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-faced Spoonbill
The smallest and one of the rarest spoonbill species, an all-white East Asian wading bird with a black bare face and a slender black spoon-shaped bill.
wading bird
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
Black-headed Caique
A small, sharply patterned Amazonian parrot with a black crown, orange cheeks, and clean white underparts.
parrot
Black-headed Grosbeak
The western counterpart of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, this species trades the rose-red breast for a warm cinnamon-orange body beneath a solid black head and boldly patterned black-and-white wings.
songbird
Piapiac
A slender, glossy black African corvid with a long tail, often seen following cattle or large game to catch flushed insects.
corvid
Ovenbird
A ground-dwelling warbler that looks more like a small thrush, with heavily streaked underparts and a bold orange crown stripe bordered in black.
songbird
Great Spotted Woodpecker
The Great Spotted Woodpecker is a striking black-and-white bird with bold white wing patches, a crimson undertail, and stiff, pointed tail feathers adapted for bracing against tree trunks while excavating and drumming.
woodpecker
Laysan Albatross
A North Pacific albatross with a clean white head and body contrasting against dark gray upperwings, distinguished from its dark-bodied Black-footed relative by its predominantly pale plumage.
seabird
Magnificent Frigatebird
A large, aerial seabird with long angular wings and a deeply forked tail, glossy black in males and marked with a white breast patch in females.
seabird
Rainbow Bee-eater
Australia's only bee-eater, a multicolored bird combining green, gold, and turquoise plumage with a fine black tail streamer.
other
Northern Raven
The largest songbird in the world, with massive black flight feathers and a distinctive wedge-shaped tail, plus shaggy throat feathers unlike any other corvid.
corvid
Southern Red Bishop
A small African weaver whose breeding males turn brilliant scarlet and black, one of the most vividly colored birds of Africa's wetland grasses.
songbird
Rufous Treepie
A long-tailed corvid of the Indian subcontinent, warm rufous-orange with a black head and a pale wing patch, often heard before it is seen thanks to its loud, varied calls.
corvid
Red-billed Quelea
A small African weaver famous for forming the largest flocks of any wild bird, with breeding males sporting a bold black or white facial mask and a bright red bill.
songbird
Fire-fronted Serin
A small mountain finch identified by its glowing orange-red forehead patch set against an otherwise black head and streaked brown body.
songbird
Blue Jay
The Blue Jay is a large, vocal corvid whose bold blue, black-barred, white-tipped wing and tail feathers are among the most instantly recognizable of any North American songbird.
corvid
Brown-headed Cowbird
A small blackbird best known for laying its eggs in other birds' nests, with males showing a sharply contrasting brown head against a glossy black body and females entirely plain gray-brown.
songbird
Shiny Cowbird
A slender, glossy blackbird relative widespread across South America and the Caribbean, notable for its uniform purplish-blue sheen and habit of parasitizing other birds' nests.
songbird
Rufous-collared Robin
The Rufous-collared Robin is a highland thrush of Mexico and Guatemala, identified by its bright rufous-orange collar and breast band contrasting sharply against otherwise dark gray-black plumage.
songbird
Spot-winged Grosbeak
A large Himalayan finch identified by rows of neat white spots across otherwise black wings, paired with a black head and yellow body.
songbird
Eastern Kingbird
A bold, dark-backed flycatcher with clean white underparts and a distinctive white terminal band across an otherwise black tail.
songbird
Bewick's Wren
A slim, long-tailed wren with a bold white eyebrow stripe, told from other wrens by its notably long tail edged in white and barred with black.
songbird
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
Glaucous-winged Gull
A common gull of the North Pacific coast, the Glaucous-winged Gull shows pale gray wingtip feathers with little or no black, differing subtly from most other large gulls, and frequently hybridizes with related species.
seabird