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.
Blue Jay
The Blue Jay is a large, vocal corvid whose bold blue, black-barred, white-tipped wing and tail feathers are among the most instantly recognizable of any North American songbird.
corvid
Pinyon Jay
A uniformly blue, short-tailed, crestless jay of the western pinyon-juniper woodlands, famous for its large nomadic flocks and close relationship with pine seeds.
corvid
Azure Jay
A richly blue-bodied jay of South America's Atlantic Forest, with a black head and breast that sharply set off its azure plumage.
corvid
Steller's Jay
A bold, crested jay of western forests with a sooty black head and back giving way to vivid blue wings and tail marked with fine dark barring.
corvid
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
Brown Jay
A large, plain brown jay of Mexico and Central America, lacking bright colors but notable for its size, loud calls, and whitish tail tip.
corvid
Eurasian Jay
A shy woodland corvid best known for its brilliant sky-blue, black-barred wing covert feathers — among the most eye-catching and easily recognized feathers found in temperate woodland.
corvid
Lidth's Jay
A richly colored jay found only on a few Japanese islands, combining a chestnut head and neck with a deep blue body and black face mask.
corvid
Green Jay
A vividly patterned jay with a green back, blue-and-black head, and bright yellow outer tail feathers, found in two widely separated populations across the Americas.
corvid
Mexican Jay
A blue-and-grey jay of oak and pine-oak canyons in the southwestern US and Mexico, distinguished from similar scrub-jays by its plain grey underparts without a breast band.
corvid
Siberian Jay
A soft-plumaged jay of the northern boreal forest, easily recognized by its fluffy grey-brown body and rusty-orange wing and tail patches.
corvid
Florida Scrub-Jay
A blue-and-grey jay found only in Florida's fire-maintained scrub oak habitat, lacking a crest and closely tied to a single, shrinking ecosystem.
corvid
Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay
The interior counterpart to the California Scrub-Jay, this crestless jay of pinyon-juniper and interior scrub country shows a slightly duller blue and a less crisply defined breast band.
corvid
California Scrub-Jay
A crestless, blue-and-gray jay of California's oak woodlands and gardens, showing a blue necklace across a whitish throat and gray-brown back.
corvid
Western Scrub-Jay
A crestless blue-and-gray jay of western oak woodland and scrubby habitat, easily told from crested jays by its plain head and blue "necklace" across the breast.
corvid
Plush-crested Jay
A South American jay with a velvety black face, glowing yellow eyes, and a soft blue patch on the nape, its tail broadly tipped in white.
corvidIsland Scrub-Jay
A large, deeply colored scrub-jay found only on Santa Cruz Island off the California coast, notable for its bigger size and richer blue plumage than mainland relatives.
corvid
Black-throated Magpie-Jay
A close relative of the White-throated Magpie-Jay, distinguished by a bold black throat and breast band and an even longer, more elaborate tail.
corvid
White-throated Magpie-Jay
A dramatic Central American jay with a long, forward-curling crest and an exceptionally long, graduated blue-and-white tail.
corvid
Common Kingfisher
A small, jewel-like bird whose brilliant structurally iridescent blue back feathers and warm orange underparts make it one of the most vividly colored birds along any river.
other
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
Common Chaffinch
A common European finch with males showing a blue-grey crown and warm pinkish-brown breast, and females a more subdued olive-brown, both sharing bold double white wing bars and a greenish rump.
songbird
Common Bullfinch
A stocky, shy woodland finch with males showing rosy-pink underparts against a blue-grey back and black cap, and both sexes sharing a bold white rump patch that flashes distinctively in flight.
songbird
Common Peafowl Spalding
An aviculture strain blending Green and Indian Peafowl ancestry, showing iridescent scaled neck feathers, a tall crest, and a long ornamental train that draws on the coloring of both parent lines.
gamebird