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.
Bronzed Cowbird
A stocky blackbird relative with a bronze-black sheen, red eyes, and a distinctive neck ruff, found from the southwestern United States south to Panama.
songbird
Griffon Vulture
A large Old World vulture with warm tawny-brown body feathers, contrasting dark flight feathers, and a distinctive white downy ruff at the base of the neck.
raptor
Cinereous Vulture
One of the heaviest flying raptors, with uniformly dark brown plumage, a dense dark ruff, and broad flight feathers adapted for soaring across open Eurasian terrain.
raptor
Lesser Prairie-Chicken
A grassland grouse of the southern Great Plains, smaller and paler than its close relative the Greater Prairie-Chicken, with males displaying reddish-purple air sacs during courtship.
gamebird
Rock Ptarmigan
A circumpolar tundra grouse that turns from mottled gray-brown in summer to pure white in winter, always retaining black tail feathers as a year-round field mark.
gamebird
Zebra Dove
A small Southeast Asian dove covered in bold black-and-white barring across the neck, breast, and flanks, giving it a distinctly zebra-striped look.
dove pigeon
Burrowing Owl
A small, long-legged owl of open grassland and prairie that nests underground in burrows, with brown, white-spotted plumage above and barred underparts, often active during daylight.
owl
Red-legged Partridge
A plump, ground-dwelling gamebird whose boldly barred flank feathers in black, white, and chestnut are unmistakable at close range.
gamebird
Rufous Owl
The Rufous Owl is a large, richly colored hawk-owl of northern Australia and New Guinea, its warm rufous-brown feathers finely barred throughout and its head rounded without ear tufts.
owl
Rufous Hummingbird
A fiercely territorial western hummingbird whose males show extensive rufous-orange body feathers along with a brilliant iridescent orange-red throat, among the most cinnamon-toned hummingbirds in North America.
hummingbird
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
Northern Red-billed Hornbill
The Northern Red-billed Hornbill is a slender African savanna hornbill with spotted black-and-white upperparts, white underparts, and a long, slim red bill. It typically forages on open ground in small, active family groups.
other
European Green Woodpecker
The European Green Woodpecker is a large, ground-feeding woodpecker with olive-green body feathers, a bright yellow rump, and a red crown, feeding more on the ground than most of its relatives.
woodpecker
Chilean Flicker
A ground-foraging flicker of Chile and Argentina, patterned in muted grays and browns to match the temperate woodland-steppe it inhabits.
woodpecker
Andean Flicker
A high-altitude flicker of the Andes that has largely abandoned trees, foraging and nesting on open ground and earthen banks.
woodpecker
Painted Francolin
A ground-dwelling gamebird of central and southern India with dark brown plumage densely marked with white spots and a chestnut nape patch.
gamebird
Brush Bronzewing
A ground-loving Australian pigeon named for the shimmering bronze, green, and purple spots that gleam across its folded wings.
dove pigeon
Eurasian Hoopoe
An unmistakable bird with a fan-shaped crest and bold black-and-white barred wings, probing the ground with a long curved bill.
other
Palm Warbler
A ground-foraging wood-warbler with a rufous cap in breeding plumage and constant tail-bobbing, breeding in northern bogs and wintering in the southeastern US.
songbird
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
Canyon Towhee
The Canyon Towhee is a plain, dusty-brown ground bird of southwestern deserts and canyons, distinguished by a rufous crown and a dark central breast spot.
songbird
Grey Francolin
A ground-dwelling gamebird with finely barred grey-brown plumage, well camouflaged in dry scrub and farmland across South Asia.
gamebird
Indian Robin
A small, confiding songbird of dry open country in South Asia, glossy black or brown with a chestnut patch under the tail that flashes as it forages on the ground.
songbird
Ovenbird
A ground-dwelling warbler that looks more like a small thrush, with heavily streaked underparts and a bold orange crown stripe bordered in black.
songbird