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.
Baird's Sparrow
An elusive prairie sparrow with a warm ochre crown stripe and fine necklace-like streaking, tied closely to intact native grassland.
songbird
Ovenbird
A ground-dwelling warbler that looks more like a small thrush, with heavily streaked underparts and a bold orange crown stripe bordered in black.
songbird
Hooded Warbler
A vivid yellow-faced warbler whose adult males wear a complete black hood over the crown, nape, and throat, framing the bright yellow face like a cowl.
songbird
Worm-eating Warbler
A plain buffy-olive warbler of steep, leaf-littered forest slopes, marked by bold black stripes across the crown and through the eye and a notably long, spike-like bill.
songbird
Royal Tern
One of the largest terns, approaching gull-like proportions, with a heavy orange bill and a shaggy black crest that is often reduced to a ragged crown patch outside the breeding season.
seabird
Golden-hooded Tanager
A jewel-like songbird of Central American and northern South American forests, the Golden-hooded Tanager combines a black facial mask with a turquoise-and-gold crown and blue-green body.
songbird
Indigo Bunting
A small eastern songbird whose breeding males appear an intense, uniform iridescent blue with no other markings, while females are entirely plain brown, making feathers of the two sexes look like different species.
songbird
White-capped Bunting
A South Asian bunting whose breeding males show a bold white crown bordered in black above a chestnut breast band.
songbird
Black-headed Caique
A small, sharply patterned Amazonian parrot with a black crown, orange cheeks, and clean white underparts.
parrot
Red-headed Bullfinch
A striking Himalayan bullfinch with a glowing orange-red crown and nape that sets it apart from all its relatives.
songbird
Yellow-throated Bunting
A crested East Asian bunting whose breeding males combine a black crown, bright yellow throat, and chestnut breast band.
songbird
Black-chinned Siskin
A southern South American finch marked by a small black chin patch and crown against otherwise yellow-green plumage.
songbird
Olive Sparrow
The Olive Sparrow is a shy, thicket-dwelling sparrow of south Texas brushland, identified by its olive-green back and chestnut-striped crown.
songbird
Yellow-tufted Woodpecker
An Amazonian woodpecker with mostly black plumage set off by bright yellow tufts on the forehead and a red crown patch.
woodpecker
Red-shouldered Macaw
One of the smallest macaws, a compact green parrot of northern South America with a red patch at the bend of the wing and a subtle blue wash on the crown.
parrot
Mountain Quail
The largest quail native to North America, instantly recognized by the single thin, straight plume that projects from its crown.
gamebird
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
Cassin's Finch
A western North American mountain finch whose males show a bright rosy-red crown sharply contrasting with a brown-streaked back.
songbird
Capped Heron
A softly colored South American heron with creamy buff-white plumage, a glossy black cap, and long pale plumes trailing from the crown.
wading bird
Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker
One of the smallest South Asian woodpeckers, told from other pygmy woodpeckers mainly by its brownish, rather than blackish, crown.
woodpecker
Red-lored Amazon
The Red-lored Amazon is a widespread Central American parrot identified by the band of red across its forehead and lores, bordered by blue on the crown.
parrot
Green-tailed Sunbird
A Himalayan and Southeast Asian montane sunbird with a scarlet throat and back, a metallic green crown, and long green central tail streamers.
songbird
Masked Booby
The largest booby species, with a clean white body set off by black flight feathers, a black tail, and a dark facial mask around the bill.
seabird
Fork-tailed Sunbird
A small sunbird of southern China and Southeast Asia named for its notched, forked tail, with males showing a scarlet throat and iridescent green crown.
songbird