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.
Bank Swallow
A small, plain brown-and-white swallow told from other species by a clean brown breast band across otherwise white underparts.
songbird
Australian Pelican
The Australian Pelican is a huge, mostly white waterbird with black flight feathers and an enormous pink bill and throat pouch, a familiar sight on lakes, rivers, and coasts.
waterfowl
Banded Kestrel
The Banded Kestrel is a Madagascar-endemic falcon marked by fine, dense barring across nearly the entire body, giving it a distinctly patterned appearance among kestrels.
raptor
Australian Wood Duck
The Australian Wood Duck is a distinctive grazing duck, the male showing a dark chocolate-brown head with a low mane, often seen on pasture and grassland rather than open water.
waterfowl
Bare-eyed Cockatoo
A small white cockatoo with an inconspicuous crest and distinctive bare bluish-white skin encircling the eye.
parrot
Bar-headed Goose
A pale gray goose renowned for migrating over the Himalayas at extreme altitude, identified by a white head marked with two bold black bars across the crown and nape.
waterfowl
Barbary Partridge
A North African partridge distinguished from its close relatives by a chestnut necklace speckled with white spots rather than a solid black gorget.
gamebird
Bank Myna
A bluish-gray South Asian myna with warm brick-colored underparts and a distinctive patch of bare orange-red skin behind the eye, often found nesting in burrows along riverbanks.
songbird
Bamboo Partridge
A grayish-brown East Asian partridge marked by a warm chestnut face and throat patch, favoring dense bamboo and scrub cover.
gamebird
Australian Hobby
The Australian Hobby is a small, fast, dark-headed falcon resembling a miniature Peregrine, with slate-grey upperparts and rufous-orange underparts, common across open woodland and towns.
raptor
Bald Eagle
North America's national bird, whose pure white head and tail feathers contrasting with dark brown body plumage make the adult unmistakable, though immatures take years to acquire this pattern.
raptor
Australasian Gannet
A large white seabird with black wingtips and a warm yellow head wash, known for spectacular high-speed plunge-dives into the ocean.
seabird
Baya Weaver
A social South and Southeast Asian weaverbird famed for its hanging retort-shaped nests, breeding males showing a bright yellow crown against a buffy-brown body.
songbird
Australian Masked Owl
A large, variably colored barn-owl relative of Australian forests, ranging from pale to dark rufous, with a distinctive heart-shaped facial disc and fine spotting on its feathers.
owl
Barred Owl
A large, round-headed owl of eastern North American forests, known for its dark eyes and the distinctive combination of horizontal chest barring and vertical belly streaking on its plumage.
owl
Australian Magpie
A boldly patterned black-and-white Australian songbird famous for its rich, warbling carol and confident presence in parks and farmland.
corvid
Bat Falcon
The Bat Falcon is a small, dashing falcon of Neotropical forests, black above with a rufous throat patch and a boldly black-and-white barred belly, often hunting bats and swifts at dusk.
raptor
Balsas Screech-Owl
A little-known small owl endemic to Mexico's Balsas River basin, with subdued grey-brown, finely vermiculated plumage suited to dry tropical forest.
owl
Barnacle Goose
A small, sharply patterned goose with a bold black-and-white face and finely barred silver-gray flanks, breeding on Arctic cliffs and wintering on coastal grassland.
waterfowl
Baltimore Oriole
A vividly colored eastern songbird whose adult males show a striking contrast of flame-orange and black feathers, best known for weaving an elaborate hanging nest.
songbird
Barn Owl
An elegant, heart-faced owl whose golden, finely speckled upperparts and ghostly pale underside make its feathers instantly distinctive among owls.
owl
Bachman's Sparrow
Bachman's Sparrow is a secretive southeastern songbird best known for its long, sweet, whistled song delivered from a low perch in open pine woods.
songbird
Barn Swallow
The classic long-tailed swallow of barns and bridges, with glossy steel-blue upperparts, a rusty throat, and elongated outer tail feathers tipped with white spots.
songbird
Azure-winged Magpie
A slender, pastel-toned corvid with a black cap and soft blue wings and tail, common in flocks across East Asian woodland and parkland.
corvid
Andean Flamingo
A high-altitude Andean flamingo distinguished by yellow legs and a black tail contrasting with pale pink body plumage.
wading bird
Aztec Thrush
The Aztec Thrush is a boldly patterned montane thrush of Mexican cloud forest, marked by striking white wing patches and white-tipped tail feathers against dark brown-black body plumage.
songbird
Australasian Swamphen
The Australasian Swamphen is a large, deep blue-purple rail with a red bill and shield, a familiar sight striding through wetlands and adjacent grassy areas.
wading bird
Audubon's Oriole
A secretive oriole of dense riparian thickets, showing a solid black hood and wings against a yellow body, and best known for its slow, deliberate whistled song.
songbird
Asian Openbill
A medium-sized South and Southeast Asian stork named for the distinctive gap between its upper and lower mandibles, an adaptation for handling its favored prey, with greyish-white plumage and black flight feathers.
wading bird
Atlantic Puffin
A small, tuxedo-patterned seabird famous for its large, brightly colored bill in the breeding season, spending most of the year far out at sea before returning to nest on coastal cliffs and islands.
seabird
Australian King Parrot
A brightly colored parrot of eastern Australian forests, the male Australian King Parrot has a vivid red head and underparts against green wings and back, while females are almost entirely green.
parrot
Atlantic Canary
The wild ancestor of the domestic canary, a streaky yellow-green island finch native to the Canary Islands, Azores, and Madeira.
songbird
Australian White Ibis
A common Australian ibis with white body plumage and a bare black head and neck, now a familiar sight scavenging in city parks and rubbish bins as well as its native wetland habitats.
wading bird
Abdim's Stork
The smallest of the true storks, a compact African species with glossy black-and-white plumage, often associated locally with the arrival of seasonal rains and known for traveling in large flocks.
wading bird
Australian Raven
A large, widespread Australian raven known for long, shaggy throat hackle feathers and a distinctive mournful, drawn-out call.
corvid
Asian Rosy-Finch
An alpine finch of Siberia, Kamchatka, and Japan's high mountains, showing brown body plumage, a variable grey head patch, and pink-washed wings.
songbird
Asian Koel
A vocal, sexually dimorphic cuckoo found across South and Southeast Asia, males glossy black and females brown with dense pale spotting.
other
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
Arizona Woodpecker
A woodpecker of southwestern oak canyons notable for its plain brown back, unlike the black-and-white barred pattern of most related species.
woodpecker
Ash-throated Flycatcher
A pale desert-country flycatcher with an ashy-gray throat, soft yellow belly wash, and a rufous tail that flashes when it flies.
songbird
Amethyst Sunbird
A predominantly dark sunbird whose males show glittering amethyst-purple patches on the crown, throat, and shoulder that flash brightly against otherwise blackish plumage.
songbird
American Tree Sparrow
A hardy winter sparrow of snowy fields, recognizable by its rufous cap and the single dark spot centered on an otherwise plain gray breast.
songbird
American Wigeon
A medium dabbling duck named 'baldpate' for the male's pale cream crown, which contrasts with an iridescent green face patch and a large white shoulder patch visible in flight.
waterfowl
Andean Siskin
A modestly plumaged high-Andean finch with streaky brown-olive feathering, adapted to cold paramo grasslands rather than showy display.
songbird
Anna's Hummingbird
A common West Coast hummingbird whose males display an iridescent rose-pink to magenta crown and throat extending further than the gorget of most other North American hummingbirds.
hummingbird
Andean Flicker
A high-altitude flicker of the Andes that has largely abandoned trees, foraging and nesting on open ground and earthen banks.
woodpecker
Andean Hillstar
A high-altitude specialist hummingbird of the Andean puna, showing a white belly and, in males, a glittering green throat above a violet breast band.
hummingbird
Andean Cock-of-the-rock
A dazzling orange songbird of Andean cloud forest, males display a flattened, half-moon crest that nearly conceals the bill, gathering at communal leks to court females.
songbird