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.
Common Crane
A widespread Eurasian crane with slate-grey plumage, a black-and-white striped head and neck, and drooping tertial plumes that form a bustle over the tail.
wading bird
Common Linnet
An open-country finch with a warm brown body overall, breeding males adding a crimson forehead and breast patch atop a grey head and chestnut back, with pale wing and tail panels visible in flight.
songbird
Common Raven
One of the largest songbirds in the world, the Common Raven produces long, heavy, glossy-black feathers with a pronounced iridescent sheen and a distinctive wedge-shaped tail profile.
corvid
Common Sandpiper
The Old World counterpart to the Spotted Sandpiper, this small brown-and-white shorebird constantly bobs its tail as it forages along freshwater edges.
shorebird
Common Kestrel
The Common Kestrel is a small falcon best known for its ability to hover in place while hunting, with long pointed wings and a distinctive tail that is blue-grey with a black band in males but barred rufous-brown in females.
raptor
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
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
Brown Falcon
The Brown Falcon is a common and highly variable Australian falcon with broader, more buzzard-like proportions than most falcons, ranging in tone from dark chocolate-brown to pale cream morphs.
raptor
Long-legged Buzzard
A pale, long-winged buzzard of arid steppe and semi-desert across Eurasia and North Africa, told from similar hawks by its usually unbarred rufous tail and bold dark carpal patches.
raptor
Black-tailed Godwit
A striking Eurasian godwit with a bold black tail band, broad white wingbar, and rich chestnut breeding underparts, closely associated with lowland wet grasslands and meadows now much reduced across parts of its range.
shorebird
Spruce Grouse
A boreal forest grouse with dark, densely barred plumage, a black throat patch in males, and a short tail typically tipped with rust-orange.
gamebird
Hoary Redpoll
A pale, frosty-looking northern finch closely related to the Common Redpoll, breeding at even higher latitudes across the Arctic.
songbird
Black Redstart
The Black Redstart is a small songbird easily identified by its constantly quivering, bright rufous-orange tail set against sooty gray or brown body plumage, often seen on rocky ledges and buildings.
songbird
Painted Redstart
A boldly patterned black warbler with a bright red breast patch and large white patches on the wings and outer tail, constantly fanning its tail while foraging.
songbird
American Redstart
An active wood-warbler that flashes bright orange or yellow patches on its wings and tail while fanning them to startle insects into flight.
songbird
Northern Cardinal
The Northern Cardinal is a stocky, crested songbird whose males shed brilliant all-red feathers while females drop more subdued brown feathers tinged with red on the wings, tail and crest.
songbird
Elegant Trogon
A striking trogon of southwestern borderland canyons, the Elegant Trogon shows metallic green upperparts, a vivid red belly, and a coppery tail with a bold black-and-white barred underside.
other
Dunlin
A common small sandpiper whose breeding plumage features a bold black belly patch found on no other similarly sized shorebird.
shorebird
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
Osprey
The Osprey is a fish-eating raptor with dark brown upperparts, a white head marked by a bold dark eye-stripe, white underparts, and long, angled wings showing a distinctive dark carpal patch and barred flight feathers.
raptor
Scarlet Macaw
A vividly colored large macaw with a scarlet-red body, bold yellow-and-blue wing patches, and a long red tail tipped in blue, ranging across lowland tropical forest from Mexico to South America.
parrot
Brahminy Kite
A handsome coastal raptor with a crisp white head and breast set against warm chestnut wings and body, common along tropical shorelines of Asia and Australia.
raptor
Prairie Falcon
A pale falcon of arid western North America, best identified in flight by a distinctive dark patch on the underwing near the body, set against otherwise pale sandy-brown plumage.
raptor
Merlin
A small, fast, direct-flying falcon of open northern landscapes, males showing slate-blue upperparts while females and juveniles are brown, both with heavily streaked underparts and no bold facial moustache.
raptor