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.
Ovenbird
A ground-dwelling warbler that looks more like a small thrush, with heavily streaked underparts and a bold orange crown stripe bordered in black.
songbird
Montezuma Quail
A round, secretive quail of southwestern grasslands, with males showing one of the boldest black-and-white facial patterns of any North American gamebird.
gamebird
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
Blue-necked Tanager
A brilliantly patterned South American tanager with a glossy blue head and neck set off by black upperparts and a warm chestnut belly patch.
songbird
European Storm-Petrel
One of the smallest seabirds in the world, sooty black overall with a white rump patch, fluttering like a large bat low over the waves.
seabird
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
Himalayan Woodpecker
A larger Himalayan pied woodpecker distinguished from lowland relatives by its barred, rather than solid black, upperparts and a red vent.
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
Andean Condor
The largest raptor by wingspan in the world, with mostly black plumage set off by a white neck ruff and bold white upperwing patches in males.
raptor
Wonga Pigeon
The Wonga Pigeon is a plump, ground-dwelling Australian pigeon known for the bold black chevron markings across its white lower breast and belly.
dove pigeon
Smith's Longspur
Smith's Longspur is an Arctic-breeding songbird notable for its warm buff-orange underparts and bold black-and-white head pattern in breeding plumage.
songbird
White-crowned Sparrow
The White-crowned Sparrow is a clean, handsome sparrow with a bold black-and-white striped crown set above a plain, unstreaked gray face and breast.
songbird
Western Jackdaw
The smallest of the common European corvids, recognized by its glossy black plumage set off by a silvery-grey neck patch and a pale, staring eye.
corvid
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
Spur-winged Goose
One of the largest waterfowl species in the world, a bulky African goose with glossy black-green upperparts, white underparts, and bare red facial skin.
waterfowl
Red-headed Woodpecker
One of the most strikingly patterned North American woodpeckers, with an entirely crimson-red head set against bold black-and-white body plumage.
woodpecker
Philippine Falconet
A tiny falcon endemic to the Philippines, showing glossy black upperparts and white underparts with a rufous lower belly and thighs, distinct among the region's falconets.
raptor
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
Manx Shearwater
A slim, black-and-white seabird known for its low, banking flight that alternately flashes dark upperparts and white underparts as it 'shears' over waves.
seabird
Lidth's Jay
A richly colored jay found only on a few Japanese islands, combining a chestnut head and neck with a deep blue body and black face mask.
corvid
Laughing Dove
A small, warm pinkish-cinnamon dove named for its bubbling, laugh-like coo, with a distinctive speckled black patch across the upper breast.
dove pigeon
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
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
Bronzed Cowbird
A stocky blackbird relative with a bronze-black sheen, red eyes, and a distinctive neck ruff, found from the southwestern United States south to Panama.
songbird