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.
Arctic Tern
A slender, long-distance migrant famous for traveling between Arctic breeding grounds and Antarctic waters each year, distinguished from the similar Common Tern by an all-red bill and more uniformly translucent primaries.
seabird
Southern Cassowary
A large, flightless rainforest bird, the Southern Cassowary has coarse, hair-like black plumage and a tall bony head casque, with its vivid blue-and-red coloring confined to bare skin rather than feathers.
other
Bar-tailed Godwit
A high-Arctic-breeding godwit renowned for extraordinary nonstop transoceanic migratory flights, showing a finely barred tail and rich brick-red breeding underparts quite different from the bold black tail of the related Black-tailed Godwit.
shorebird
Crested Guan
A large, dark guan of tropical American forests, its dusky brown plumage marked with pale-edged feathers that create a scaled pattern on the underparts and wings. A bright red throat wattle and small crest add distinctive accents.
gamebird
Northern Cassowary
A very large, flightless rainforest bird of New Guinea, covered in coarse, hair-like black plumage that contrasts with vividly colored blue-and-red bare skin on the head and neck. A single throat wattle and a tall bony casque distinguish it from its relatives.
other
Wilson's Bird-of-paradise
Wilson's Bird-of-paradise is a small, intensely colorful species with a red back, yellow nape, an iridescent green breast shield, and a bare, patterned blue crown. It is restricted to a couple of small Indonesian islands where males display and clear small ground courts.
songbird
Southern Ground Hornbill
The Southern Ground Hornbill is a large, mostly terrestrial hornbill of southern African savanna, easily told by its black plumage, bare red facial skin, and heavy dark bill. It walks in small family groups across open grassland hunting for animal prey.
other
Common Pheasant
A large, long-tailed game bird, with males displaying iridescent copper and gold plumage, a glossy green head, and bright red facial wattles, often set off by a white neck ring in some populations. Females are far more subdued, cloaked in cryptic mottled brown for camouflage while nesting.
gamebird
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
African Collared-Dove
A pale, sandy-toned dove of African savanna and scrub, best known as the wild ancestor of the domesticated ring-necked dove.
dove pigeon
Muscovy Duck
A large, heavily built duck; wild birds are glossy black-green with white wing patches, while the widely domesticated and feral forms show highly variable pied black-and-white plumage.
waterfowl
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
Downy Woodpecker
The smallest North American woodpecker, its black-and-white checkered feathers and short bill make it a common and easily identified backyard bird.
woodpecker
Cape Petrel
A striking black-and-white seabird whose checkered, piebald wing and back pattern make it one of the most easily recognized petrels of southern seas.
seabird
Pied Wagtail
The Pied Wagtail is a slender black-and-white songbird best known for its constantly pumping tail, with crisp black-and-white feathering that gives it a strongly contrasting, checkered appearance.
songbird
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
Trumpeter Finch
A pale, sandy desert finch with a thick reddish bill and a soft pink flush on the breast and rump of breeding males.
songbird
Swamp Sparrow
A reddish-winged marsh sparrow with a gray face and breast, closely tied to wetland vegetation year-round.
songbird
James's Flamingo
The smallest of the high-altitude Andean flamingos, showing pale pink plumage and a notably reduced area of black in the wing.
wading bird
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
Varied Bunting
A small desert bunting whose male plumage looks nearly black in shade but reveals shifting purple, blue, and reddish tones in good light.
songbird
Eurasian Blackcap
A plain grey-brown warbler whose crown feathers immediately reveal its sex: solid glossy black in males, warm reddish-brown in females and juveniles.
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
Puerto Rican Screech-Owl
The Puerto Rican Screech-Owl, locally known as the mucaro, is a small island-endemic owl with soft reddish-brown or grey-brown plumage and a rounded, nearly tuftless head.
owl