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.
Grey Crowned Crane
An African crane instantly recognized by its stiff, golden bristle crown, red throat wattle, and boldly patterned wings combining white, chestnut, and black.
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
Grey-capped Greenfinch
A form of East Asian greenfinch showing a distinctly grey crown and nape contrasting with olive-green body plumage and yellow wing flashes.
songbird
African Grey Parrot
A medium-sized grey parrot with pale-edged scalloped body feathers and a bright red tail, native to equatorial Africa.
parrot
Grey-crowned Rosy-Finch
A North American alpine finch with a grey patch on the back of the head and rosy-pink feathering on the wings and belly against an otherwise brown body.
songbird
Grey Crowned Night Heron
A secretive, forest-dwelling night heron of South and Southeast Asia, cloaked in warm chestnut-rufous plumage with a blackish crown and short nape crest.
wading bird
Wandering Tattler
A uniformly slate-gray shorebird of rocky Pacific coastlines, lacking any wing pattern and constantly bobbing as it forages among tide pools.
shorebird
Red Phalarope
The most oceanic of the phalaropes, the Red Phalarope shows brick-red underparts in breeding plumage and pale gray winter feathers, with a stouter bill than its phalarope relatives.
shorebird
Juniper Titmouse
The Juniper Titmouse is a plain gray, crested songbird of the arid pinyon-juniper woodlands of the interior West, notable for its unmarked plumage and persistent, repetitive song.
songbird
Gadwall
A subtly patterned grey dabbling duck best known for a crisp white speculum patch and, in males, a bold black rear end, both visible even on a single found feather.
waterfowl
Northern Grey-headed Woodpecker
A West and Central African woodpecker with a grey head contrasting against an olive-green back, part of a wider grey-headed woodpecker complex found across the continent.
woodpecker
Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker
A small, widespread Asian woodpecker with a grey-brown crown and crisply barred back, closely resembling other pygmy woodpeckers across its broad range.
woodpecker
Beavan's Bullfinch
A compact, orange-breasted bullfinch of Himalayan and Chinese mountain forests, easily told by its gray cap and bold pale wing bar.
songbird
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
Black-bellied Plover
The largest and most widespread of the golden-plover group, told from true golden-plovers by white-and-black (not golden) upperpart spangling and diagnostic black underwing feathers.
shorebird
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
Greylag Goose
A bulky gray-brown goose, ancestor of most domestic geese breeds, recognized by its heavy orange-pink bill and a pale bluish-gray patch on the forewing.
waterfowl
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
Whiskered Tern
A compact marsh tern that turns a striking dark slate-gray across the body in breeding plumage, with a crisp white stripe dividing the black cap from the gray cheek.
seabird
Tufted Titmouse
The Tufted Titmouse is a common eastern woodland bird known for its jaunty gray crest feathers and soft, plain-gray body feathers washed with rust along the flanks.
songbird
Palm Tanager
A close relative of the Blue-gray Tanager, the Palm Tanager shows a more subdued olive-gray to greenish tone overall with darker wings and little of the brighter blue accent of its cousin.
songbird
American Herring Gull
The North American counterpart to the Eurasian Herring Gull, the American Herring Gull shows very similar pale gray-and-white plumage with black wingtip spots, but with subtly darker gray tones and pinkish legs.
seabird
Clay-colored Sparrow
A pale, buffy sparrow with a gray nape and crisp brown ear patch outline, common in brushy prairie habitats.
songbird
Black-chinned Sparrow
A gray-headed sparrow of arid chaparral slopes, with breeding males showing a distinctive black chin and throat patch.
songbird