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-faced Scops Owl
The White-faced Scops Owl is an African savanna owl instantly recognized by its pale grey plumage, striking white facial disc rimmed in black, and long ear tufts, and known for a dramatic threat display.
owl
White-faced Heron
The most widespread heron in Australia and New Zealand, easily recognized by its soft blue-grey plumage set off by a clean white face.
wading bird
White-eared Hummingbird
A small montane hummingbird instantly recognizable by its broad white stripe behind the eye, set against a violet crown and green throat.
hummingbird
White-crowned Pigeon
A dark slate-colored Caribbean pigeon topped with a bright white crown, closely tied to mangrove and coastal forest habitats.
dove pigeon
White-cheeked Pintail
A Caribbean and South American dabbling duck with a sharply demarcated white cheek and throat patch set against a dark crown, and a warm buffy body heavily marked with dark spots.
waterfowl
White-capped Bunting
A South Asian bunting whose breeding males show a bold white crown bordered in black above a chestnut breast band.
songbird
White-breasted Nuthatch
The White-breasted Nuthatch is a tree-climbing songbird whose clean blue-gray back and pure white face and breast feathers are easy to separate from most other backyard species.
songbird
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
Whistling Kite
A common, pale kite of Australia and New Guinea best known for its far-carrying whistled call, with buff-brown body feathers contrasting against darker flight feathers in flight.
raptor
Whistling Heron
A pale, pastel-toned South American heron named for its whistled call, more often found striding through open grassland than wading in deep water.
wading bird
Whimbrel
A widespread curlew with a moderately long, downcurved bill and bold dark stripes on the crown, the Whimbrel shows grayish-brown feathers with fine barring adapted for camouflage on tundra and mudflats alike.
shorebird
Western Wood-Pewee
A plain, grayish-olive flycatcher of western woodlands, nearly identical to the Eastern Wood-Pewee but told apart mainly by voice and range.
songbird
Western Tanager
A colorful western North American forest songbird, the breeding male Western Tanager combines a yellow body and black wings with a striking orange-red wash across the head.
songbird
Western Sandpiper
A tiny sandpiper with black legs and a long, slightly drooped bill, showing rufous highlights on the crown and scapulars in breeding plumage.
shorebird
Western Reef Heron
A coastal heron of Africa and Asia closely related to the Little Egret, occurring in both dark and white color forms.
wading bird
Western Crowned Pigeon
The Western Crowned Pigeon is a massive blue-grey pigeon topped with a rounded, solid-colored fan crest, one of three giant crowned pigeons of New Guinea.
dove pigeon
Western Capercaillie
The largest grouse species, with males showing a dark, heavy build, an iridescent green breast sheen, and an impressively broad fan-shaped tail during display.
gamebird
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
Weka
The Weka is a robust, flightless New Zealand rail with streaked brown plumage, known for its bold, inquisitive, and often opportunistic behaviour around people.
wading bird
Wattled Crane
The largest crane in Africa, a grey wading bird with a black cap, striking white feathers hanging from the throat, and long fleshy wattles dangling below the face.
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
Violet-green Swallow
A small western swallow with iridescent green upperparts, violet-tinged rump and wings, and white extending unusually high onto the face and flanks.
songbird
Violet-crowned Hummingbird
A clean-looking desert hummingbird with brilliant white underparts and a violet-blue crown that catches the light against otherwise subdued upperparts.
hummingbird
Vinaceous Rosefinch
A richly colored rosefinch whose male shows deep wine-pink to rosy-red plumage across the head and underparts, typical of high-elevation forest.
songbird
Vesper Sparrow
A streaky grassland sparrow best identified by white outer tail feathers and a small chestnut shoulder patch.
songbird
Verreaux's Eagle-Owl
Africa's largest owl, a pale gray giant of savanna and riverine woodland, instantly recognizable in life by its bare pink eyelids, with correspondingly oversized, finely patterned feathers.
owl
Verreaux's Eagle
Verreaux's Eagle, also called the Black Eagle, is a striking African mountain eagle almost entirely glossy black except for a white back patch and pale flight-feather 'windows.' Its long, broad wings and tail are shaped for soaring along cliffs and escarpments.
raptor
Vermilion Flycatcher
A small flycatcher in which males show a strikingly brilliant red crown and underparts against dusky brown wings, while females are far more subdued.
songbird
Vermilion Cardinal
A cardinal of the dry Caribbean coast of Colombia and Venezuela, with males cloaked almost entirely in brilliant red plumage and a prominent crest.
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
Vaux's Swift
A tiny cigar-shaped swift of western forests that spends nearly its entire life on the wing, only clinging to vertical surfaces like hollow tree trunks to roost or nest.
other
Upland Sandpiper
A grassland shorebird with a small head, long neck, and long tail, the Upland Sandpiper shows richly patterned buffy-brown feathers with dark barring and a scaled look, entirely adapted to life away from water.
shorebird
Ural Owl
A large, pale grey-brown owl of Eurasian forests, known for its notably long tail and streaked (rather than barred) plumage, and for its fierce defense of nests.
owl
Ultramarine Grosbeak
A South American forest-edge songbird, the male Ultramarine Grosbeak is deep blue overall with a notably stout, silvery bill.
songbird
Sedge Wren
A tiny North American wren of wet sedge meadows, streaked above with a short indistinct eyebrow and a habit of cocking its short tail.
songbird
Twelve-wired Bird-of-paradise
The Twelve-wired Bird-of-paradise is named for the dozen thin, curled wire-like filaments trailing from the male's bright yellow flank plumes, used to brush against a female's face during courtship. It inhabits lowland swamp forest across New Guinea and nearby islands.
songbird
Zone-tailed Hawk
A blackish hawk that closely mimics the flight silhouette and dark coloring of the Turkey Vulture, distinguished mainly by its banded tail feathers.
raptor
Turquoise Parrot
The Turquoise Parrot is a small, brightly colored Australian parrot with a turquoise face and wing edge, a yellow belly, and a chestnut patch on the wing in males.
parrot
Zenaida Dove
A warm cinnamon-brown Caribbean dove closely related to the Mourning Dove, told apart by its shorter, rounded tail edged in white.
dove pigeon
Turkey Vulture
A widespread scavenger known for its two-toned wings, silvery flight feathers set against a dark body, and its habit of soaring in a shallow V with a distinctive teetering flight.
raptor
Yellow-winged Cacique
A glossy black songbird of Mexico's Pacific slope, distinguished by a shaggy crest and a bold yellow patch on the wing, and known for its noisy colonial nesting behavior.
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
Yellow Warbler
A widespread, almost entirely yellow warbler of streamside willows and wet thickets, with males showing fine rufous-red streaking across an otherwise bright yellow breast.
songbird
Tufted Puffin
The largest of the puffins, distinguished from its black-and-white relatives by an almost entirely dark body plumage set off by long, pale yellow head plumes in breeding adults.
seabird
Yellow-tufted Woodpecker
An Amazonian woodpecker with mostly black plumage set off by bright yellow tufts on the forehead and a red crown patch.
woodpecker
Tufted Duck
The Tufted Duck is a strikingly patterned Eurasian diving duck, easily recognized by the male's drooping head tuft and sharp contrast between black upperparts and white flanks.
waterfowl
Yellow-throated Warbler
A gray-backed wood-warbler with a bright yellow throat and bold black-and-white facial pattern, often seen creeping along branches in pine and cypress woodland.
songbird
Trumpeter Swan
The heaviest native North American bird and largest swan, entirely white with a solid black bill, sometimes showing a rust-stained head from iron-rich feeding grounds.
waterfowl