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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-throated Caracara

Red-throated Caracara

A loud, glossy black rainforest raptor of the Amazon and Central America, with a bare red throat and face and a striking white belly patch, often heard before it is seen.

raptor
Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

The Red-tailed Hawk is a widespread North American buteo best known for its brick-red adult tail, pale underparts with a dark belly band, and broad, rounded wings often seen soaring over open country and roadsides.

raptor
Syrian Woodpecker

Syrian Woodpecker

A close look-alike of the Great Spotted Woodpecker found across southeastern Europe and the Middle East, best separated by an incomplete black neck bar and a paler pink vent.

woodpecker
Nuttall's Woodpecker

Nuttall's Woodpecker

A small woodpecker largely restricted to California oak woodlands, similar to Ladder-backed Woodpecker but with cleaner white underparts and a solid black nape band.

woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

The smallest North American woodpecker, its black-and-white checkered feathers and short bill make it a common and easily identified backyard bird.

woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

A larger look-alike of the Downy Woodpecker, distinguished by its longer bill and plain, unspotted white outer tail feathers.

woodpecker
Guadeloupe Woodpecker

Guadeloupe Woodpecker

An island-endemic woodpecker found only on Guadeloupe, unusual among woodpeckers for its almost entirely dark, glossy plumage rather than bold barring or spotting.

woodpecker
Gila Woodpecker

Gila Woodpecker

A common Sonoran Desert woodpecker with a plain gray-tan head and body set off by a boldly barred black-and-white back and wings.

woodpecker
Bearded Woodpecker

Bearded Woodpecker

A large, robust African woodpecker named for its bold black 'beard' stripe bordering a white throat, favoring broadleaved woodland such as miombo and mopane.

woodpecker
Acorn Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker

A social, boldly patterned oak-woodland woodpecker famous for hoarding acorns by the thousands in specially drilled storage trees.

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White Woodpecker

White Woodpecker

An unusually pale South American woodpecker, mostly white with contrasting black wings and back and a patch of bare yellow facial skin.

woodpecker
Rufous Woodpecker

Rufous Woodpecker

An unusually uniform rufous-brown woodpecker of South and Southeast Asia, best known for nesting inside the arboreal nests of tree ants.

woodpecker
Powerful Woodpecker

Powerful Woodpecker

A large woodpecker of Andean cloud forest, closely related to the Crimson-crested and Magellanic Woodpeckers but with distinctive buffy, barred underparts rather than clean black-and-white.

woodpecker
Olive Woodpecker

Olive Woodpecker

A southern and eastern African woodpecker with an olive-green back and grey head, familiar in forest, fynbos margins, and well-wooded gardens.

woodpecker
Nubian Woodpecker

Nubian Woodpecker

An East African savanna woodpecker with bold black spotting across cream underparts and a barred greenish back, favoring dry thornbush country.

woodpecker
Hoffmann's Woodpecker

Hoffmann's Woodpecker

A common Central American woodpecker with a black-and-white barred back and a small patch of yellow on the nape, adaptable to gardens and open plantations.

woodpecker
Ground Woodpecker

Ground Woodpecker

A highly unusual, almost entirely terrestrial woodpecker of southern African rocky grassland, with pink-flushed underparts and none of the tree-climbing habits of its relatives.

woodpecker
Bennett's Woodpecker

Bennett's Woodpecker

A southern African woodland woodpecker with heavy black spotting on pale underparts, closely related to other spotted African woodpeckers but favoring drier broadleaf woodland types.

woodpecker
Arizona Woodpecker

Arizona Woodpecker

A woodpecker of southwestern oak canyons notable for its plain brown back, unlike the black-and-white barred pattern of most related species.

woodpecker
Ivory-billed Woodpecker

Ivory-billed Woodpecker

An extremely large, historically iconic woodpecker of southeastern US bottomland forest, now exceedingly rare, recognized by its bold white wing patches and ivory-colored bill.

woodpecker
Great Slaty Woodpecker

Great Slaty Woodpecker

The largest living woodpecker species, a huge slate-grey bird of South and Southeast Asian forests that typically travels in noisy family parties.

woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

A small desert woodpecker whose black-and-white back forms a neat, closely spaced ladder pattern, common in cactus and mesquite scrub.

woodpecker
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker

A small East Asian woodpecker with a softer, browner overall tone than its pygmy woodpecker relatives, common in wooded parks and gardens in Japan and neighboring regions.

woodpecker
Cream-colored Woodpecker

Cream-colored Woodpecker

An unusually pale Amazonian woodpecker, clothed almost entirely in a uniform creamy-straw color rather than the bold contrast typical of most woodpeckers.

woodpecker