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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.

Boreal Owl

Boreal Owl

A small, secretive owl of northern boreal and subalpine conifer forests, marked by dark brown plumage boldly spotted with white and a distinctive dark-rimmed facial disc.

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Sooty Owl

Sooty Owl

A dark, striking barn-owl relative of Australian and New Guinean rainforest, its sooty gray-black feathers finely speckled with silvery white, unlike any other owl in its range.

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Tawny Owl

Tawny Owl

A stocky woodland owl whose bark-patterned, silent-edged feathers make it one of the most cryptically camouflaged birds in the forest.

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Striped Owl

Striped Owl

The Striped Owl is a boldly streaked, long-eared owl of open country across Latin America, easily recognized by its buffy plumage, dark streaking, and prominent ear tufts.

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Spotted Owl

Spotted Owl

An old-growth forest specialist of western North America, dark brown overall with distinctive rounded white spotting across its plumage, dependent on structurally complex mature forest.

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Powerful Owl

Powerful Owl

Australia's largest owl, a powerful hawk-owl of eucalypt forest that preys on tree-dwelling mammals, its underparts marked with bold dark chevrons rather than simple streaks or bars.

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Mottled Owl

Mottled Owl

A medium-sized, ear-tuftless wood owl of Neotropical forest, its feathers finely mottled in dark and pale brown, with whitish eyebrows and buffy, streaked underparts.

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Little Owl

Little Owl

A small, flat-headed owl whose boldly white-spotted brown feathers and habit of perching in daylight set it apart from Europe's other owls.

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Jamaican Owl

Jamaican Owl

The Jamaican Owl is an island-endemic owl found only in Jamaica's forests and woodlands, with rich brown, finely mottled plumage and short ear tufts.

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Burrowing Owl

Burrowing Owl

A small, long-legged owl of open grassland and prairie that nests underground in burrows, with brown, white-spotted plumage above and barred underparts, often active during daylight.

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Flammulated Owl

Flammulated Owl

A tiny, highly secretive migratory owl of western pine forests, camouflaged to match bark with a fine mottled gray-and-rufous pattern, and unusual among small owls for its dark eyes.

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Fearful Owl

Fearful Owl

The Fearful Owl is a large, poorly known owl endemic to a few islands in the Solomon Islands, with rich brown, mottled plumage and a rounded, tuftless head.

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Elf Owl

Elf Owl

The smallest owl in the world, a sparrow-sized desert dweller that nests in old woodpecker holes in saguaro cacti and streamside trees, with finely mottled grey-brown plumage.

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Hume's Owl

Hume's Owl

Hume's Owl is a pale, desert-adapted tawny owl of the Middle East whose sandy, finely barred feathers blend seamlessly with rock and canyon walls.

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Grass Owl

Grass Owl

A ground-nesting barn-owl relative of tall grasslands from Asia to Australia, with long slender legs and golden-buff to dark brown feathers finely spotted, adapted to a life spent low over open grass.

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Fulvous Owl

Fulvous Owl

A tawny-toned relative of the Barred Owl found in Central American highland forests, recognizable by its warm fulvous coloring and heavy barring.

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Barking Owl

Barking Owl

An Australian hawk-owl named for its dog-like barking call, gray-brown above and heavily streaked below, favoring open woodland and riverine forest.

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Short-toed Snake Eagle

Short-toed Snake Eagle

The Short-toed Snake Eagle is a pale-bellied Eurasian eagle with brown upperparts, a mottled brown breast, finely barred flight and tail feathers, and a large owl-like head adapted for scanning the ground for reptile prey.

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White-bellied Sea Eagle

White-bellied Sea Eagle

The White-bellied Sea Eagle is a large raptor with a white head, body, and tail contrasting against grey upperwings, typically seen soaring over coasts and large waterways.

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Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle

Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle

A massive, broad-winged raptor of the Andes and southern grasslands, recognized by its silvery flight feathers, short wedge tail, and sharply contrasting black chest patch against a white belly.

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Tropical Screech-Owl

Tropical Screech-Owl

The Tropical Screech-Owl is a small, widespread Neotropical owl with cryptic grey-brown or rufous plumage and small ear tufts that help it blend against tree bark.

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Pel's Fishing Owl

Pel's Fishing Owl

Pel's Fishing Owl is a large, rufous-chestnut African owl specialized for hunting fish along rivers and lakes, with bare, unfeathered legs and feet unlike most owls.

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Pacific Screech-Owl

Pacific Screech-Owl

A small eared owl of Pacific lowland Central America, with greyish-brown streaked plumage and pale eyebrows meeting above the bill.

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Oriental Scops Owl

Oriental Scops Owl

The Oriental Scops Owl is a small, migratory Asian owl with cryptic bark-patterned plumage occurring in grey and rufous color morphs, and tiny ear tufts.

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