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-headed Gull
A small, gregarious Old World gull whose chocolate-brown (not black) hood and white leading-edge wing wedge make it easy to pick out from mixed flocks.
seabird
Chestnut-sided Warbler
A small wood-warbler with a bold chestnut stripe along white flanks and a yellow-green crown, common in shrubby second-growth habitat.
songbird
Prairie Warbler
A small yellow wood-warbler with chestnut streaks on the back and bold facial markings, common in shrubby old fields and pine barrens, often seen bobbing its tail.
songbird
Magnolia Warbler
A small, boldly patterned wood-warbler with a black "necklace" of streaking on a yellow breast, breeding in northern conifer forests.
songbird
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
Palm Warbler
A ground-foraging wood-warbler with a rufous cap in breeding plumage and constant tail-bobbing, breeding in northern bogs and wintering in the southeastern US.
songbird
Blackburnian Warbler
A small wood-warbler with a vivid orange throat and face set against black facial markings, breeding high in mature conifer canopy.
songbird
Black-throated Blue Warbler
A striking deep-blue wood-warbler with black face and flanks in the male, breeding in eastern deciduous forests with a dense shrub layer.
songbird
Black-and-white Warbler
A boldly striped, zebra-patterned wood-warbler that creeps along tree trunks and branches nuthatch-style, entirely lacking yellow or green tones.
songbird
Yellow-breasted Chat
The Yellow-breasted Chat is an oversized, thick-billed relative of the wood-warblers with a bright yellow throat and a habit of hiding deep in tangled thickets.
songbird
Cerulean Warbler
One of the smallest wood-warblers, with sky-blue upperparts in the male, breeding high in mature deciduous forest canopy of eastern North America.
songbird
American Redstart
An active wood-warbler that flashes bright orange or yellow patches on its wings and tail while fanning them to startle insects into flight.
songbird
Cape May Warbler
A small wood-warbler with a bright chestnut cheek patch and heavily streaked yellow underparts, closely tied to spruce budworm outbreaks in the boreal forest.
songbird
Bay-breasted Warbler
A small wood-warbler with rich chestnut coloring on the crown, throat, and flanks, breeding in boreal spruce-fir forest tied to spruce budworm outbreaks.
songbird
Blackpoll Warbler
A small wood-warbler famous for its extremely long migratory flights, showing a black cap and white cheeks in breeding males and a plainer streaked plumage in fall.
songbird
Yellow-throated Warbler
A gray-backed wood-warbler with a bright yellow throat and bold black-and-white facial pattern, often seen creeping along branches in pine and cypress woodland.
songbird
Mottled Owl
A medium-sized, ear-tuftless wood owl of Neotropical forest, its feathers finely mottled in dark and pale brown, with whitish eyebrows and buffy, streaked underparts.
owl
Brush Bronzewing
A ground-loving Australian pigeon named for the shimmering bronze, green, and purple spots that gleam across its folded wings.
dove pigeon
Northern Parula
One of the smallest and most compact wood-warblers, blue-gray above with a yellow throat and a distinctive olive-green back patch, tied to hanging moss or lichen for nesting.
songbird
Bachman's Sparrow
Bachman's Sparrow is a secretive southeastern songbird best known for its long, sweet, whistled song delivered from a low perch in open pine woods.
songbird
Black-and-white Owl
A striking Neotropical wood owl patterned in crisp black-and-white barring, with no ear tufts and a bright yellow-orange facial disc and bill that contrast sharply with its otherwise monochrome plumage.
owl
Honey Buzzard
The Honey Buzzard is a highly variable Eurasian raptor specialized in raiding wasp and bee nests, recognizable by its small, pigeon-like head, dense scale-like facial feathers for protection, and boldly banded tail.
raptor
Little Raven
The smallest of Australia's raven species, common across farmland and open woodland in the continent's southeast.
corvid
Dodo
A large, flightless pigeon relative once native to Mauritius, known for its stout grey-brown body, oversized hooked bill, and small, curled tuft of tail feathers; it has been extinct since the late 1600s.
dove pigeon