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.
Lark Bunting
A North American prairie songbird whose breeding males turn nearly all black with a bold white wing patch, a striking contrast to the streaky brown females.
songbird
Chestnut-eared Aracari
A toucan relative of South American forests, with a huge cream-and-black bill, a chestnut patch behind the eye, and yellow underparts crossed by a bold red-and-black band.
other
Buff-fronted Owl
The Buff-fronted Owl is a small South American forest owl with a striking contrast between its dark brown upperparts and warm buffy-orange face and underparts.
owl
Eastern Screech-Owl
A small, common owl of eastern North American woodlands and suburbs, occurring in both a grey and a rufous color morph, both finely patterned to resemble tree bark.
owl
Spotted Sandpiper
A small, constantly bobbing sandpiper whose breeding-season underparts are covered in bold round black spots unlike any other North American shorebird.
shorebird
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
Purple Martin
The largest North American swallow, with males showing an all-over glossy blue-black sheen and females a duller gray-brown, pale-bellied pattern.
songbird
Green-cheeked Conure
A small, compact South American conure with green cheeks, a grey-brown crown, and a distinctive maroon-red tail contrasting with its mostly green body.
parrot
California Thrasher
The largest North American thrasher, a dark chocolate-brown bird of California chaparral with a long, strongly curved bill adapted for digging through leaf litter.
songbird
Clay-colored Thrush
A plain, uniformly brown thrush of Middle America, closely related to the American Robin but lacking its bright orange breast, identified by its overall buffy-brown tone and pale bill.
songbird
Green Hermit
A large green hermit hummingbird found in forest understory from Central America to northern South America, marked by its long decurved bill and elongated white-tipped tail streamer.
hummingbird
Yellow-naped Amazon
The Yellow-naped Amazon is a large Central American parrot recognized by the bright yellow band across the back of its neck, set against otherwise all-green plumage.
parrot
Swallow-tailed Kite
A graceful, boldly two-toned raptor with a deeply forked tail, whose sharp black-and-white feathers are unlike almost any other North American bird of prey.
raptor
Red-faced Warbler
A gray-backed, high-mountain warbler with a strikingly bright red face and throat set off by a black crown and nape, unlike any other North American warbler.
songbird
Mountain Bluebird
A slender, sky-blue songbird of western North American high country, the male appearing almost entirely blue with no rusty breast patch, unlike its bluebird relatives.
songbird
Blue Grosbeak
A stocky North American bunting relative, the Blue Grosbeak shows deep blue plumage and chestnut wing bars in males, while females wear a warm, understated brown.
songbird
Red-throated Caracara
A loud, glossy black rainforest raptor of the Amazon and Central America, with a bare red throat and face and a striking white belly patch, often heard before it is seen.
raptor
Streak-backed Oriole
A vividly orange oriole of Mexican and Central American dry forests, distinguished by black streaking across its back, and an occasional rare visitor to the southwestern United States.
songbird
Mountain Plover
An unusual, upland-dwelling North American plover of dry short-grass prairie, notably lacking the dark breast band typical of most of its shorebird relatives.
shorebird
Picui Ground Dove
A small, pale ground dove of open southern South American country, marked by neat blackish spots on its wing coverts and flashes of blue-grey in flight.
dove pigeon
Spot-winged Falconet
A small, distinctive South American falcon of arid scrub and Chaco woodland, showing white-spotted wings against brown-grey upperparts and streaked buffy underparts.
raptor
Whooping Crane
The tallest bird in North America, an endangered white crane with black wingtips visible in flight and a bare red crown, best known for its dramatic conservation recovery story.
wading bird
Southern Lapwing
A bold, noisy plover of South American open country, the Southern Lapwing shows iridescent bronze-green wing feathers, a black breast patch, and a distinctive thin head crest.
shorebird
Fiery-throated Hummingbird
A high-elevation Central American hummingbird whose throat flashes a fiery orange-red patch bordered by contrasting blue, set against an overall glittering blue-green body.
hummingbird