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.
American Kestrel
The smallest and most colorful falcon in North America, a common sight perched on roadside wires, told by its rufous back and tail and, in males, contrasting blue-gray wings.
raptor
American Tree Sparrow
A hardy winter sparrow of snowy fields, recognizable by its rufous cap and the single dark spot centered on an otherwise plain gray breast.
songbird
Common Kestrel
The Common Kestrel is a small falcon best known for its ability to hover in place while hunting, with long pointed wings and a distinctive tail that is blue-grey with a black band in males but barred rufous-brown in females.
raptor
Ferruginous Hawk
The Ferruginous Hawk is the largest North American buteo, with rich rufous ('ferruginous') back and leg feathers, a pale head and underparts, and a whitish tail, adapted to hunting over open, arid grassland.
raptor
Botteri's Sparrow
Botteri's Sparrow is a plain, grassland-loving sparrow of the Southwest, known for its dry, accelerating trill delivered from grass stems.
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
Red-tailed Hawk
The Red-tailed Hawk is a widespread North American buteo best known for its brick-red adult tail, pale underparts with a dark belly band, and broad, rounded wings often seen soaring over open country and roadsides.
raptor
Papuan Hawk-Owl
A little-known, long-tailed forest owl endemic to New Guinea, with a hawk-like reduced facial disc and boldly barred underparts.
owl
Cassin's Sparrow
A plain grassland sparrow best known for its distinctive skylarking display flight and musical, trilling song.
songbird
Brewer's Sparrow
A plain, pale sparrow closely tied to sagebrush habitat, known for its unusually long, complex, canary-like song.
songbird
Fox Sparrow
A large, richly colored sparrow whose reddish tail and heavily spotted breast make its feathers among the most distinctive of any North American sparrow.
songbird
African Harrier-Hawk
A distinctive gray African raptor known for its bare, color-changing facial skin and unusually flexible double-jointed legs, used to probe tree holes and nests for prey.
raptor
Golden-crowned Sparrow
A large, dark sparrow of the Pacific coast known for its bold black-and-yellow crown stripe in breeding plumage.
songbird
Rufous-collared Sparrow
One of the most familiar and widespread songbirds in Latin America, recognized by its gray-and-black striped head, rufous collar across the nape, and streaked brown back. It thrives from sea level to high Andean grasslands and is equally at home in cities and open country.
songbird
Sharp-shinned Hawk
The Sharp-shinned Hawk is North America's smallest accipiter, with short rounded wings, a long square-tipped banded tail, and adult plumage of slate-grey upperparts with fine rufous barring below, built for darting through dense cover.
raptor
Harris's Sparrow
North America's largest sparrow, easily recognized by its bold black face and bib and pink bill.
songbird
Northern Harrier
The Northern Harrier, sometimes called the Marsh Hawk, is a slim, long-winged raptor of open grassland and marsh, known for its low, tilting flight, a distinctive white rump patch in all plumages, and an owl-like facial disc that helps it hear prey in the grass.
raptor
Prairie Falcon
A pale falcon of arid western North America, best identified in flight by a distinctive dark patch on the underwing near the body, set against otherwise pale sandy-brown plumage.
raptor
Fearful Owl
The Fearful Owl is a large, poorly known owl endemic to a few islands in the Solomon Islands, with rich brown, mottled plumage and a rounded, tuftless head.
owl
Brown Pelican
A large, dark-bodied pelican of coastal waters, known for its spectacular plunge-diving and a head and neck that change color dramatically with the breeding season.
seabird
California Towhee
The California Towhee is a large, plain brown sparrow relative common in West Coast gardens and chaparral, best known for its rufous undertail and persistent chip calls.
songbird
Canada Jay
A famously tame, fluffy grey jay of the North American boreal forest, known for boldly approaching campers and caching food for winter survival.
corvid
Boat-billed Heron
An unmistakable heron of tropical American wetlands, best known for its unusually broad, scoop-shaped bill and large, night-adapted eyes.
wading bird
Turquoise-browed Motmot
This Central American motmot is best known for its bright turquoise eyebrow stripe and long tail ending in bare-shafted rackets that it swings like a pendulum.
other