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 Kite
The Black Kite is a widespread Old World raptor with dull dark brown plumage, a slightly forked tail, and finely barred flight feathers, notable for its adaptability to human-altered landscapes including cities and rubbish sites.
raptor
Northern Bobwhite
A small, well-known quail of eastern and central North America, named for its whistled call, with males showing a bold white throat and eyebrow stripe against a reddish-brown, barred body.
gamebird
Middle Spotted Woodpecker
A small, delicately patterned European woodpecker of old oak woodland, easily told from the Great Spotted Woodpecker by its unbroken red cap and streaked, rather than solidly barred, flanks.
woodpecker
Eurasian Jay
A shy woodland corvid best known for its brilliant sky-blue, black-barred wing covert feathers — among the most eye-catching and easily recognized feathers found in temperate woodland.
corvid
Northern Goshawk
The Northern Goshawk is the largest accipiter, a powerful forest hawk with slate-grey upperparts, a bold white eyebrow stripe, finely barred pale underparts, and fluffy white undertail feathers, built for powerful pursuit through mature forest.
raptor
Peregrine Falcon
A powerful, fast-flying falcon found on nearly every continent, famous for high-speed hunting stoops and identified by its slate-gray back, bold black facial 'moustache,' and finely barred underparts.
raptor
Crowned Eagle
The Crowned Eagle is a powerful African forest eagle with rich rufous underparts boldly barred in black, a strongly banded black-and-white tail, and a small crest, all adaptations for hunting beneath a dense forest canopy.
raptor
Osprey
The Osprey is a fish-eating raptor with dark brown upperparts, a white head marked by a bold dark eye-stripe, white underparts, and long, angled wings showing a distinctive dark carpal patch and barred flight feathers.
raptor
Northern Crested Caracara
A bold, ground-foraging raptor found from the southern United States through Central America, showing a black cap, cream barred neck, and dark body much like its southern relative the Crested Caracara.
raptor
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
The Eurasian Sparrowhawk is a small, agile woodland raptor with short, rounded wings and a long barred tail suited to fast pursuit through trees, showing fine barring on the underparts that differs between the smaller male and larger female.
raptor
Great Curassow
A large, turkey-sized forest bird, with males glossy black and white below and topped by a curly crest and bright yellow bill knob. Females occur in several distinct color morphs, ranging from barred to rufous to blackish.
gamebird
Bar-tailed Godwit
A high-Arctic-breeding godwit renowned for extraordinary nonstop transoceanic migratory flights, showing a finely barred tail and rich brick-red breeding underparts quite different from the bold black tail of the related Black-tailed Godwit.
shorebird
Baird's Sandpiper
A long-winged, buff-toned sandpiper whose folded wingtips extend noticeably past the tail, giving it an elongated, tapered silhouette.
shorebird
Maned Goose
A stocky, pale grey Australian goose with a small dark bill and mostly terrestrial habits, grazing on grasslands near the coast.
waterfowl
Little Corella
A predominantly white cockatoo of Australian open country, the Little Corella has a short, low crest and a faint pinkish tinge at the base of its head feathers, visible only when raised.
parrot
Little Crow
The smallest of Australia's crow species, adapted to arid interior habitats and often seen in nomadic flocks.
corvid
Sword-billed Hummingbird
A remarkable Andean hummingbird whose straight bill is longer than its own body, an adaptation for feeding on especially long, tubular flowers.
hummingbird
Iberian Green Woodpecker
The Iberian Peninsula's counterpart to the Eurasian Green Woodpecker, recently recognized as its own species, sharing the same green plumage and strongly ground-feeding habits.
woodpecker
Black-and-yellow Grosbeak
A large western Himalayan finch showing a solid black hood contrasting sharply with vivid yellow body plumage.
songbird
Hooded Vulture
A small, slender African vulture with plain dark brown plumage and a distinctive whitish downy hood of feathers on the head and neck.
raptor
Red Siskin
A small, brilliantly red South American finch with a black hood and wings, now rare in the wild and notable for its striking male plumage.
songbird
Hooded Siskin
A small South American finch whose male sports a jet-black hood set off by bright yellow underparts and wing flashes.
songbird
Black-headed Greenfinch
A Himalayan and Southeast Asian finch with a solid black hood contrasting sharply with olive-yellow body plumage and bright yellow wing patches.
songbird
Nanday Conure
A green South American conure easily told by its solid black head, or hood, along with a small blue patch on the breast and red-feathered thighs.
parrot