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.
Trumpeter Finch
A pale, sandy desert finch with a thick reddish bill and a soft pink flush on the breast and rump of breeding males.
songbird
Swamp Sparrow
A reddish-winged marsh sparrow with a gray face and breast, closely tied to wetland vegetation year-round.
songbird
James's Flamingo
The smallest of the high-altitude Andean flamingos, showing pale pink plumage and a notably reduced area of black in the wing.
wading bird
Papuan Hawk-Owl
A little-known, long-tailed forest owl endemic to New Guinea, with a hawk-like reduced facial disc and boldly barred underparts.
owl
Varied Bunting
A small desert bunting whose male plumage looks nearly black in shade but reveals shifting purple, blue, and reddish tones in good light.
songbird
Fox Sparrow
A large, richly colored sparrow whose reddish tail and heavily spotted breast make its feathers among the most distinctive of any North American sparrow.
songbird
Ruddy Quail-Dove
A plump, reddish-chestnut forest-floor dove marked with a distinctive pale stripe below the eye, more often heard than seen in dense tropical undergrowth.
dove pigeon
Lesser Prairie-Chicken
A grassland grouse of the southern Great Plains, smaller and paler than its close relative the Greater Prairie-Chicken, with males displaying reddish-purple air sacs during courtship.
gamebird
Royal Tern
One of the largest terns, approaching gull-like proportions, with a heavy orange bill and a shaggy black crest that is often reduced to a ragged crown patch outside the breeding season.
seabird
Spinifex Pigeon
A small, richly reddish pigeon of Australia's spinifex deserts, sporting a pointed crest and bold black-and-white facial markings that stand out against its cinnamon plumage.
dove pigeon
Hoatzin
An unusual, primitive-looking bird of Amazonian and Orinoco wetlands, with a spiky rufous crest, bright blue bare facial skin, and reddish eyes, known for chicks with clawed wings used to climb.
other
Marvelous Spatuletail
An extremely rare Peruvian hummingbird whose male carries just four tail feathers, two of them reduced to long bare wires tipped with glossy violet-blue paddles that cross during display.
hummingbird
Black-tailed Godwit
A striking Eurasian godwit with a bold black tail band, broad white wingbar, and rich chestnut breeding underparts, closely associated with lowland wet grasslands and meadows now much reduced across parts of its range.
shorebird
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
Cory's Shearwater
A large, pale brownish-gray shearwater with a yellowish bill, known for its slow, languid flight style compared to other shearwaters of similar size.
seabird
Black-cheeked Lovebird
A small lovebird with a dark brownish-black face, an orange-tinged forehead and throat, and a green body, restricted to a small region of southern Zambia.
parrot
Malachite Sunbird
A large African sunbird whose breeding males are covered in brilliant iridescent green plumage with long tail streamers, while females and non-breeding males show a much plainer, brownish, streaked appearance.
songbird
Marsh Wren
A small, vocal wren of cattail marshes, identified by its bold black-and-white streaked back and habit of singing loudly from within dense reed cover.
songbird