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.
Dusky Turtle Dove
A darkly plumaged highland dove of East Africa's mountains, notably duskier overall than lowland turtle doves, with a black patch on the back of the neck.
dove pigeon
Eastern Rosella
The Eastern Rosella is a strikingly patterned Australian parrot with a red head and breast, a scalloped yellow-green back, a white cheek patch, and blue wings.
parrot
Dusky-headed Conure
A slender green Amazonian parakeet distinguished by its dusky grey-brown head and pale bare eye-ring.
parrot
Eastern Phoebe
A plain-plumaged flycatcher recognized more by its tail-wagging habit than bright colors, with grayish-brown feathers above and a faint yellow wash on white underparts.
songbird
Dusky Grouse
A large montane grouse of the interior Rocky Mountains, males dark slate-grey overall with a fanned dark tail and inflatable yellow-orange neck sacs used in display.
gamebird
Eastern Meadowlark
A chunky grassland songbird with a bright yellow breast crossed by a bold black V, camouflaged brown-and-black upperparts, and white outer tail feathers flashed in flight.
songbird
Double-crested Cormorant
A widespread, glossy black waterbird with a bright orange-yellow throat patch, often seen perched with wings spread to dry after diving.
seabird
Eastern Kingbird
A bold, dark-backed flycatcher with clean white underparts and a distinctive white terminal band across an otherwise black tail.
songbird
Curve-billed Thrasher
A grayish-brown desert songbird with a long, strongly down-curved bill, well adapted to foraging among cactus and thorny scrub of the American Southwest.
songbird
Eastern Imperial Eagle
A large steppe eagle recognized by small white patches on the shoulders (scapulars) contrasting with otherwise dark brown plumage and a pale, creamy nape.
raptor
Curlew Sandpiper
A slender, long-legged sandpiper with a gently down-curved bill, best distinguished in the field and in shed feathers by its bright white rump, which flashes clearly in flight.
shorebird
Eastern Bluebird
A small, vividly colored thrush whose blue feathers are produced by feather structure rather than pigment, giving them a shifting brightness depending on the angle of light.
songbird
Cuban Crow
A vocal, all-black crow endemic to Cuba and a few surrounding islands, known for its varied and unusual calls.
corvid
Dusky Thrush
The Dusky Thrush is a boldly marked Siberian thrush with heavily scaled blackish-and-white underparts and a bright rufous wing patch, wintering across East Asia and occasionally reaching North America.
songbird
Cryptic Forest Falcon
A recently described forest-falcon so visually similar to its relatives that it was only distinguished by its distinct voice - its feathers are essentially indistinguishable from those of the Barred Forest Falcon complex.
raptor
Dunlin
A common small sandpiper whose breeding plumage features a bold black belly patch found on no other similarly sized shorebird.
shorebird
Crimson Rosella
The Crimson Rosella is a richly colored Australian parrot, deep red overall with contrasting blue cheeks, wings, and tail, and a black-scalloped back.
parrot
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
Crimson-crested Woodpecker
A striking South American woodpecker whose entirely crimson head and crest stand out sharply against its black-and-white barred body.
woodpecker
Double Yellow-headed Amazon
The Double Yellow-headed Amazon is one of the largest Amazon parrots, instantly recognized by its entirely yellow head set against a green body.
parrot
Crimson-bellied Conure
A small Amazonian conure with green upperparts and a grey breast that give way to a strikingly deep crimson-red patch across the lower belly.
parrot
Dickinson's Kestrel
Dickinson's Kestrel is a small, short-tailed African kestrel with grey plumage overall and a finely scaled pale back, often associated with palm trees in savanna and woodland of southeastern Africa.
raptor
Cretzschmar's Bunting
Cretzschmar's Bunting is a bunting of dry, rocky Mediterranean and Middle Eastern hillsides, with breeding males showing a blue-gray head, orange throat, and chestnut-streaked back.
songbird
Dickcissel
A prairie songbird resembling a miniature meadowlark, the male Dickcissel shows a yellow breast marked with a black V-bib and a chestnut shoulder patch.
songbird
Crested Tit
The Crested Tit is a small European woodland bird easily recognized by its pointed, black-and-white speckled crest, a feature unique among the continent's tits.
songbird
Diamond Dove
One of the smallest doves in the world, a soft gray-brown Australian desert species with tiny white-spotted wings and a bright red ring around the eye.
dove pigeon
Crested Pigeon
A common Australian pigeon topped with a slender, upright black crest and marked by bold iridescent green-and-purple patches across the folded wing.
dove pigeon
Desert Finch
A pale, sand-colored finch of arid country, notable for its black-tipped wings crossed by a soft pink panel.
songbird
Crested Partridge
A small Southeast Asian rainforest partridge whose male sports a bright red, bushy, hair-like crest atop glossy dark-green body plumage, while the female glows a striking grass-green.
gamebird
Derbyan Parakeet
A large, long-tailed parakeet with soft grey-blue body plumage, green wings, and a bright coral-red bill.
parrot
Crested Owl
A dark, richly colored Neotropical rainforest owl with unusually long, prominent whitish ear-tuft feathers and a bold white eyebrow stripe against otherwise dark brown plumage.
owl
Daurian Jackdaw
A small East Asian jackdaw that comes in a striking pied form with a white collar and belly, alongside an all-dark morph that resembles other jackdaws.
corvid
Crested Guineafowl
A forest-dwelling guineafowl topped with a distinctive curly, black feather crest instead of the bony casque of its savanna relatives.
gamebird
Dark-eyed Junco
A familiar winter feeder bird, the Dark-eyed Junco flashes bright white outer tail feathers against a slate-gray or brown body when it flies.
songbird
Crested Guan
A large, dark guan of tropical American forests, its dusky brown plumage marked with pale-edged feathers that create a scaled pattern on the underparts and wings. A bright red throat wattle and small crest add distinctive accents.
gamebird
Dark-breasted Rosefinch
An unusually plain rosefinch, lacking the streaking typical of the group, with a dusky rosy-brown body and only a subtle pink wash.
songbird
Crested Caracara
A bold, long-legged raptor of southern South America's open grasslands, with a black cap, cream neck, and barred breast that make its feathers unmistakable among ground-foraging birds of prey.
raptor
Crowned Eagle
The Crowned Eagle is a powerful African forest eagle with rich rufous underparts boldly barred in black, a strongly banded black-and-white tail, and a small crest, all adaptations for hunting beneath a dense forest canopy.
raptor
Black-winged Kite
The Old World counterpart of the White-tailed Kite, a small pale gray-and-white raptor with a black shoulder patch and striking red eyes.
raptor
Crimson-winged Finch
A robust mountain finch whose brown, streaked body is set off by broad crimson-pink panels across the wings.
songbird
Black-throated Magpie-Jay
A close relative of the White-throated Magpie-Jay, distinguished by a bold black throat and breast band and an even longer, more elaborate tail.
corvid
Crimson Topaz
One of the largest and most spectacular hummingbirds, the Crimson Topaz shows a glowing ruby-red body and long, crossed golden tail feathers in adult males.
hummingbird
Black-throated Green Warbler
A small wood-warbler with a bright yellow face framed by an olive-green crown and a black throat, breeding in northern conifer forests.
songbird
Crimson Sunbird
A vividly colored South and Southeast Asian sunbird whose males combine brilliant crimson plumage with a metallic green crown and elongated central tail feathers.
songbird
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
Crimson-collared Grosbeak
A striking forest songbird of Mexico and Central America, the male Crimson-collared Grosbeak is mostly black with a bold crimson-red collar, breast, and rump.
songbird
Black Swan
An Australian swan with distinctively curled, sooty black-gray body feathers and a striking red bill, its white flight feathers hidden until the wings are spread.
waterfowl
Crested Serpent Eagle
A forest raptor of South and Southeast Asia with bare yellow facial skin and a bushy nape crest, best identified by its single broad white tail band and white-spotted underparts.
raptor