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.
Royal Spoonbill
A white spoonbill of Australasia known for the long, trailing white crest plumes that breeding adults grow from the back of the head.
wading bird
Chinese Grosbeak
A medium-sized East Asian finch with a black head, gray-brown body, and a bright yellow bill tipped in black, smaller and more widespread than its relative the Japanese Grosbeak.
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
Alpine Chough
A glossy black mountain corvid with a short yellow bill, often seen soaring at very high altitudes near cliffs and mountain huts.
corvid
Ring-necked Duck
A medium diving duck with a peaked head shape and a glossy black back, best distinguished from scaup by a white vertical spur at the base of the wing rather than a grey back.
waterfowl
White Stork
A large, unmistakable white stork with black wing feathers and a bright red bill and legs, famous for its rooftop nests and long migrations between Europe and Africa.
wading bird
White-throated Toucan
The White-throated Toucan is one of the largest Amazonian toucans, known for its oversized bicolored bill and bold white throat patch set against jet-black plumage. It moves through the rainforest canopy in noisy family groups, hopping between branches rather than flying long distances.
other
Common Blackbird
A familiar thrush of European gardens, with males showing sleek all-black plumage and a bright bill, while females and juveniles are a more camouflaged sooty brown with subtle mottling.
songbirdEurasian 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
Common Scoter
The Common Scoter is the Eurasian counterpart of the Black Scoter, a sea duck whose breeding male is entirely black apart from a yellow-orange patch along the ridge of the bill.
waterfowl
Cape Crow
A slender, all-black crow of southern and eastern Africa's open grasslands, notable for its long, thin bill.
corvid
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
Coal Tit
The smallest common European tit, with a black head, white cheeks, and a distinctive white patch on the nape, paired with buff underparts and two white wingbars on grey-olive wings.
songbird
Woodchat Shrike
A boldly patterned southern European shrike with a rich chestnut crown and a crisp white shoulder patch that contrasts sharply with its black wings.
songbird
Jungle Crow
A robust, all-black crow of the Indian subcontinent, closely related to the Large-billed Crow but generally found in more southerly regions.
corvid
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
White-winged Grosbeak
A large, powerfully billed Himalayan finch, the male showing mostly black plumage set off by a yellow rump and a bold white wing patch.
songbird
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
Japanese Grosbeak
A large, heavy-billed finch of East Asian forests, recognized by its black head, gray-brown body, and oversized pale-yellow bill.
songbird
Little Egret
A dainty white heron of Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, best known for its black legs and bright yellow feet.
wading bird
Yellow Grosbeak
A large, big-billed songbird of Mexican dry forests, the Yellow Grosbeak shows a golden-yellow body set off by boldly patterned black-and-white wings.
songbird
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
Syrian Woodpecker
A close look-alike of the Great Spotted Woodpecker found across southeastern Europe and the Middle East, best separated by an incomplete black neck bar and a paler pink vent.
woodpecker
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