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.
Common Pochard
The Common Pochard is a Eurasian diving duck notable for the male's warm chestnut head and contrasting black breast, set against a pale, finely patterned gray body.
waterfowl
Hazel Grouse
A small, secretive forest grouse of northern Eurasia, best known for its finely patterned gray-brown plumage and a bold black-and-white throat patch in males.
gamebird
California Quail
A familiar western quail known for the male's forward-drooping black head plume and scaled gray-brown body feathers, common in chaparral and suburban gardens alike.
gamebird
Blue-headed Vireo
The Blue-headed Vireo shows a contrasting blue-gray head, bold white spectacles, and white wing bars, making it one of the more readily identified vireos.
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-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
Bean Goose
A dark, orange-legged gray goose of Eurasian taiga and tundra, uniformly brown without the pale head-body contrast or bright bill color of related species.
waterfowl
White-crowned Sparrow
The White-crowned Sparrow is a clean, handsome sparrow with a bold black-and-white striped crown set above a plain, unstreaked gray face and breast.
songbird
Western Kingbird
A pale gray-headed flycatcher with a yellow belly, often seen perched on wires in open country, told by white edges on its blackish tail.
songbird
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
Mourning Warbler
A skulking, gray-hooded warbler of dense thickets, with adult males showing a dark, mottled patch across the throat and upper breast and no eye-ring.
songbird
Grace's Warbler
Grace's Warbler is a small, treetop-loving warbler of southwestern pine forests, showing a bright yellow throat set against a gray-streaked back.
songbird
White-throated Robin
The White-throated Robin is a strikingly patterned Old World songbird, with breeding males showing slate-gray upperparts, orange underparts, and a bold white throat outlined in black.
songbird
Nashville Warbler
A small warbler with a gray head, bold white eye-ring, and bright yellow underparts, plus a hidden chestnut crown patch usually visible only at close range.
songbird
Pallid Harrier
A slender, long-distance migrant harrier of the Eurasian steppe, the palest of the gray harriers, with males showing a narrow black wedge at the wingtip and females a streaky brown 'ringtail' pattern.
raptor
Ortolan Bunting
The Ortolan Bunting is a migratory Eurasian farmland bird notable for its gray-green head, yellow throat, and pinkish underparts, breeding across open, warm agricultural landscapes.
songbird
Slate-throated Redstart
The Slate-throated Redstart is a highland forest warbler known for its slate-gray plumage, reddish belly, and habit of fanning white-edged tail feathers while foraging.
songbird
Field Sparrow
A small, subtly marked sparrow of old fields whose soft rufous-brown and gray feathers lack bold streaking, standing out mainly for their clean, quiet coloring.
songbird
Colima Warbler
A plain gray-brown warbler with a bright rufous-orange undertail patch, found in the United States only in high-elevation oak-pine canyons of a single mountain range.
songbird
American Kestrel
The smallest and most colorful falcon in North America, a common sight perched on roadside wires, told by its rufous back and tail and, in males, contrasting blue-gray wings.
raptor
Striated Heron
The Old World counterpart to the Green Heron, a small, stocky heron with grayer tones and finely streaked underparts, common along mangroves and tropical waterways.
wading bird
Wood Stork
A large white stork with sharply contrasting black flight feathers and tail, and a bare, dark gray-black head and neck rather than feathered skin.
wading bird
Snow Partridge
A high-alpine Himalayan partridge whose entire plumage is finely barred in gray, black, white, and chestnut, blending seamlessly into rocky, snow-patched terrain.
gamebird
Tropical Mockingbird
A familiar gray songbird of Central and South American open country and gardens, known for its long tail, white wing flashes, and varied vocal repertoire.
songbird