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.
Carolina Wren
A chunky, warm rufous wren of southeastern thickets whose barred tail feathers and loud, ringing song make it one of the most conspicuous small birds around brushy yards.
songbird
Reeves's Pheasant
A pheasant of central China renowned for having the longest tail feathers of any bird in its family, combined with golden, black-scaled body plumage and a bold black-and-white head pattern.
gamebird
Plain Pigeon
A large, plainly colored Caribbean pigeon that reveals a white wing patch in flight, a species of conservation concern on several islands.
dove pigeon
Great Rosefinch
One of the largest rosefinches, a high-altitude species with deep crimson-pink male plumage flecked with silvery-white spots.
songbird
American Flamingo
A vividly colored flamingo of the Caribbean region, showing some of the deepest pink-to-orange body plumage of any flamingo species.
wading bird
Eurasian Pygmy-Owl
Europe's smallest owl, a boreal forest specialist that hunts small birds and rodents largely by day. Its feathers are gray-brown to rufous with crisp white spotting and a narrowly barred tail.
owl
Prothonotary Warbler
A vivid golden-yellow warbler of wooded swamps and flooded bottomland forest, one of the few warbler species that nests in tree cavities.
songbird
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
Crested Caracara
A bold, long-legged raptor of southern South America's open grasslands, with a black cap, cream neck, and barred breast that make its feathers unmistakable among ground-foraging birds of prey.
raptor
Cedar Waxwing
A sleek, crested bird best known for the small, waxy red tips on its secondary wing feathers, paired with a soft brown-to-gray body and a bright yellow band across the tail tip.
songbird
Common Swift
The Common Swift is an almost entirely aerial bird with long, scythe-like flight feathers and uniformly sooty-brown plumage, built for a life spent on the wing far more than any songbird.
other
King Quail
One of the smallest quail species in the world, with males showing a smart slate-blue breast and a bold black-and-white barred throat.
gamebird
Berylline Hummingbird
A coppery-green montane hummingbird whose folded wings show a flash of rufous not typically visible in similar species until it takes flight.
hummingbird
Bank Swallow
A small, plain brown-and-white swallow told from other species by a clean brown breast band across otherwise white underparts.
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
Grey Heron
A tall, still-hunting wading bird whose pale grey body plumage, black head plumes, and dark flight feathers make it one of the most recognizable large waterbirds in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
wading bird
Ruppell's Vulture
A large African vulture best known for its scaly, scalloped-looking plumage created by pale-edged dark brown feathers, and famous for flying at higher altitudes than almost any other bird.
raptor
Great Spotted Woodpecker
The Great Spotted Woodpecker is a striking black-and-white bird with bold white wing patches, a crimson undertail, and stiff, pointed tail feathers adapted for bracing against tree trunks while excavating and drumming.
woodpecker
White-tailed Ptarmigan
The smallest ptarmigan species and the only one with an all-white tail year-round, found on high alpine tundra of western North America.
gamebird
White-rumped Sandpiper
A long-distance migrant sandpiper best identified in flight by its entirely white rump, unlike the dark-centered rump of most similar species.
shorebird
Spur-winged Goose
One of the largest waterfowl species in the world, a bulky African goose with glossy black-green upperparts, white underparts, and bare red facial skin.
waterfowl
Greater Flameback
A large, brilliantly colored Asian woodpecker whose golden 'flame' back gives the species its name, topped by a bushy red crest in males.
woodpecker
Wilson's Phalarope
A slim, needle-billed shorebird of prairie wetlands, Wilson's Phalarope shows a striking chestnut neck stripe in breeding plumage and plain gray-and-white feathers otherwise, unusual among birds for its reversed sexual dichromatism.
shorebird
Southern Cassowary
A large, flightless rainforest bird, the Southern Cassowary has coarse, hair-like black plumage and a tall bony head casque, with its vivid blue-and-red coloring confined to bare skin rather than feathers.
other