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.
Black Vulture
An all-black scavenger with a short, square tail and distinctive whitish patches near the wingtips, often seen circling in groups or gathered at carcasses.
raptor
Black Scoter
The Black Scoter is the only scoter whose breeding male shows an entirely black plumage with no white markings at all, set off by a bright orange-yellow knob at the base of the bill.
waterfowl
Black-necked Swan
A striking South American swan with a pure white body set off by a jet-black head and neck, plus a bright red facial knob at the base of the bill.
waterfowl
Black Woodpecker
The largest woodpecker across most of Europe and northern Asia, entirely black except for a red crown patch and a pale bill.
woodpecker
Black Oystercatcher
A large, entirely dark shorebird of rocky Pacific coastlines, lacking any white in its plumage, unlike its pied relatives elsewhere in the Americas and Old World.
shorebird
Black Turnstone
A dark, sooty relative of the Ruddy Turnstone restricted to the Pacific coast of North America, showing a uniformly blackish body offset by a crisp white belly and bold white wing markings in flight.
shorebird
Piapiac
A slender, glossy black African corvid with a long tail, often seen following cattle or large game to catch flushed insects.
corvid
Black-headed Siskin
A Central American finch with a solid black hood, yellow-olive body plumage, and black wings marked by bright yellow patches.
songbird
Black-backed Woodpecker
A fire-and-beetle-kill specialist of North American conifer forests, told from the Three-toed Woodpeckers by its solid, unbarred glossy black back.
woodpecker
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
Black Stork
A shy, forest-loving relative of the White Stork with glossy black plumage, a white belly, and a red bill and legs, favoring quiet rivers and wetlands far from people.
wading bird
Black-necked Stilt
A tall, slender American shorebird in crisp black-and-white plumage, best known for its extremely long, thin pink-red legs that trail well beyond the tail in flight.
shorebird
Black-faced Spoonbill
The smallest and one of the rarest spoonbill species, an all-white East Asian wading bird with a black bare face and a slender black spoon-shaped bill.
wading bird
Black-and-white Owl
A striking Neotropical wood owl patterned in crisp black-and-white barring, with no ear tufts and a bright yellow-orange facial disc and bill that contrast sharply with its otherwise monochrome plumage.
owl
Black-chinned Siskin
A southern South American finch marked by a small black chin patch and crown against otherwise yellow-green plumage.
songbird
Black-necked Stork
A tall, striking stork of India and Australia with a glossy iridescent black head and neck, a white body, and bold black-and-white wings, sometimes locally called the Jabiru despite being unrelated to the true American species.
wading bird
American Wigeon
A medium dabbling duck named 'baldpate' for the male's pale cream crown, which contrasts with an iridescent green face patch and a large white shoulder patch visible in flight.
waterfowl
American Robin
The American Robin is a familiar thrush whose warm orange breast feathers and plain gray-brown back feathers make it one of the easiest yard birds to identify from a single dropped feather.
songbird
American Kestrel
The smallest and most colorful falcon in North America, a common sight perched on roadside wires, told by its rufous back and tail and, in males, contrasting blue-gray wings.
raptor
Black-capped Siskin
A highland finch of Mexico and Central America marked by a neat black cap contrasting with olive-yellow body plumage.
songbird
American Redstart
An active wood-warbler that flashes bright orange or yellow patches on its wings and tail while fanning them to startle insects into flight.
songbird
American Flamingo
A vividly colored flamingo of the Caribbean region, showing some of the deepest pink-to-orange body plumage of any flamingo species.
wading bird
American Tree Sparrow
A hardy winter sparrow of snowy fields, recognizable by its rufous cap and the single dark spot centered on an otherwise plain gray breast.
songbird
American Barn Owl
A pale, heart-faced owl of open farmland and grassland, instantly recognizable by its golden and grey speckled upperparts, ghostly white underside, and exceptionally soft, silent-flight feathers.
owl