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.
King Vulture
A striking tropical vulture with mostly creamy white plumage, jet-black flight and tail feathers, and a vividly multicolored bare head.
raptor
Northern Bald Ibis
A critically endangered ibis with glossy black, iridescent plumage, a bare red face, and a shaggy ruff of elongated feathers trailing from the back of its head.
wading bird
Montezuma Oropendola
One of the largest New World songbirds, with a rich chestnut body, black head, a long graduated tail tipped in bright yellow, and a distinctive bicolored bill.
songbird
Carunculated Caracara
A northern Andean caracara with a black head and upperparts contrasting against a clean white breast and belly, named for the fleshy yellow-orange caruncles on its face.
raptor
Common Hill Myna
A glossy black forest myna of South and Southeast Asia, recognized by bright yellow fleshy wattles on the head and a bold white wing patch visible in flight.
songbird
Hermit Warbler
The Hermit Warbler has a brilliant yellow head, black throat, and plain gray back, and it breeds high in tall conifer forests along the Pacific coast.
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
Chinese Grosbeak
A medium-sized East Asian finch with a black head, gray-brown body, and a bright yellow bill tipped in black, smaller and more widespread than its relative the Japanese Grosbeak.
songbird
Azure Jay
A richly blue-bodied jay of South America's Atlantic Forest, with a black head and breast that sharply set off its azure plumage.
corvid
Rufous Treepie
A long-tailed corvid of the Indian subcontinent, warm rufous-orange with a black head and a pale wing patch, often heard before it is seen thanks to its loud, varied calls.
corvid
Green Jay
A vividly patterned jay with a green back, blue-and-black head, and bright yellow outer tail feathers, found in two widely separated populations across the Americas.
corvid
African Fish Eagle
A strikingly tricolor eagle of African waters, with a crisp white head, chest, and tail set sharply against rich chestnut body plumage and black flight feathers.
raptor
Japanese Grosbeak
A large, heavy-billed finch of East Asian forests, recognized by its black head, gray-brown body, and oversized pale-yellow bill.
songbird
Crimson-crested Woodpecker
A striking South American woodpecker whose entirely crimson head and crest stand out sharply against its black-and-white barred body.
woodpecker
Great Tit
A boldly patterned tit with a glossy black head and white cheeks, bright yellow underparts split by a black central stripe, and blue-grey wings with a white bar, among the most recognizable garden songbirds.
songbird
Rustic Bunting
The Rustic Bunting is a boreal-forest bunting with breeding males showing a bold black-and-white head pattern set against rufous-streaked upperparts and a rufous breast band.
songbird
Jardine's Parrot
Jardine's Parrot is a stocky African forest parrot whose green feathers are neatly edged in black, giving a scaled texture, accented by orange-red patches on the head and shoulders.
parrot
Jabiru
The largest flying bird of the Americas, an enormous white stork with a bare black head and neck marked by a distinctive red collar at the base, found in wetlands from Mexico to Argentina.
wading bird
Coal Tit
The smallest common European tit, with a black head, white cheeks, and a distinctive white patch on the nape, paired with buff underparts and two white wingbars on grey-olive wings.
songbird
Steller's Jay
A bold, crested jay of western forests with a sooty black head and back giving way to vivid blue wings and tail marked with fine dark barring.
corvid
Ruddy Shelduck
A warm orange-cinnamon duck with a paler, buffy head, solid black flight feathers, and a bright white patch on the upperwing bordered by a glossy green speculum.
waterfowl
Mourning Collared Dove
A widespread African dove with a pale grey head, warm pinkish-brown breast, and a crisp black half-collar edged in white across the back of the neck.
dove pigeon
Lapland Longspur
The Lapland Longspur is a circumpolar Arctic-breeding songbird that winters in large flocks on open fields, showing a bold black-and-chestnut head pattern in breeding plumage.
songbird
Southern Lapwing
A bold, noisy plover of South American open country, the Southern Lapwing shows iridescent bronze-green wing feathers, a black breast patch, and a distinctive thin head crest.
shorebird