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.
Least Sandpiper
The smallest sandpiper in the world, distinguished from other tiny peeps by its yellow-green legs and finely mottled brown upperparts.
shorebird
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
A small desert woodpecker whose black-and-white back forms a neat, closely spaced ladder pattern, common in cactus and mesquite scrub.
woodpecker
Chestnut-headed Oropendola
A medium-sized oropendola with a rich chestnut head and neck contrasting against a black body, a pale bill, and a small patch of yellow at the tail tip.
songbird
Fire-fronted Serin
A small mountain finch identified by its glowing orange-red forehead patch set against an otherwise black head and streaked brown body.
songbird
Diamond Dove
One of the smallest doves in the world, a soft gray-brown Australian desert species with tiny white-spotted wings and a bright red ring around the eye.
dove pigeon
Daurian Jackdaw
A small East Asian jackdaw that comes in a striking pied form with a white collar and belly, alongside an all-dark morph that resembles other jackdaws.
corvid
Green Sandpiper
A dark, almost blackish sandpiper with a contrasting white rump and blackish underwing, often flushed abruptly from small secluded pools.
shorebird
Grace's Warbler
Grace's Warbler is a small, treetop-loving warbler of southwestern pine forests, showing a bright yellow throat set against a gray-streaked back.
songbird
Bell Miner
The Bell Miner is a small, olive-green Australian honeyeater famous for the incessant, tinkling 'ping' calls of its dense colonies.
songbird
Bare-legged Owl
A small Cuban endemic owl notable for its bare, unfeathered legs, an unusual trait among owls that otherwise mostly have feathered tarsi.
owl
Abdim's Stork
The smallest of the true storks, a compact African species with glossy black-and-white plumage, often associated locally with the arrival of seasonal rains and known for traveling in large flocks.
wading bird
Grey-headed Lovebird
A small lovebird from Madagascar showing strong sexual dimorphism: males have a pale grey head and breast against a green body, while females are entirely green.
parrot
Lesser Redpoll
A tiny, heavily streaked brown finch with a small red forehead patch and black chin, males showing a pink wash across the breast, closely tied to birch, alder, and willow woodland.
songbird
Spotted Sandpiper
A small, constantly bobbing sandpiper whose breeding-season underparts are covered in bold round black spots unlike any other North American shorebird.
shorebird
Smew
The Smew is a small, striking Eurasian merganser whose male appears almost entirely white, marked with a bold black eye patch and delicate black lines along the back and flanks.
waterfowl
Brown-fronted Woodpecker
A small Himalayan woodpecker with a brown forehead patch and finely barred black-and-white back, sharing similarities with related pied woodpeckers at lower elevations.
woodpecker
Bat Falcon
The Bat Falcon is a small, dashing falcon of Neotropical forests, black above with a rufous throat patch and a boldly black-and-white barred belly, often hunting bats and swifts at dusk.
raptor
Stock Dove
A plainer, smaller relative of the Wood Pigeon lacking white markings, identified instead by two short black wing bars and an iridescent green neck patch.
dove pigeon
Welcome Swallow
The Welcome Swallow is a small, agile aerial insectivore with glossy blue-black upperparts, a rufous face, and a deeply forked tail, common over open country and towns.
songbird
Song Thrush
A warm brown thrush with cream, finely spotted underparts and a distinctive buff-orange wash under the wing, smaller and more delicately marked than its larger thrush relatives.
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
Horned Puffin
The North Pacific counterpart to the Atlantic Puffin, similarly patterned in black and white but named for the small fleshy "horn" of skin above each eye in breeding adults.
seabird
Nashville Warbler
A small warbler with a gray head, bold white eye-ring, and bright yellow underparts, plus a hidden chestnut crown patch usually visible only at close range.
songbird
Morepork
New Zealand's small native owl, named for its call and known to Maori as ruru, with dark brown feathers mottled with pale buff spotting and streaked underparts.
owl