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.
Koklass Pheasant
A grey-bodied Himalayan pheasant with a bold black-and-white head pattern, a chestnut breast patch, and a distinctive short, wedge-shaped tail.
gamebird
Eurasian Treepie
A slender, rufous-brown corvid with a black head and an extremely long graduated tail, common in gardens and open woodland across South Asia.
corvid
Eurasian Magpie
A boldly pied corvid whose black feathers flash iridescent blue-green and purple in the light, with an unmistakably long, wedge-shaped tail.
corvid
Azure-winged Magpie
A slender, pastel-toned corvid with a black cap and soft blue wings and tail, common in flocks across East Asian woodland and parkland.
corvid
Orchard Oriole
The smallest North American oriole, with adult males showing a rich chestnut body against a black hood and back, while females and young males wear a more subdued olive-yellow plumage.
songbird
Blue-winged Warbler
A bright yellow-headed warbler with blue-gray wings marked by two white wing bars and a thin black line through the eye, closely related to and often hybridizing with the Golden-winged Warbler.
songbird
Goldcrest
Europe's smallest bird, identifiable even from a single tiny feather by its vivid black-bordered crown stripe — orange in males, yellow in females — set against olive-green plumage.
songbird
Red-headed Bunting
The Red-headed Bunting is a brightly colored central Asian songbird whose breeding males show a chestnut-orange head, greenish back, and yellow underparts, closely related to the Black-headed Bunting.
songbird
Northern Flicker
A large, brown-barred woodpecker best identified by the bright yellow or salmon-red shafts of its flight feathers, along with a black chest crescent and spotted underside.
woodpecker
Common Myna
A bold, adaptable brown songbird with a glossy black head and bright yellow bare skin patch around the eye, now established in cities across much of the world.
songbird
King Vulture
A striking tropical vulture with mostly creamy white plumage, jet-black flight and tail feathers, and a vividly multicolored bare head.
raptor
Common Crane
A widespread Eurasian crane with slate-grey plumage, a black-and-white striped head and neck, and drooping tertial plumes that form a bustle over the tail.
wading bird
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
Reeves's Pheasant
A pheasant of central China renowned for having the longest tail feathers of any bird in its family, combined with golden, black-scaled body plumage and a bold black-and-white head pattern.
gamebird
Western Tanager
A colorful western North American forest songbird, the breeding male Western Tanager combines a yellow body and black wings with a striking orange-red wash across the head.
songbird
Red Junglefowl
The wild ancestor of the domestic chicken, with males displaying glossy orange-gold neck hackles and long, curved, iridescent black tail feathers.
gamebird
Magnificent Frigatebird
A large, aerial seabird with long angular wings and a deeply forked tail, glossy black in males and marked with a white breast patch in females.
seabird
Crimson Rosella
The Crimson Rosella is a richly colored Australian parrot, deep red overall with contrasting blue cheeks, wings, and tail, and a black-scalloped back.
parrot
Willow Ptarmigan
The largest of the ptarmigan species, showing warm reddish-brown summer plumage in males, a pure white winter coat, and a black tail retained throughout the year.
gamebird
Common Tern
A widespread and familiar tern of coasts and inland waters, identified by its black cap, forked tail, red-orange bill with a black tip, and a dark wedge along the leading edge of the outer wing.
seabird
Noisy Miner
A vocal, highly social Australian honeyeater, the Noisy Miner has gray body plumage, a black cap, and a bright yellow bill and bare eye-patch, and is well known for its bold group defense of territory.
songbird
Stitchbird
The Stitchbird, or Hihi, is a small New Zealand honeyeater-relative in which males show a striking black head and yellow shoulder band, now restricted mainly to predator-free sanctuaries.
songbird
Tufted Puffin
The largest of the puffins, distinguished from its black-and-white relatives by an almost entirely dark body plumage set off by long, pale yellow head plumes in breeding adults.
seabird
Scarlet Tanager
A jewel of the eastern deciduous forest canopy, the breeding male Scarlet Tanager combines brilliant scarlet body plumage with jet-black wings and tail.
songbird