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.
Greater Bird-of-paradise
The Greater Bird-of-paradise is famous for the male's cascading yellow and white flank plumes, displayed during elaborate group courtship gatherings. It lives in the lowland rainforest canopy of New Guinea and the Aru Islands.
songbird
Greater Yellowlegs
A tall, alert shorebird with bright yellow legs and a heavy, slightly upturned bill, often the first to sound an alarm call at a wetland.
shorebird
Eurasian Bittern
A large, superbly camouflaged heron of Old World reedbeds, more often detected by its deep booming call than seen in its dense marsh habitat.
wading bird
Greater Spotted Eagle
A dark, wetland-loving eagle of boreal and eastern Eurasian forests, larger and blacker than its close relative the Lesser Spotted Eagle, with juveniles showing a striking frosted pattern of white wing spots.
raptor
Tropical Parula
A tiny blue-gray and yellow warbler of the far southern U.S. and Latin America, easily told from its northern cousin by its unbroken olive back patch and lack of white eye crescents.
songbird
Greater Blue-eared Starling
A dazzling African starling with metallic blue-green plumage, a darker blue ear patch, and violet-tinged flanks that shimmer in sunlight.
songbird
Village Weaver
A social African weaverbird known for elaborate woven nests, breeding males showing bright yellow bodies with black heads and mottled backs.
songbird
Greater Prairie-Chicken
A grassland grouse of the central United States, known for the male's elongated neck feathers and orange air sacs displayed during energetic booming courtship gatherings.
gamebird
Greater White-fronted Goose
A brown, scale-patterned goose named for the band of white feathers at the base of its bill, with variable black barring across the belly that gives it the nickname "specklebelly."
waterfowl
Greater Double-collared Sunbird
A southern African sunbird whose males flash an iridescent green throat and a broad scarlet breast band bordered in violet.
songbird
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 Shrike
A pale, predatory songbird of the far north that winters across open habitats farther south, distinguished from the smaller Loggerhead Shrike by its larger bill and faintly barred underparts.
songbird
Flame-colored Tanager
A mountain-forest tanager of Mexico and Central America, the male Flame-colored Tanager combines orange-red body plumage with a distinctively black-streaked back and white wing bars.
songbird
Elliot's Pheasant
A richly patterned Chinese forest pheasant, with males showing a chestnut body, blue-grey head, crisp white throat patch, and a long chestnut tail barred in black and white.
gamebird
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
Cocoi Heron
The South American counterpart to the Great Blue Heron, with a bold black cap and crisp white neck.
wading bird
Royal Spoonbill
A white spoonbill of Australasia known for the long, trailing white crest plumes that breeding adults grow from the back of the head.
wading bird
Verreaux's Eagle
Verreaux's Eagle, also called the Black Eagle, is a striking African mountain eagle almost entirely glossy black except for a white back patch and pale flight-feather 'windows.' Its long, broad wings and tail are shaped for soaring along cliffs and escarpments.
raptor
Carolina Chickadee
The Carolina Chickadee is the southeastern counterpart to the Black-capped Chickadee, producing nearly identical tiny black-capped, gray-backed feathers.
songbird
Eastern Kingbird
A bold, dark-backed flycatcher with clean white underparts and a distinctive white terminal band across an otherwise black tail.
songbird
Kentucky Warbler
A bright yellow, olive-backed warbler of the forest floor, marked by bold black stripes framing the face like sideburns and a partial spectacle.
songbird
Nuttall's Woodpecker
A small woodpecker largely restricted to California oak woodlands, similar to Ladder-backed Woodpecker but with cleaner white underparts and a solid black nape band.
woodpecker
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
Syrian Woodpecker
A close look-alike of the Great Spotted Woodpecker found across southeastern Europe and the Middle East, best separated by an incomplete black neck bar and a paler pink vent.
woodpecker