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.
Military Macaw
A green macaw with a small red forehead patch and blue-edged wing and tail feathers, found in foothill forests and canyon country from Mexico to South America.
parrot
Northern Pintail
An elegant, long-necked dabbling duck whose male grows dramatically elongated central tail feathers, among the most recognizable single feathers of any duck.
waterfowl
Common Grackle
A large, iridescent blackbird recognized by its long, keel-shaped tail held in a distinctive V-shaped trough during flight and its bronze or purple sheen.
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
Cheer Pheasant
A comparatively subdued, buff-and-grey Himalayan pheasant with a shaggy crest and a long, dark-barred tail, favoring open grassy hillsides rather than dense forest.
gamebird
Carib Grackle
A small, glossy grackle common around towns and farmland in the southern Caribbean and northern South America, recognized by its keel-shaped tail and noisy flocking habits.
songbird
Verdin
The Verdin is a tiny desert songbird with a bright yellow head and throat set against gray body plumage, known for building large, conspicuous domed nests in thorny desert shrubs.
songbird
Sri Lanka Junglefowl
Sri Lanka's national bird, a forest junglefowl whose males glow in rich orange-red plumage set off by a red comb marked with a distinctive yellow center patch.
gamebird
Siberian Jay
A soft-plumaged jay of the northern boreal forest, easily recognized by its fluffy grey-brown body and rusty-orange wing and tail patches.
corvid
Pheasant Pigeon
The Pheasant Pigeon is a shy, ground-dwelling New Guinea pigeon named for its long, pheasant-like tail and glossy, dark iridescent body.
dove pigeon
Little Eagle
Australia's smallest booted eagle, occurring in pale and dark color morphs, identified by a pale patch at the base of the outer primaries and a short, square tail.
raptor
Blue-throated Mountain-gem
A large mountain-canyon hummingbird known for its deep blue throat patch and an unusually broad, dark tail edged with bold white corners.
hummingbird
White-tipped Dove
A stocky, plain grayish-brown dove of tropical and subtropical woodland, best identified by the crisp white tips on its outer tail feathers and its low, mournful call.
dove pigeon
White-bellied Sea Eagle
The White-bellied Sea Eagle is a large raptor with a white head, body, and tail contrasting against grey upperwings, typically seen soaring over coasts and large waterways.
raptor
Pink Pigeon
A pale pink-headed pigeon found only on Mauritius, its soft blush-colored head and underparts contrasting with warm rufous-brown wings and a long graduated tail.
dove pigeon
Parasitic Jaeger
A sleek, agile seabird intermediate in size between the two other jaegers, identified in breeding adults by narrow, pointed central tail feathers and a swift, falcon-like flight.
seabird
Sooty Tern
A highly pelagic tropical seabird that spends years continuously at sea outside the breeding season, recognized by its blackish upperparts, crisp white underparts, and deeply forked tail.
seabird
Slate-throated Redstart
The Slate-throated Redstart is a highland forest warbler known for its slate-gray plumage, reddish belly, and habit of fanning white-edged tail feathers while foraging.
songbird
Ruffed Grouse
A woodland grouse of North America recognized by its intricately mottled brown or grey plumage, fan-shaped banded tail, and neck ruffs used in courtship drumming displays.
gamebird
Eurasian Wryneck
A cryptically patterned, bark-camouflaged relative of true woodpeckers that lacks their stiff tail and chisel bill, famous for twisting its neck in a slow, snake-like threat display.
woodpecker
Bluethroat
The Bluethroat is a small, ground-dwelling songbird whose breeding males display a strikingly iridescent blue-and-chestnut throat patch, set off by warm rufous tail feathers.
songbird
American Kestrel
The smallest and most colorful falcon in North America, a common sight perched on roadside wires, told by its rufous back and tail and, in males, contrasting blue-gray wings.
raptor
Amazonian Motmot
A quiet rainforest bird of the Amazon basin, the Amazonian Motmot has an overall green plumage set off by a dark blue crown patch and a long racket-tipped tail.
other
Turquoise-browed Motmot
This Central American motmot is best known for its bright turquoise eyebrow stripe and long tail ending in bare-shafted rackets that it swings like a pendulum.
other