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.
Common Rosefinch
A finch in which breeding males show a rosy-red head, breast, and rump, while females and immatures are plain streaked brown, sparrow-like birds.
songbird
Wandering Albatross
The largest of all flying birds by wingspan, an immense white seabird of the Southern Ocean whose plumage whitens progressively with age over many years.
seabird
Indian Roller
A brilliant blue-winged bird of South Asian farmland, revealing dazzling blue flight feathers when it takes to the air.
other
European Roller
A vividly blue bird of open country, named for its acrobatic tumbling display flights during the breeding season.
other
Tawny Owl
A stocky woodland owl whose bark-patterned, silent-edged feathers make it one of the most cryptically camouflaged birds in the forest.
owl
Somali Ostrich
A large flightless bird of the Horn of Africa closely related to the Common Ostrich, distinguished by the male's distinctive blue-grey neck and legs.
other
White-bellied Woodpecker
One of Asia's largest woodpeckers, this glossy black bird is named for the flash of white on its lower belly, which sets it apart from its all-dark relatives.
woodpecker
Dark-eyed Junco
A familiar winter feeder bird, the Dark-eyed Junco flashes bright white outer tail feathers against a slate-gray or brown body when it flies.
songbird
Giant Kingfisher
Africa's largest kingfisher, a bulky black-and-white bird with a shaggy crest, hunting fish along forested rivers and rocky streams.
other
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
Amazonian Motmot
A quiet rainforest bird of the Amazon basin, the Amazonian Motmot has an overall green plumage set off by a dark blue crown patch and a long racket-tipped tail.
other
European Bee-eater
A dazzlingly colorful, streamlined bird combining chestnut, gold, and turquoise plumage, often seen hawking insects in graceful flight.
other
Mandarin Duck
An East Asian perching duck famed for the male's uniquely upright orange 'sail' feathers on the wing, among the most distinctive single feathers of any bird in the world.
waterfowl
Palm Cockatoo
A large, distinctive black cockatoo with a shaggy crest and bright red bare facial skin that can flush more intensely when the bird is excited.
parrot
Golden-headed Quetzal
A trogon-family bird of Andean cloud forests, the Golden-headed Quetzal shows brilliant metallic green plumage that shifts to golden tones in good light.
other
Great Slaty Woodpecker
The largest living woodpecker species, a huge slate-grey bird of South and Southeast Asian forests that typically travels in noisy family parties.
woodpecker
Blue Crane
South Africa's national bird, a pale blue-grey crane with unusually long, trailing wing-tip feathers that can nearly brush the ground when the bird is standing.
wading bird
Tufted Titmouse
The Tufted Titmouse is a common eastern woodland bird known for its jaunty gray crest feathers and soft, plain-gray body feathers washed with rust along the flanks.
songbird
Swallow-tailed Kite
A graceful, boldly two-toned raptor with a deeply forked tail, whose sharp black-and-white feathers are unlike almost any other North American bird of prey.
raptor
Common Ostrich
The world's largest living bird, flightless with soft, loose plumage, males black-bodied with striking white plumes and females duller greyish-brown.
other
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
White-winged Chough
A black, red-eyed Australian bird that lives in cooperative family groups and builds distinctive mud nests in eucalypt woodland.
corvid
Red-eyed Vireo
The Red-eyed Vireo is a common, persistent-singing woodland bird with a bold gray-and-white head pattern and, in adults, a distinctive red iris.
songbird
Rainbow Bee-eater
Australia's only bee-eater, a multicolored bird combining green, gold, and turquoise plumage with a fine black tail streamer.
other