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.
Cinnamon Teal
A small dabbling duck whose male is a striking uniform cinnamon-red, sharing the same pale blue wing patch found in Blue-winged Teal and Northern Shoveler.
waterfowl
European Roller
A vividly blue bird of open country, named for its acrobatic tumbling display flights during the breeding season.
other
Cinereous Bunting
A pale, ash-grey bunting of southeastern European and Middle Eastern hillsides, with a faint yellow wash on the throat and underparts.
songbird
European Robin
An iconic garden songbird with a vivid orange-red face and breast set against olive-brown upperparts, one of the most recognizable feather patterns in European gardens.
songbird
Chinese Pond Heron
The East Asian counterpart to the Indian Pond Heron, sharing the same dull streaky body and dramatic white wings, but with a rich chestnut breeding wash on the head and chest.
wading bird
European Pied Flycatcher
A small Old World flycatcher in which breeding males show bold black-and-white plumage, while females and nonbreeding males are softer brownish-gray.
songbird
Chimango Caracara
A common, uniformly brown caracara of southern South America's open country and cities, often seen scavenging in fields, parks, and roadsides.
raptor
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
Chilean Flicker
A ground-foraging flicker of Chile and Argentina, patterned in muted grays and browns to match the temperate woodland-steppe it inhabits.
woodpecker
European Golden Plover
The Old World golden plover of moorland and tundra, showing bold gold-spangled upperparts and, in northern breeders, black underparts bordered by a white band.
shorebird
Chihuahuan Raven
A desert raven of the American Southwest, smaller than the Common Raven, with hidden white feather bases at the neck.
corvid
Eurasian Wryneck
A cryptically patterned, bark-camouflaged relative of true woodpeckers that lacks their stiff tail and chisel bill, famous for twisting its neck in a slow, snake-like threat display.
woodpecker
Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon
The Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon is an Australian escarpment specialist whose otherwise grey-brown plumage reveals bold chestnut patches on the flight feathers when it takes wing.
dove pigeon
Eurasian Woodcock
The larger Eurasian relative of the American Woodcock, sharing the same dead-leaf camouflage pattern and forest-floor lifestyle, but with a grayer overall tone and a distinctive slow, owl-like display flight known as roding.
shorebird
Chestnut-headed Oropendola
A medium-sized oropendola with a rich chestnut head and neck contrasting against a black body, a pale bill, and a small patch of yellow at the tail tip.
songbird
Eurasian Treecreeper
The Eurasian Treecreeper has cryptic, bark-patterned upperpart feathers that provide near-perfect camouflage against tree trunks, paired with stiff, pointed tail feathers that brace it as it spirals up trees.
songbird
Chestnut-fronted Macaw
A small green macaw with a brown forehead patch and a red-and-green shoulder patch, found in lowland forests across northern South America.
parrot
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
Chestnut-eared Aracari
A toucan relative of South American forests, with a huge cream-and-black bill, a chestnut patch behind the eye, and yellow underparts crossed by a bold red-and-black band.
other
Eurasian Spoonbill
A tall, all-white wading bird with a distinctive spoon-shaped bill, recognized by its clean white plumage and, in breeding season, a shaggy nape crest and pale yellow breast band.
wading bird
Chestnut-eared Bunting
An East Asian bunting best known for its rusty ear patch and a dark necklace of spots across an otherwise grey breast.
songbird
Eurasian Skylark
The Eurasian Skylark is a streaky brown ground-dwelling songbird famous for its soaring song-flight, its cryptic feathers offering camouflage in the open fields and grassland it favors.
songbird
Chestnut-collared Longspur
The Chestnut-collared Longspur is a prairie songbird whose breeding males show striking black underparts and a chestnut nape collar, delivered in a fluttering display flight over grassland.
songbird
Eurasian Oystercatcher
A large, boldly pied shorebird of European and Asian coastlines, black above and white below, with a striking white wing bar and rump revealed in flight.
shorebird
Chattering Lory
The Chattering Lory is a mostly red parrot from the Moluccan islands of Indonesia, with green wings and a loud, chattering voice.
parrot
Eurasian Nuthatch
The Eurasian Nuthatch is a stocky, tree-climbing songbird with slate-blue upperpart feathers and warm buff-orange underparts, plus short, stiff tail feathers adapted for headfirst descents down tree trunks.
songbird
Channel-billed Toucan
A widespread Amazonian toucan with a mostly dark bill and warm yellow-orange chest, common in lowland rainforest canopy.
other
Eurasian Dotterel
A confiding alpine plover with a bold white eyebrow stripe and a chestnut breast band bordered in black and white, the Eurasian Dotterel shows reversed sex roles typical of some plovers.
shorebird
Cerulean Warbler
One of the smallest wood-warblers, with sky-blue upperparts in the male, breeding high in mature deciduous forest canopy of eastern North America.
songbird
Eurasian Curlew
Europe and Asia's largest curlew, with a long downcurved bill and streaky grayish-brown plumage, best known for its evocative bubbling call across moorlands and mudflats.
shorebird
Cassin's Auklet
A small, drab, sooty-gray auklet lacking the bold facial ornaments of its relatives, most easily told by its stubby bill with a small pale spot near the tip.
seabird
Eurasian Collared-Dove
A pale, stocky dove readily identified by the black half-collar on its nape and its square tail's bold white terminal band, now common across much of North America.
dove pigeon
Carunculated Caracara
A northern Andean caracara with a black head and upperparts contrasting against a clean white breast and belly, named for the fleshy yellow-orange caruncles on its face.
raptor
Eurasian Bullfinch
A stocky, short-billed finch with a black cap, grey back, and a rosy-pink breast in males, easily told by its bright white rump patch in flight.
songbird
Carrion Crow
A widespread, all-black generalist corvid whose glossy feathers closely resemble those of the Rook, distinguished mainly by context and subtle shape differences.
corvid
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
Carolina Wren
A chunky, warm rufous wren of southeastern thickets whose barred tail feathers and loud, ringing song make it one of the most conspicuous small birds around brushy yards.
songbird
Eurasian Blackbird
A familiar thrush of European gardens and woodland, with males entirely glossy black offset by a bright yellow-orange bill, while females are a more subdued dark brown.
songbird
Carolina Chickadee
The Carolina Chickadee is the southeastern counterpart to the Black-capped Chickadee, producing nearly identical tiny black-capped, gray-backed feathers.
songbird
Eurasian Bittern
A large, superbly camouflaged heron of Old World reedbeds, more often detected by its deep booming call than seen in its dense marsh habitat.
wading bird
Cardinal Woodpecker
One of the smallest and most widespread African woodpeckers, common across savanna and woodland, with the male's red-tipped crown giving rise to its 'cardinal' name.
woodpecker
Emu
Australia's largest bird, the Emu has loose, hair-like feathers that grow in pairs from a single shaft, giving its plumage a shaggy, fur-like texture unlike any flying bird.
other
Cape May Warbler
A small wood-warbler with a bright chestnut cheek patch and heavily streaked yellow underparts, closely tied to spruce budworm outbreaks in the boreal forest.
songbird
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
Cape Petrel
A striking black-and-white seabird whose checkered, piebald wing and back pattern make it one of the most easily recognized petrels of southern seas.
seabird
Emerald-spotted Wood Dove
The Emerald-spotted Wood Dove is a small, quiet woodland dove marked by a scattering of glossy emerald-green spots across its wing coverts.
dove pigeon
Cape Eagle-Owl
The Cape Eagle-Owl is a large, powerfully built African owl of rocky hill country, with tawny-buff plumage heavily marked with dark blotches and barring, and prominent ear tufts.
owl
Eleonora's Falcon
Eleonora's Falcon is a slender, long-winged falcon of Mediterranean sea cliffs, notable for breeding unusually late in the year to feed its young on autumn-migrating songbirds, and occurring in both pale and dark color morphs.
raptor