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.
Black-crowned Night Heron
A stocky, short-necked heron with striking red eyes, most active at dusk and night, sporting a glossy black cap and back against pale gray wings.
wading bird
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
A large, dark cockatoo of southeastern Australia, the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo shows blackish-brown plumage broken by bright yellow patches on the tail and cheek.
parrot
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
A large Australian cockatoo, the male Red-tailed Black Cockatoo has glossy black plumage with bold red tail panels, while females show duller, yellow-spotted plumage and an orange-yellow tail pattern.
parrot
Black-throated Green Warbler
A small wood-warbler with a bright yellow face framed by an olive-green crown and a black throat, breeding in northern conifer forests.
songbird
Black-throated Magpie-Jay
A close relative of the White-throated Magpie-Jay, distinguished by a bold black throat and breast band and an even longer, more elaborate tail.
corvid
Black-headed Mountain Finch
A high-altitude finch of the Himalayas and Central Asian ranges, known for its blackish head and body offset by rosy-pink wing feathers.
songbird
Indian Robin
A small, confiding songbird of dry open country in South Asia, glossy black or brown with a chestnut patch under the tail that flashes as it forages on the ground.
songbird
Arizona Woodpecker
A woodpecker of southwestern oak canyons notable for its plain brown back, unlike the black-and-white barred pattern of most related species.
woodpecker
Greater Scaup
A robust diving duck of open water, the Greater Scaup shows a glossy green-black head and finely vermiculated gray back that give it a clean, pale appearance from a distance.
waterfowl
Bank Swallow
A small, plain brown-and-white swallow told from other species by a clean brown breast band across otherwise white underparts.
songbird
Australian Magpie
A boldly patterned black-and-white Australian songbird famous for its rich, warbling carol and confident presence in parks and farmland.
corvid
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
Greater Rhea
A large flightless ratite of South American grasslands, with soft, loose grayish-brown plumage and a long neck, related more to ostriches and emus than to typical flying birds.
other
Greater Sage-Grouse
North America's largest grouse, famous for the male's elaborate lek display featuring spiky tail feathers fanned upward and inflated yellow air sacs on a white breast.
gamebird
Greater Adjutant
A very large, rare Asian scavenging stork with a bald head, a huge bill, and a pale throat pouch, now restricted to a few strongholds in India and Cambodia after severe historical decline.
wading bird
Swainson's Thrush
A brown forest thrush best identified by its bold, buffy eye-ring and evenly colored upperparts, lacking the contrasting rufous tail of the Hermit Thrush.
songbird
Brahminy Kite
A handsome coastal raptor with a crisp white head and breast set against warm chestnut wings and body, common along tropical shorelines of Asia and Australia.
raptor
Dunlin
A common small sandpiper whose breeding plumage features a bold black belly patch found on no other similarly sized shorebird.
shorebird
Greater Kestrel
The Greater Kestrel is a robust southern African kestrel, larger than the Common Kestrel, with a barred rufous back, pale underparts, and a distinctive pale eye.
raptor
Greater Flamingo
The largest flamingo species, with pale pink body plumage that hides bold black flight feathers revealed only in flight.
wading bird
Barking Owl
An Australian hawk-owl named for its dog-like barking call, gray-brown above and heavily streaked below, favoring open woodland and riverine forest.
owl
Bank Myna
A bluish-gray South Asian myna with warm brick-colored underparts and a distinctive patch of bare orange-red skin behind the eye, often found nesting in burrows along riverbanks.
songbird
Green Heron
A small, stocky, solitary heron of the Americas with a dark cap, chestnut neck, and greenish-backed wings, often seen crouched at the water's edge.
wading bird
Greater Yellownape
A large, uniformly olive-green woodpecker of Asian forests, best recognized by its shaggy yellow nape crest rather than the black-and-white patterning typical of pied woodpeckers.
woodpecker