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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.

Woodchat Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

A boldly patterned southern European shrike with a rich chestnut crown and a crisp white shoulder patch that contrasts sharply with its black wings.

songbird
Chestnut-sided Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

A small wood-warbler with a bold chestnut stripe along white flanks and a yellow-green crown, common in shrubby second-growth habitat.

songbird
Canyon Towhee

Canyon Towhee

The Canyon Towhee is a plain, dusty-brown ground bird of southwestern deserts and canyons, distinguished by a rufous crown and a dark central breast spot.

songbird
Fork-tailed Sunbird

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
Hooded Warbler

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
Black Rosy-Finch

Black Rosy-Finch

A dark, blackish-brown alpine finch of western North America's highest peaks, set off by rosy-pink wing feathering and a grey crown patch.

songbird
White-eared Hummingbird

White-eared Hummingbird

A small montane hummingbird instantly recognizable by its broad white stripe behind the eye, set against a violet crown and green throat.

hummingbird
Green-cheeked Conure

Green-cheeked Conure

A small, compact South American conure with green cheeks, a grey-brown crown, and a distinctive maroon-red tail contrasting with its mostly green body.

parrot
Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker

Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker

A small, widespread Asian woodpecker with a grey-brown crown and crisply barred back, closely resembling other pygmy woodpeckers across its broad range.

woodpecker
Bay-breasted Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

A small wood-warbler with rich chestnut coloring on the crown, throat, and flanks, breeding in boreal spruce-fir forest tied to spruce budworm outbreaks.

songbird
Chipping Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

The Chipping Sparrow is a small, neat sparrow recognized in breeding plumage by its bright rufous crown feathers over a clean, unstreaked gray breast.

songbird
White-throated Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

The White-throated Sparrow is easily identified by its crisp white throat patch and small yellow lore spot, occurring in two crown-striped color morphs.

songbird
Blue Bunting

Blue Bunting

A deep-blue forest bunting of Mexico and Central America, males show brighter blue highlights on the crown, cheek, and rump against an overall dark blue body.

songbird
Brown-capped Rosy-Finch

Brown-capped Rosy-Finch

An alpine finch restricted to the southern Rocky Mountains, showing a plain cinnamon-brown cap that lacks the grey crown patch of related rosy-finch species.

songbird
Vermilion Flycatcher

Vermilion Flycatcher

A small flycatcher in which males show a strikingly brilliant red crown and underparts against dusky brown wings, while females are far more subdued.

songbird
Virginia's Warbler

Virginia's Warbler

A gray-bodied warbler of dry interior western scrublands, marked by a bright yellow rump and breast patch, a white eye-ring, and a concealed chestnut crown patch.

songbird
Lucy's Warbler

Lucy's Warbler

One of the smallest and palest North American warblers, essentially plain gray and white apart from a bright rufous rump patch and a concealed rufous crown spot.

songbird
Gambel's Quail

Gambel's Quail

A desert-dwelling quail of the southwestern United States, closely related to the California Quail but distinguished by a chestnut crown patch and a black belly patch on males.

gamebird
Cardinal Woodpecker

Cardinal Woodpecker

One of the smallest and most widespread African woodpeckers, common across savanna and woodland, with the male's red-tipped crown giving rise to its 'cardinal' name.

woodpecker
Crimson Sunbird

Crimson Sunbird

A vividly colored South and Southeast Asian sunbird whose males combine brilliant crimson plumage with a metallic green crown and elongated central tail feathers.

songbird
Red-faced Warbler

Red-faced Warbler

A gray-backed, high-mountain warbler with a strikingly bright red face and throat set off by a black crown and nape, unlike any other North American warbler.

songbird
Whooping Crane

Whooping Crane

The tallest bird in North America, a white crane with black wingtips visible in flight and a bare red crown, best known for its dramatic conservation recovery story.

wading bird
Rivoli's Hummingbird

Rivoli's Hummingbird

One of the largest hummingbirds in the United States, appearing nearly black in dim light until its violet crown and emerald throat flash brilliantly in direct sun.

hummingbird
Red-necked Falcon

Red-necked Falcon

A striking small falcon with a bright chestnut crown and nape contrasting against a slate-grey back, favoring open country dotted with palms across Africa and South Asia.

raptor