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.
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
Ultramarine Grosbeak
A South American forest-edge songbird, the male Ultramarine Grosbeak is deep blue overall with a notably stout, silvery bill.
songbird
Northern Giant Petrel
An enormous, bulky tubenose with a massive pale bill, showing mottled brown plumage that lightens on the head and neck as birds mature.
seabird
Loggerhead Shrike
A compact gray predator songbird with a black bandit mask and a hooked bill, known for impaling prey on thorns and barbed wire.
songbird
Snowy Egret
A small, energetic white heron of the Americas known for its black bill, black legs, and bright yellow feet.
wading bird
Trumpeter Finch
A pale, sandy desert finch with a thick reddish bill and a soft pink flush on the breast and rump of breeding males.
songbird
Common Greenshank
A tall, pale gray shorebird with greenish legs and a long, slightly upturned bill, the Old World counterpart to the yellowlegs.
shorebird
American Bittern
A secretive, superbly camouflaged heron of North American marshes that freezes with its bill pointed skyward to blend into the reeds.
wading bird
American Avocet
An elegant black-and-white wader with a distinctive upturned bill, showing a rusty cinnamon head and neck in breeding season.
shorebird
Pied Oystercatcher
A bold black-and-white shorebird with a long orange-red bill, found probing sandy beaches and mudflats along the Australian coast.
shorebird
Pacific Screech-Owl
A small eared owl of Pacific lowland Central America, with greyish-brown streaked plumage and pale eyebrows meeting above the bill.
owl
Great Blue Heron
The largest heron in North America, a slow-stalking hunter of shallow water with a slate-blue body and a dagger-like yellow bill.
wading bird
Brimstone Canary
A robust, brightly colored African canary showing rich sulfur-yellow underparts and olive-green upperparts, with a notably heavy bill.
songbird
Pied Avocet
A crisp black-and-white wader with a black cap and nape, known for its elegant upturned bill and sweeping feeding motion.
shorebird
Maned Goose
A stocky, pale grey Australian goose with a small dark bill and mostly terrestrial habits, grazing on grasslands near the coast.
waterfowl
Black Woodpecker
The largest woodpecker across most of Europe and northern Asia, entirely black except for a red crown patch and a pale bill.
woodpecker
Eurasian Hoopoe
An unmistakable bird with a fan-shaped crest and bold black-and-white barred wings, probing the ground with a long curved bill.
other
Derbyan Parakeet
A large, long-tailed parakeet with soft grey-blue body plumage, green wings, and a bright coral-red bill.
parrot
Hyacinth Macaw
The largest of all parrots, entirely deep cobalt blue with bright yellow bare skin around the eye and lower bill.
parrot
Hairy Woodpecker
A larger look-alike of the Downy Woodpecker, distinguished by its longer bill and plain, unspotted white outer tail feathers.
woodpecker
Wilson's Plover
A stocky coastal plover best known for its thick, heavy black bill, distinctly larger than that of similarly patterned ringed plovers.
shorebird
Red Crossbill
A stocky finch with a distinctively crossed bill adapted for prying seeds from conifer cones, males brick-red and females olive-toned.
songbird
Brown Kiwi
A flightless, nocturnal New Zealand bird with shaggy, hair-like feathers and a long probing bill used to find invertebrates in leaf litter.
other
Great Egret
A tall, all-white heron with a long yellow bill and black legs, famous for the delicate plumes it grows during the breeding season.
wading bird