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.
White-tailed Eagle
A massive coastal eagle whose short, white, wedge-shaped tail feathers and pale straw head contrast strongly with dark brown body plumage in adults.
raptor
Seaside Sparrow
A dark, long-billed sparrow tightly restricted to coastal salt marshes, with a small yellow spot in front of the eye.
songbird
Sulphur-crested Lesser Cockatoo
A smaller relative of the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, white overall with a bright yellow crest and a subtle yellow tinge on the ear coverts.
parrot
Vesper Sparrow
A streaky grassland sparrow best identified by white outer tail feathers and a small chestnut shoulder patch.
songbird
Tundra Swan
A large all-white swan of the Arctic tundra, smaller and more compact than the Trumpeter Swan, often showing a small yellow spot at the base of the bill.
waterfowl
Red-crowned Woodpecker
A small, widespread woodpecker of northern South America with a barred black-and-white back and a bright red crown on males.
woodpecker
Hooded Siskin
A small South American finch whose male sports a jet-black hood set off by bright yellow underparts and wing flashes.
songbird
Black-chinned Siskin
A southern South American finch marked by a small black chin patch and crown against otherwise yellow-green plumage.
songbird
Willow Flycatcher
A plain, olive-brown Empidonax flycatcher of willow thickets, best distinguished from close relatives by its faint or absent eye-ring and voice.
songbird
Wild Turkey
A large North American gamebird with iridescent bronze-green body feathers, a broad fan-shaped tail banded in dark brown and buff, and a bare, colorful head.
gamebird
Snow Pigeon
The Snow Pigeon is a high-altitude Himalayan pigeon with a bold white head, underparts, and rump contrasting against grey-brown wings and a dark breast band.
dove pigeon
Russet-crowned Motmot
Found in dry forest of western Mexico, the Russet-crowned Motmot shows a warm rufous-brown crown against green body plumage and a slow-swinging racket tail.
other
Swainson's Thrush
A brown forest thrush best identified by its bold, buffy eye-ring and evenly colored upperparts, lacking the contrasting rufous tail of the Hermit Thrush.
songbird
Oak Titmouse
The Oak Titmouse is a plain, uniformly grayish-brown California relative of the Tufted Titmouse whose lack of bold markings is itself a key identification clue.
songbird
Mourning Dove
A common, slender dove whose long, pointed, white-edged tail feathers and soft muted tan-brown coloring make it a familiar sight and sound across open country.
dove pigeon
Mountain Imperial Pigeon
The Mountain Imperial Pigeon is a large, heavy-bodied forest pigeon with pale grey underparts contrasting against a deep maroon-brown back and wings.
dove pigeon
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
A tiny, day-active owl of arid scrub and thorn forest across the Americas, often revealed by its bold rufous or gray-brown coloring and long, cocked, barred tail.
owl
Eyebrowed Thrush
The Eyebrowed Thrush is an olive-brown Asian thrush marked by a bold white eyebrow stripe and an orange-buff wash across the breast, breeding in Siberian taiga and wintering in tropical Asia.
songbird
Common Quail
A tiny, secretive migratory quail of Old World farmland, cloaked in streaked brown plumage that renders it almost invisible in tall grass.
gamebird
Common Ostrich
The world's largest living bird, flightless with soft, loose plumage, males black-bodied with striking white plumes and females duller greyish-brown.
other
Hermit Thrush
A quiet, spot-breasted thrush best known for its habit of slowly raising and lowering its rufous tail, a useful clue among the similar brown Catharus thrushes.
songbird
Barking Owl
An Australian hawk-owl named for its dog-like barking call, gray-brown above and heavily streaked below, favoring open woodland and riverine forest.
owl
Speckled Pigeon
A large African pigeon with striking reddish-brown wings covered in bold white spots and a patch of bare red skin around each eye.
dove pigeon
Rufous Woodpecker
An unusually uniform rufous-brown woodpecker of South and Southeast Asia, best known for nesting inside the arboreal nests of tree ants.
woodpecker