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.
Abdim's Stork
The smallest of the true storks, a compact African species with glossy black-and-white plumage, often associated locally with the arrival of seasonal rains and known for traveling in large flocks.
wading bird
Grey-headed Lovebird
A small lovebird from Madagascar showing strong sexual dimorphism: males have a pale grey head and breast against a green body, while females are entirely green.
parrot
Spotted Sandpiper
A small, constantly bobbing sandpiper whose breeding-season underparts are covered in bold round black spots unlike any other North American shorebird.
shorebird
Smew
The Smew is a small, striking Eurasian merganser whose male appears almost entirely white, marked with a bold black eye patch and delicate black lines along the back and flanks.
waterfowl
Bat Falcon
The Bat Falcon is a small, dashing falcon of Neotropical forests, black above with a rufous throat patch and a boldly black-and-white barred belly, often hunting bats and swifts at dusk.
raptor
Stock Dove
A plainer, smaller relative of the Wood Pigeon lacking white markings, identified instead by two short black wing bars and an iridescent green neck patch.
dove pigeon
Welcome Swallow
The Welcome Swallow is a small, agile aerial insectivore with glossy blue-black upperparts, a rufous face, and a deeply forked tail, common over open country and towns.
songbird
Horned Puffin
The North Pacific counterpart to the Atlantic Puffin, similarly patterned in black and white but named for the small fleshy "horn" of skin above each eye in breeding adults.
seabird
Nashville Warbler
A small warbler with a gray head, bold white eye-ring, and bright yellow underparts, plus a hidden chestnut crown patch usually visible only at close range.
songbird
Long-tailed Jaeger
The smallest, slimmest, and most elegant jaeger, breeding adults trailing exceptionally long, thin central tail streamers behind a slender, buoyant body.
seabird
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is Europe's smallest woodpecker, its black-and-white barred back and small size distinguishing its feathers from the much larger, bolder-patched Great Spotted Woodpecker.
woodpecker
Giant Hummingbird
The largest living hummingbird, notable for its comparatively dull, sparrow-like coloring and slow, distinctly audible wingbeats compared to smaller relatives.
hummingbird
Citril Finch
A small mountain finch of southwestern Europe with plain greenish-yellow plumage and a grey nape, lacking the black facial markings of related siskins.
songbird
Fish Crow
A slender, glossy all-black corvid of coastal and riverine eastern North America, distinguished from the larger American Crow mainly by voice and slightly smaller size.
corvid
Blackpoll Warbler
A small wood-warbler famous for its extremely long migratory flights, showing a black cap and white cheeks in breeding males and a plainer streaked plumage in fall.
songbird
Carib Grackle
A small, glossy grackle common around towns and farmland in the southern Caribbean and northern South America, recognized by its keel-shaped tail and noisy flocking habits.
songbird
Calliope Hummingbird
The smallest breeding bird in North America, notable for the male's streaked, wine-red gorget that splays outward like tiny rays rather than forming a solid patch.
hummingbird
Buff-spotted Woodpecker
A small, delicately spotted woodpecker of African rainforest understory, patterned in olive-green with buff spotting rather than the bold barring typical of many woodpeckers.
woodpecker
Bee Hummingbird
The smallest bird species on Earth, native only to Cuba, with breeding males showing a fiery, iridescent pink-red head and throat over a tiny bluish-green body.
hummingbird
Buckley's Forest Falcon
A large, rarely seen forest-falcon of the western Amazon, with dark upperparts and bold, wide white barring below that helps separate it from smaller relatives.
raptor
Bridled Tern
A pelagic tropical tern closely related to the Sooty Tern but browner above with a distinctive white collar around the back of the neck, generally encountered further from shore than most coastal terns.
seabird
Russet-backed Oropendola
A large, colonial oropendola of South American forests, olive-brown overall with a warm russet back and bright yellow outer tail feathers, best known for its hanging woven nests and gurgling song.
songbird
Atlantic Puffin
A small, tuxedo-patterned seabird famous for its large, brightly colored bill in the breeding season, spending most of the year far out at sea before returning to nest on coastal cliffs and islands.
seabird
Spotted Owl
An old-growth forest specialist of western North America, dark brown overall with distinctive rounded white spotting across its plumage, dependent on structurally complex mature forest.
owl