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.
Orange-breasted Bunting
A vividly colored Mexican bunting, the male Orange-breasted Bunting combines a green head and back with yellow underparts and a bold orange breast band.
songbird
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
A plain brown swallow similar to Bank Swallow but lacking a sharp breast band, instead showing a soft, diffuse brownish wash across the throat.
songbird
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
Brolga
Australia's iconic crane, grey overall with a bare red band of skin around the head and a distinctive fold of skin (dewlap) under the chin, well known for its elaborate dancing displays.
wading bird
Orange-breasted Falcon
The Orange-breasted Falcon is a powerful, rare Neotropical falcon resembling a large Bat Falcon, with a black hood, a broad orange-buff breast band, and a boldly white-barred black belly.
raptor
Red-shouldered Hawk
The Red-shouldered Hawk is a woodland buteo with rufous-barred underparts, reddish shoulder patches, a boldly black-and-white banded tail, and a translucent pale crescent near the wingtip visible in flight.
raptor
Varied Thrush
A strikingly patterned thrush of Pacific Northwest forests, combining a slate-gray back with burnt-orange underparts, eyebrow stripe, and wing bars, plus a bold dark breast band in males.
songbird
Red-and-green Macaw
One of the largest macaws, a vivid red parrot of South American forests with a green wing band, blue flight feathers, and a bare white face marked with thin lines of red feathers.
parrot
Cirl Bunting
The Cirl Bunting is a farmland songbird of southern Europe, with males showing a bold black-and-yellow striped face and an olive breast band, now a conservation success story in parts of its range.
songbird
Common Black Hawk
A stocky, broad-winged hawk of wooded streams and mangroves, easily told from other dark raptors by its nearly all-black plumage crossed by a single wide white tail band.
raptor
Aplomado Falcon
The Aplomado Falcon is a striking, slender falcon of open grasslands from the southern US through Central and South America, with a distinctive black chest band and rufous belly.
raptor
Superb Starling
A dazzling East African songbird with glossy blue-green upperparts, a bold white breast band, and a warm chestnut-orange belly, common around towns and savanna.
songbird
Mountain Plover
An unusual, upland-dwelling North American plover of dry short-grass prairie, notably lacking the dark breast band typical of most of its shorebird relatives.
shorebird
Collared Scops Owl
The Collared Scops Owl is a small Asian owl named for the pale buffy band across its hindneck, set within an overall brown, finely mottled plumage.
owl
White-faced Ibis
A close relative of the Glossy Ibis found in the Americas, sharing similar rich chestnut plumage with an iridescent sheen, but distinguished in breeding adults by a thin band of white feathers bordering the bare red facial skin.
wading bird
Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay
The interior counterpart to the California Scrub-Jay, this crestless jay of pinyon-juniper and interior scrub country shows a slightly duller blue and a less crisply defined breast band.
corvid
Superb Sunbird
A vividly patterned West and Central African sunbird whose males combine a violet throat, scarlet breast band, metallic blue-green head, and bright yellow belly.
songbird
Ruffed Grouse
A woodland grouse of North America recognized by its intricately mottled brown or grey plumage, fan-shaped banded tail, and neck ruffs used in courtship drumming displays.
gamebird
Kentish Plover
A small, pale Old World plover of sandy and saline flats, closely resembling the Snowy Plover of the Americas, with dark side-breast patches rather than a complete band.
shorebird
Beautiful Fruit Dove
A rainbow-colored fruit dove of New Guinea's rainforests, combining a lilac-purple crown, green body, and a bright orange-yellow breast band into one striking pattern.
dove pigeon
Surfbird
A stocky, rock-loving shorebird that breeds on remote Alaskan mountain tundra and winters almost entirely along rocky Pacific coastlines, easily told by its bold black tail band and heavily marked breeding underparts.
shorebird
Cooper's Hawk
Cooper's Hawk is a woodland accipiter with short rounded wings and a long, broadly banded tail, adult plumage showing blue-grey upperparts and fine rufous barring below, well suited to fast pursuit through trees.
raptor
Eurasian Dotterel
A confiding alpine plover with a bold white eyebrow stripe and a chestnut breast band bordered in black and white, the Eurasian Dotterel shows reversed sex roles typical of some plovers.
shorebird
Stitchbird
The Stitchbird, or Hihi, is a small New Zealand honeyeater-relative in which males show a striking black head and yellow shoulder band, now restricted mainly to predator-free sanctuaries.
songbird