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.
Red Bird-of-paradise
The Red Bird-of-paradise is distinguished by the male's vivid crimson flank plumes and unique curled, ribbon-like black tail wires used in display. It is found only on a small number of islands in the Raja Ampat region of Indonesia.
songbird
Red-billed Blue Magpie
A long-tailed, blue-grey Asian corvid with a black head, red bill and legs, and a spectacular graduated tail tipped in white.
corvid
Long-tailed Duck
The Long-tailed Duck is a distinctive sea duck known for the male's elongated central tail feathers and an unusually complex sequence of plumages that change more often than in any other duck.
waterfowl
Blue-tailed Bee-eater
A slender green bee-eater with a distinctive blue tail and rump, common across South and Southeast Asian lowlands.
other
Amur Falcon
The Amur Falcon is a small migratory falcon breeding in eastern Asia and famed for an enormous transoceanic migration to southern Africa, closely resembling the related Red-footed Falcon.
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
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
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
Northern Harrier
The Northern Harrier, sometimes called the Marsh Hawk, is a slim, long-winged raptor of open grassland and marsh, known for its low, tilting flight, a distinctive white rump patch in all plumages, and an owl-like facial disc that helps it hear prey in the grass.
raptor
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
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
Fearful Owl
The Fearful Owl is a large, poorly known owl endemic to a few islands in the Solomon Islands, with rich brown, mottled plumage and a rounded, tuftless head.
owl
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
Bulwer's Pheasant
A Bornean forest pheasant with glossy blue-black plumage, an extraordinary curved white tail, and bright red facial wattles that expand dramatically during display.
gamebird
Wild Turkey
A large North American gamebird with iridescent bronze-green body feathers, a broad fan-shaped tail banded in dark brown and buff, and a bare, colorful head.
gamebird
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
Reddish Egret
A distinctive coastal heron known for its shaggy, reddish head and neck plumage and its animated, dancing foraging behavior.
wading bird
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
Spotted Redshank
A striking wader that turns almost entirely sooty black with fine white spots in breeding plumage, transforming to pale gray in winter.
shorebird
Dunlin
A common small sandpiper whose breeding plumage features a bold black belly patch found on no other similarly sized shorebird.
shorebird
Derbyan Parakeet
A large, long-tailed parakeet with soft grey-blue body plumage, green wings, and a bright coral-red bill.
parrot
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
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
Scarlet Tanager
A jewel of the eastern deciduous forest canopy, the breeding male Scarlet Tanager combines brilliant scarlet body plumage with jet-black wings and tail.
songbird