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.
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
Green Kingfisher
A small, dark-green kingfisher of American waterways, often the most frequently seen kingfisher along narrow streams.
other
Maned Goose
A stocky, pale grey Australian goose with a small dark bill and mostly terrestrial habits, grazing on grasslands near the coast.
waterfowl
Northern Shrike
A pale, predatory songbird of the far north that winters across open habitats farther south, distinguished from the smaller Loggerhead Shrike by its larger bill and faintly barred underparts.
songbird
Paradise Tanager
One of the most vividly colored songbirds in the world, the Paradise Tanager combines a turquoise-green head, black back, red rump, and purplish-blue throat in a single small canopy bird.
songbird
Tambourine Dove
The Tambourine Dove is a small forest dove with a strikingly white face and underparts set against brown upperparts marked with dark wing spots.
dove pigeon
Green Heron
A small, stocky, solitary heron of the Americas with a dark cap, chestnut neck, and greenish-backed wings, often seen crouched at the water's edge.
wading bird
Yellow-collared Lovebird
A small lovebird with a dark, mask-like head, a bright yellow collar and breast, and a green body, native to north-central Tanzania.
parrot
Peaceful Dove
A small, gentle Australian dove with fine dark barring across the neck and breast and a soft, pale blue ring around the eye.
dove pigeon
Eleonora's Falcon
Eleonora's Falcon is a slender, long-winged falcon of Mediterranean sea cliffs, notable for breeding unusually late in the year to feed its young on autumn-migrating songbirds, and occurring in both pale and dark color morphs.
raptor
Eastern Imperial Eagle
A large steppe eagle recognized by small white patches on the shoulders (scapulars) contrasting with otherwise dark brown plumage and a pale, creamy nape.
raptor
Solitary Sandpiper
A dark, finely speckled sandpiper with a bold white eye-ring, often seen alone at small freshwater pools rather than in flocks.
shorebird
Scaled Dove
A small South American dove whose breast and neck feathers carry dark, crescent-shaped edges that overlap like fish scales.
dove pigeon
Taita Falcon
A rare, compact cliff-dwelling falcon whose deep rufous underparts and dark slate back make it one of Africa's most striking small raptors.
raptor
Daurian Jackdaw
A small East Asian jackdaw that comes in a striking pied form with a white collar and belly, alongside an all-dark morph that resembles other jackdaws.
corvid
Morepork
New Zealand's small native owl, named for its call and known to Maori as ruru, with dark brown feathers mottled with pale buff spotting and streaked underparts.
owl
Brant
The Brant is a small, dark sea goose marked by a black head, neck, and breast broken by a fine white necklace, closely tied to coastal estuaries and tidal flats.
waterfowl
Hooded Crane
A small, dark East Asian crane with a white head and upper neck resembling a hood, contrasting sharply with its otherwise slate-grey to blackish body.
wading bird
Palestine Sunbird
A small Middle Eastern sunbird whose males appear almost entirely glossy dark blue-black, with hidden orange tufts flashed during display.
songbird
Little Bunting
The Little Bunting is a small, compact Eurasian bunting with a rufous-chestnut face bordered by dark stripes, breeding across the boreal taiga and wintering in southern Asia.
songbirdInca Dove
A small, pale dove with an overall scaly appearance created by dark-edged feathers, common around towns and arid scrub of the southwestern United States and Mexico.
dove pigeon
Helmeted Guineafowl
An African savanna gamebird with a bare, helmeted head and dark plumage covered in small pearl-white spots, now farmed and kept ornamentally around the world.
gamebird
Kentish Plover
A small, pale Old World plover of sandy and saline flats, closely resembling the Snowy Plover of the Americas, with dark side-breast patches rather than a complete band.
shorebird
Snowy Plover
A very small, pale plover of sandy Pacific and Gulf coast beaches and interior alkaline flats, with dark neck patches rather than a full breast band.
shorebird