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.
Magellanic Woodpecker
A spectacular, crow-sized woodpecker of Patagonian beech forests, with the male's entire head blazing red and crowned by a distinctive forward-curling crest.
woodpecker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
A large-headed, big-chested flycatcher whose dark olive-gray flanks and white central stripe create a distinctive vest-like appearance.
songbird
Pyrrhuloxia
A desert relative of the Northern Cardinal, the Pyrrhuloxia is soft gray overall with splashes of red on the crest, face, and underparts, plus a distinctive stubby yellow bill.
songbird
Hooded Merganser
The Hooded Merganser is a small, richly patterned fish-eating duck whose male displays a spectacular fan-shaped white crest bordered in black.
waterfowl
Malachite Kingfisher
A jewel-toned African kingfisher with an electric-blue back and a shaggy blue-and-black crest, often seen perched low over quiet water.
other
Florida Scrub-Jay
A blue-and-grey jay found only in Florida's fire-maintained scrub oak habitat, lacking a crest and closely tied to a single, shrinking ecosystem.
corvid
Edwards's Pheasant
A rare, glossy dark blue-black pheasant native to the forests of central Vietnam, marked by a short white crest and vivid red facial skin.
gamebird
White-throated Magpie-Jay
A dramatic Central American jay with a long, forward-curling crest and an exceptionally long, graduated blue-and-white tail.
corvid
Ringed Kingfisher
The largest kingfisher in the Americas, a heavy-bodied bird with a shaggy crest and a loud rattling call along rivers and lakeshores.
other
Inca Dove
A small, pale dove with an overall scaly appearance created by dark-edged feathers, common around towns and arid scrub of the southwestern United States and Mexico.
dove pigeon
Eurasian Hoopoe
An unmistakable bird with a fan-shaped crest and bold black-and-white barred wings, probing the ground with a long curved bill.
other
Cheer Pheasant
A comparatively subdued, buff-and-grey Himalayan pheasant with a shaggy crest and a long, dark-barred tail, favoring open grassy hillsides rather than dense forest.
gamebird
Lady Amherst's Pheasant
A striking pheasant of dense mountain thickets in southwestern China, with males showing a black-and-white scaled cape, a red crest, and one of the longest tails of any pheasant.
gamebird
Giant Kingfisher
Africa's largest kingfisher, a bulky black-and-white bird with a shaggy crest, hunting fish along forested rivers and rocky streams.
other
European Shag
A slender, all-dark cormorant relative with an iridescent green-black sheen and a distinctive forward-curling crest during the breeding season.
seabird
Belted Kingfisher
A stocky, large-headed North American kingfisher with a shaggy blue-grey crest and, in females, a distinctive rust-colored belly band.
other
Shoebill
An unmistakable, prehistoric-looking African swamp bird named for its massive, shoe-shaped bill, with an overall slate blue-grey plumage and a shaggy crest at the back of the head.
wading bird
Philippine Eagle
The Philippine Eagle is a huge, critically endangered forest eagle with brown upperparts, creamy-white underparts, and a shaggy crest of long brown-and-cream feathers that it raises when alert.
raptor
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
Common Peafowl Spalding
An aviculture strain blending Green and Indian Peafowl ancestry, showing iridescent scaled neck feathers, a tall crest, and a long ornamental train that draws on the coloring of both parent lines.
gamebird
Palm Cockatoo
A large, distinctive black cockatoo with a shaggy crest and bright red bare facial skin that can flush more intensely when the bird is excited.
parrot
Grey Crowned Night Heron
A secretive, forest-dwelling night heron of South and Southeast Asia, cloaked in warm chestnut-rufous plumage with a blackish crown and short nape crest.
wading bird
Greater Flameback
A large, brilliantly colored Asian woodpecker whose golden 'flame' back gives the species its name, topped by a bushy red crest in males.
woodpecker
Hamerkop
A small brown African wading bird named for its hammer-shaped head, formed by a thick bill and a backward-pointing crest, best known for building enormous domed stick nests.
wading bird