary feathers that distinguish it from its American relative.
waterfowl
Eurasian Blue Tit
A small, brightly colored garden tit with a blue crown and wings, yellow underparts, and white cheeks bordered by a thin black eye-line, among the most colorful common feathers in European gardens.
songbird
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
A small farmland sparrow distinguished from its House Sparrow relative by a chestnut crown (rather than grey) and a distinct black spot on an otherwise white cheek.
songbird
Clark's Nutcracker
A pale gray, crow-like bird of high mountain pine forests, best known for storing thousands of pine seeds each autumn to survive winter.
corvid
Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker
A boreal-forest specialist recognized by its yellow crown patch in males and finely barred black-and-white flanks, closely tied to insect-affected conifers.
woodpecker
Lewis's Woodpecker
An unusually plumaged western woodpecker with an iridescent greenish-black back, dark red face, and pink-toned belly, often seen flycatching like a crow.
woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
The largest common North American woodpecker, unmistakable for its crow-like size, deep black body, flaming red crest, and bold white neck stripes.
woodpecker
Black Woodpecker
The largest woodpecker across most of Europe and northern Asia, entirely black except for a red crown patch and a pale bill.
woodpecker
Black-headed Caique
A small, sharply patterned Amazonian parrot with a black crown, orange cheeks, and clean white underparts.
parrot
Black Rosy-Finch
A dark, blackish-brown alpine finch of western North America's highest peaks, set off by rosy-pink wing feathering and a grey crown patch.
songbird
Black-necked Crane
A high-altitude specialist crane of the Tibetan Plateau, pale grey overall with a black head and neck and a bare red crown, adapted to some of the highest wetland habitats used by any crane species.
wading bird
Black-chinned Siskin
A southern South American finch marked by a small black chin patch and crown against otherwise yellow-green plumage.
songbird
Black-throated Green Warbler
A small wood-warbler with a bright yellow face framed by an olive-green crown and a black throat, breeding in northern conifer forests.
songbird
Western Marsh Harrier
The Western Marsh Harrier is the largest and darkest of the Eurasian harriers, males showing a distinctive tricolor pattern of grey, brown, and black on the wings and tail, while females and juveniles are largely dark chocolate-brown with a pale creamy crown.
raptor
Superb Fruit Dove
The Superb Fruit Dove is a small, dazzlingly patterned fruit dove, with males showing a violet crown, orange nape, and a bold grey-and-black breast band against a green body.
dove pigeon
Crested Partridge
A small Southeast Asian rainforest partridge whose male sports a bright red, bushy, hair-like crest atop glossy dark-green body plumage, while the female glows a striking grass-green.
gamebird
Golden-winged Warbler
A striking blue-gray warbler with a bright yellow crown and wing patch, set off by a bold black throat and facial mask in adult males, known for hybridizing with the Blue-winged Warbler.
songbird
White-capped Bunting
A South Asian bunting whose breeding males show a bold white crown bordered in black above a chestnut breast band.
songbird