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.
Jabiru
The largest flying bird of the Americas, an enormous white stork with a bare black head and neck marked by a distinctive red collar at the base, found in wetlands from Mexico to Argentina.
wading bird
Shoebill
An unmistakable, prehistoric-looking African swamp bird named for its massive, shoe-shaped bill, with an overall slate blue-grey plumage and a shaggy crest at the back of the head.
wading bird
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
A plain gray-breasted sparrow of rocky, brushy hillsides, identified by its rufous crown and a bold black malar stripe.
songbird
Lawrence's Goldfinch
A small California and Baja California finch, gray-bodied with a black face on males and bright yellow wing and rump patches.
songbird
Common Greenshank
A tall, pale gray shorebird with greenish legs and a long, slightly upturned bill, the Old World counterpart to the yellowlegs.
shorebird
Pacific Parrotlet
The Pacific Parrotlet is one of the smallest parrots, a compact green bird from western South America in which males show patches of blue on the wings and rump.
parrot
North Island Robin
The North Island Robin is a dark, upright-perching forest bird of New Zealand's North Island, known for its tame curiosity around ground disturbance.
songbird
Little Auk
The smallest auk of the North Atlantic, a dumpy, tightly packed little bird with a black-and-white pattern and a stubby bill, breeding in immense colonies in the high Arctic.
seabird
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
Whooping Crane
The tallest bird in North America, a white crane with black wingtips visible in flight and a bare red crown, best known for its dramatic conservation recovery story.
wading bird
Sacred Ibis
A large white wading bird with a bare black head and curved black bill, historically significant in ancient Egyptian culture and common across African wetlands today.
wading bird
Abert's Towhee
Abert's Towhee is a warm buffy-brown desert bird tied closely to riparian mesquite thickets of the low desert Southwest, identified by its black face patch.
songbird
Paradise Tanager
One of the most vividly colored songbirds in the world, the Paradise Tanager combines a turquoise-green head, black back, red rump, and purplish-blue throat in a single small canopy bird.
songbird
Hoatzin
An unusual, primitive-looking bird of Amazonian and Orinoco wetlands, with a spiky rufous crest, bright blue bare facial skin, and reddish eyes, known for chicks with clawed wings used to climb.
other
Sagebrush Sparrow
A pale gray-headed sparrow of Great Basin sagebrush country, with a white eye-ring and a dark central breast spot.
songbird
Black-throated Sparrow
A striking desert sparrow with a bold black throat patch framed by crisp white stripes on an otherwise plain gray face.
songbird
Great Crested Flycatcher
A large woodland flycatcher with a bushy crest, gray throat, and bright yellow belly, showing rufous flashes in the wings and tail.
songbird
Northern Giant Petrel
An enormous, bulky tubenose with a massive pale bill, showing mottled brown plumage that lightens on the head and neck as birds mature.
seabird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
An unmistakable flycatcher with an extremely long, deeply forked black-and-white tail and soft salmon-pink flanks against pale gray plumage.
songbird
Black-winged Kite
The Old World counterpart of the White-tailed Kite, a small pale gray-and-white raptor with a black shoulder patch and striking red eyes.
raptor
Blood Pheasant
A high-altitude Himalayan pheasant with finely streaked gray-green plumage washed with blood-red highlights across the face, breast, and tail.
gamebird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
The Yellow-headed Blackbird is a large, striking marsh bird easily identified by its bright yellow head and breast contrasting sharply with glossy black body plumage and a bold white wing patch.
songbird
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
One of the smallest songbirds in North America, this active, constantly flicking bird carries a hidden ruby-red crown patch in males that is usually concealed and only flashed briefly during excitement or display.
songbird
Calliope Hummingbird
The smallest breeding bird in North America, notable for the male's streaked, wine-red gorget that splays outward like tiny rays rather than forming a solid patch.
hummingbird