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.
Dickcissel
A prairie songbird resembling a miniature meadowlark, the male Dickcissel shows a yellow breast marked with a black V-bib and a chestnut shoulder patch.
songbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler
One of North America's most abundant warblers, easily known by small bright-yellow patches on the rump, sides, and crown set against streaky gray-brown feathers.
songbird
Indian Scops Owl
The Indian Scops Owl is a small, grey-brown owl of the Indian subcontinent whose finely mottled, bark-like feathers help it disappear against tree trunks by day.
owl
Common Wood Pigeon
Europe's largest common pigeon, easily identified by its soft blue-grey feathers, a bold white wing bar, and white neck patches absent in smaller relatives.
dove pigeon
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
Carolina Wren
A chunky, warm rufous wren of southeastern thickets whose barred tail feathers and loud, ringing song make it one of the most conspicuous small birds around brushy yards.
songbird
Smith's Longspur
Smith's Longspur is an Arctic-breeding songbird notable for its warm buff-orange underparts and bold black-and-white head pattern in breeding plumage.
songbird
Warbling Vireo
The Warbling Vireo is a plain, understated songbird best known for its long, cheerful warbling song rather than any bold plumage features.
songbird
Splendid Fairywren
The Splendid Fairywren is a tiny songbird whose breeding males are almost entirely brilliant blue and violet, among the most vividly coloured birds in Australia.
songbird
Melodious Blackbird
An all-black songbird of Mexico and Central America, notable for its subtly glossy plumage, stout bill, and rich duetting song delivered in pairs.
songbird
Crimson-collared Grosbeak
A striking forest songbird of Mexico and Central America, the male Crimson-collared Grosbeak is mostly black with a bold crimson-red collar, breast, and rump.
songbird
Silvereye
The Silvereye is a tiny olive-green songbird with a bold white eye-ring, common in gardens, scrub, and forest edges across Australia and New Zealand.
songbird
Gray Catbird
A slim, uniformly slate-gray songbird named for its cat-like mewing call, with a black cap and a hidden rufous patch beneath the tail.
songbird
Curve-billed Thrasher
A grayish-brown desert songbird with a long, strongly down-curved bill, well adapted to foraging among cactus and thorny scrub of the American Southwest.
songbird
Brown Thrasher
A large, rich rufous-brown songbird with heavily streaked underparts and a long tail, often heard singing elaborate phrases from a high perch.
songbird
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is Europe's smallest woodpecker, its black-and-white barred back and small size distinguishing its feathers from the much larger, bolder-patched Great Spotted Woodpecker.
woodpecker
Eurasian Blue Tit
A small, brightly colored garden tit with a blue crown and wings, yellow underparts, and white cheeks bordered by a thin black eye-line, among the most colorful common feathers in European gardens.
songbird
Cedar Waxwing
A sleek, crested bird best known for the small, waxy red tips on its secondary wing feathers, paired with a soft brown-to-gray body and a bright yellow band across the tail tip.
songbird
Common Kingfisher
A small, jewel-like bird whose brilliant structurally iridescent blue back feathers and warm orange underparts make it one of the most vividly colored birds along any river.
other
Red-breasted Nuthatch
The Red-breasted Nuthatch is a small conifer-forest nuthatch whose rusty-orange underside feathers and bold black eye-stripe set it apart from its white-breasted relative.
songbird
Eurasian Pygmy-Owl
Europe's smallest owl, a boreal forest specialist that hunts small birds and rodents largely by day. Its feathers are gray-brown to rufous with crisp white spotting and a narrowly barred tail.
owl
Yellow-winged Cacique
A glossy black songbird of Mexico's Pacific slope, distinguished by a shaggy crest and a bold yellow patch on the wing, and known for its noisy colonial nesting behavior.
songbird
Yellow-throated Vireo
The Yellow-throated Vireo is a canopy-dwelling songbird with a vivid yellow throat and spectacles set against an olive-green back and clean white wing bars.
songbird
Western Meadowlark
A grassland songbird nearly identical to the Eastern Meadowlark, with pale mottled upperparts, a yellow breast marked by a black V, and a rich, gurgling flute-like song.
songbird