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.
Pied Avocet
A crisp black-and-white wader with a black cap and nape, known for its elegant upturned bill and sweeping feeding motion.
shorebird
Channel-billed Toucan
A widespread Amazonian toucan with a mostly dark bill and warm yellow-orange chest, common in lowland rainforest canopy.
other
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
Short-billed Dowitcher
A long-billed, sewing-machine-feeding shorebird whose breeding-season feathers show a warm rufous-orange wash with fine spotting, closely resembling the Long-billed Dowitcher but generally with finer, more restrained markings.
shorebird
Yellow-billed Spoonbill
An Australian endemic spoonbill with pale yellow bill and legs, generally less gregarious than the Royal Spoonbill and often found alone or in small groups at inland wetlands.
wading bird
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
Cinereous Vulture
One of the heaviest flying raptors, with uniformly dark brown plumage, a dense dark ruff, and broad flight feathers adapted for soaring across open Eurasian terrain.
raptor
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.
songbird
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
Western Marsh Harrier
The Western Marsh Harrier is the largest and darkest of the Eurasian harriers, males showing a distinctive tricolor pattern of grey, brown, and black on the wings and tail, while females and juveniles are largely dark chocolate-brown with a pale creamy crown.
raptor
Common Pochard
The Common Pochard is a Eurasian diving duck notable for the male's warm chestnut head and contrasting black breast, set against a pale, finely patterned gray body.
waterfowl
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
European Golden Plover
The Old World golden plover of moorland and tundra, showing bold gold-spangled upperparts and, in northern breeders, black underparts bordered by a white band.
shorebird
Common Bullfinch
A stocky, shy woodland finch with males showing rosy-pink underparts against a blue-grey back and black cap, and both sexes sharing a bold white rump patch that flashes distinctively in flight.
songbird
Common Kestrel
The Common Kestrel is a small falcon best known for its ability to hover in place while hunting, with long pointed wings and a distinctive tail that is blue-grey with a black band in males but barred rufous-brown in females.
raptor
Common Crane
A widespread Eurasian crane with slate-grey plumage, a black-and-white striped head and neck, and drooping tertial plumes that form a bustle over the tail.
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
Orchard Oriole
The smallest North American oriole, with adult males showing a rich chestnut body against a black hood and back, while females and young males wear a more subdued olive-yellow plumage.
songbird
Hooded Oriole
A slender oriole closely tied to palm trees, with adult males showing a bright orange-yellow hood set off by a black face, throat, and back, and a notably curved bill.
songbird
Ortolan Bunting
The Ortolan Bunting is a migratory Eurasian farmland bird notable for its gray-green head, yellow throat, and pinkish underparts, breeding across open, warm agricultural landscapes.
songbird
Altamira Oriole
The largest oriole regularly found in the United States, showing a bright orange body, black back and wings, and a bold orange shoulder patch, and known for building the longest hanging nests among North American orioles.
songbird
Scott's Oriole
A bold desert oriole with adult males showing sharply contrasting lemon-yellow and black plumage, closely tied to yucca and agave habitats in the arid Southwest.
songbird
Bullock's Oriole
The western counterpart to the Baltimore Oriole, identified by its orange cheeks, black eyeline and throat stripe, and an unusually large white wing patch.
songbird
Ornate Hawk-Eagle
A powerful Neotropical forest raptor with a bold black crest, rufous cheeks and neck, and crisp black-and-white barring across the underparts, built for hunting within the forest canopy.
raptor