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.
Yellow-legged Gull
A large, robust gull of Mediterranean and western European coasts, closely resembling other large white-headed gulls but distinguished by bright yellow legs and a somewhat darker mantle.
seabird
Yellow-headed Caracara
A pale-headed, adaptable caracara commonly seen around cattle and open farmland across Central and South America, easily told by its creamy-yellow head and dark eye-stripe.
raptor
Yellow-green Vireo
The Yellow-green Vireo closely resembles the Red-eyed Vireo but shows a stronger yellow-green wash on the flanks and undertail, and it breeds in tropical woodlands from Mexico southward.
songbird
Yellow-browed Bunting
A Siberian-breeding bunting recognized by its yellow-tinged eyebrow stripe fading to white toward the back of the head.
songbird
Eastern Yellow Robin
The Eastern Yellow Robin is a small Australian robin with a grey back, bright yellow underparts, and an upright, alert perching posture.
songbird
Blue-and-yellow Macaw
A large, brilliantly two-toned macaw with deep blue upperparts and golden-yellow underparts, a green forehead patch, and bare white facial skin crossed by narrow lines of small feathers.
parrot
Booted Racket-tail
A tiny Andean hummingbird best known for its puffy white leg feathers and, in males, a pair of long bare tail shafts ending in small dark paddle-shaped tips.
hummingbird
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
The Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill is a mid-sized African savanna hornbill with speckled black-and-white upperparts, white underparts, and a long, curved pale yellow bill. It is a familiar sight foraging on the ground in dry woodland across southern Africa.
other
Double Yellow-headed Amazon
The Double Yellow-headed Amazon is one of the largest Amazon parrots, instantly recognized by its entirely yellow head set against a green body.
parrot
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
A stocky, thick-billed night heron with a bold black-and-white head pattern and a pale, straw-colored crown, often found near crustacean-rich coastal waters.
wading bird
Yellow-billed Blue Magpie
A Himalayan blue magpie closely resembling its red-billed relative, distinguished mainly by its yellow bill and slightly higher-elevation habitat.
corvid
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 Redstart
The Black Redstart is a small songbird easily identified by its constantly quivering, bright rufous-orange tail set against sooty gray or brown body plumage, often seen on rocky ledges and buildings.
songbird
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
Black Tern
A distinctive marsh tern that turns almost entirely sooty-black during the breeding season, a striking departure from the pale gray-and-white pattern typical of most terns.
seabird
Black Guillemot
A small, sooty-black auk of northern rocky coasts, easily told by a bold white oval patch on each wing and bright red legs and feet.
seabird
Black Caracara
An almost entirely glossy black raptor of the Amazon basin, distinguished mainly by a flash of white at the base of the tail, often seen along rivers and forest clearings.
raptor
Black Grouse
A Eurasian grouse whose male is famous for its glossy black plumage and dramatically curved lyre-shaped tail, displayed at communal leks.
gamebird
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 Phoebe
A dark, tail-wagging flycatcher almost always found perched near water, easily told by its sooty black body and clean white belly.
songbird
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 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