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.
Great Egret
A tall, all-white heron with a long yellow bill and black legs, famous for the delicate plumes it grows during the breeding season.
wading bird
Snowy Egret
A small, energetic white heron of the Americas known for its black bill, black legs, and bright yellow feet.
wading bird
Reddish Egret
A distinctive coastal heron known for its shaggy, reddish head and neck plumage and its animated, dancing foraging behavior.
wading bird
Intermediate Egret
A medium-sized all-white egret of Asia, Africa, and Australia, best told apart from its larger and smaller relatives by bill proportions and the extent of bare skin around the eye.
wading bird
Little Egret
A dainty white heron of Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, best known for its black legs and bright yellow feet.
wading bird
Cattle Egret
A stocky white egret often seen far from water, following livestock and machinery to catch insects stirred up from the ground.
wading bird
Great Kiskadee
A large, boldly patterned flycatcher named for its loud, ringing call, with a black-and-white striped head, sulfur-yellow underparts, and rufous edging on the wings and tail. It is a common and conspicuous bird from Texas to Argentina.
songbird
Great Shearwater
A large shearwater with a dark cap set off by a pale collar and scaly-patterned brown upperparts, showing a distinctive dark belly patch against otherwise white underparts.
seabird
Great Cormorant
A large, glossy black cormorant with a white throat patch and, during the breeding season, a striking white patch on each flank.
seabird
Great Frigatebird
A large, soaring tropical seabird closely resembling the Magnificent Frigatebird, with glossy black males and females marked by a white breast patch and pale wing bar.
seabird
Great Curassow
A large, turkey-sized forest bird, with males glossy black and white below and topped by a curly crest and bright yellow bill knob. Females occur in several distinct color morphs, ranging from barred to rufous to blackish.
gamebird
Black Heron
An African heron cloaked entirely in slate-black plumage, famous for spreading its wings into a feeding "umbrella" over the water to lure fish into shade.
wading bird
Cocoi Heron
The South American counterpart to the Great Blue Heron, with a bold black cap and crisp white neck.
wading bird
Western Reef Heron
A coastal heron of Africa and Asia closely related to the Little Egret, occurring in both dark and white color forms.
wading bird
Pacific Reef Heron
A stocky coastal heron of the Indo-Pacific found in two color forms, an all slate-grey dark morph and a pure white light morph, both hunting the wave-washed edges of reefs and rocky shores.
wading bird
White-backed Woodpecker
A large, heavily barred woodpecker of old-growth forest, distinguished from the similar Great Spotted Woodpecker by its finely barred (rather than solid white) back and extensive pink-red vent.
woodpecker
Great Blue Heron
The largest heron in North America, a slow-stalking hunter of shallow water with a slate-blue body and a dagger-like yellow bill.
wading bird
White-faced Heron
The most widespread heron in Australia and New Zealand, easily recognized by its soft blue-grey plumage set off by a clean white face.
wading bird
Great Hornbill
The Great Hornbill is one of the largest Asian hornbills, marked by bold black-and-white plumage and topped with a massive yellow-and-black casque. It flies with loud, whooshing wingbeats between fruiting trees in dense evergreen forest.
other
Greater Sage-Grouse
North America's largest grouse, famous for the male's elaborate lek display featuring spiky tail feathers fanned upward and inflated yellow air sacs on a white breast.
gamebird
Eurasian Bittern
A large, superbly camouflaged heron of Old World reedbeds, more often detected by its deep booming call than seen in its dense marsh habitat.
wading bird
Greater Kestrel
The Greater Kestrel is a robust southern African kestrel, larger than the Common Kestrel, with a barred rufous back, pale underparts, and a distinctive pale eye.
raptor
Great Rosefinch
One of the largest rosefinches, a high-altitude species with deep crimson-pink male plumage flecked with silvery-white spots.
songbird
Little Blue Heron
A heron with a striking life-history twist: pure white as a juvenile, then molting into a deep slate-purple plumage as an adult.
wading bird