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.
Southern Boobook
Australia's most familiar and widespread owl, named for its distinctive 'boo-book' call, with dark brown feathers boldly spotted white above and streaked buff below.
owl
Sage Thrasher
The smallest and most compact North American thrasher, a streaky gray-brown bird of sagebrush country with a shorter, straighter bill than its relatives.
songbird
Sooty Owl
A dark, striking barn-owl relative of Australian and New Guinean rainforest, its sooty gray-black feathers finely speckled with silvery white, unlike any other owl in its range.
owl
Sandhill Crane
A tall North American crane, gray overall but often stained rusty-brown from preening with iron-rich mud, famous for its massive migratory staging flocks and rolling bugle call.
wading bird
Sooty Grouse
A large Pacific coast grouse closely related to the Dusky Grouse, males dark sooty grey with a pale grey tail band and inflatable yellow neck sacs used in display.
gamebird
Sandwich Tern
A slender, crested tern of sandy coastlines, easily recognized by its shaggy black crest and long, slim black bill with a distinctive yellow tip.
seabird
Sooty Falcon
The Sooty Falcon is a slim, uniformly dark grey falcon of desert coastlines and offshore islands of the Middle East and northeastern Africa, sharing Eleonora's Falcon's unusual late-breeding strategy tied to songbird migration.
raptor
Sacred Ibis
A large white wading bird with a bare black head and curved black bill, historically significant in ancient Egyptian culture and common across African wetlands today.
wading bird
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
Rufous Owl
The Rufous Owl is a large, richly colored hawk-owl of northern Australia and New Guinea, its warm rufous-brown feathers finely barred throughout and its head rounded without ear tufts.
owl
Solitary Sandpiper
A dark, finely speckled sandpiper with a bold white eye-ring, often seen alone at small freshwater pools rather than in flocks.
shorebird
Rufous-legged Owl
The Rufous-legged Owl is a temperate-forest owl of Chile and Argentina named for the warm rufous feathering that covers its legs down to the toes.
owl
Snowy Plover
A very small, pale plover of sandy Pacific and Gulf coast beaches and interior alkaline flats, with dark neck patches rather than a full breast band.
shorebird
Rufous Hummingbird
A fiercely territorial western hummingbird whose males show extensive rufous-orange body feathers along with a brilliant iridescent orange-red throat, among the most cinnamon-toned hummingbirds in North America.
hummingbird
Snowy Egret
A small, energetic white heron of the Americas known for its black bill, black legs, and bright yellow feet.
wading bird
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
A plain gray-breasted sparrow of rocky, brushy hillsides, identified by its rufous crown and a bold black malar stripe.
songbird
Snow Partridge
A high-alpine Himalayan partridge whose entire plumage is finely barred in gray, black, white, and chestnut, blending seamlessly into rocky, snow-patched terrain.
gamebird
Satyr Tragopan
A vivid crimson Himalayan pheasant whose male is covered in white-centered black-bordered spots and can inflate a strikingly patterned blue throat lappet during display.
gamebird
Snow Pigeon
The Snow Pigeon is a high-altitude Himalayan pigeon with a bold white head, underparts, and rump contrasting against grey-brown wings and a dark breast band.
dove pigeon
Sapphire Quail-Dove
A chunky, forest-floor quail-dove of the Amazon basin, its back and nape washed with an iridescent sapphire-blue and green sheen against a warm cinnamon face.
dove pigeon
Snow Bunting
The Snow Bunting is a hardy Arctic songbird whose breeding males become strikingly white and black, while winter birds show warmer buff-brown tones as they flock over open fields and shorelines farther south.
songbird
Sarus Crane
The tallest of all flying birds, a pale grey Asian crane with a strikingly red bare head and upper neck, resident year-round across its wetland range.
wading bird
Smith's Longspur
Smith's Longspur is an Arctic-breeding songbird notable for its warm buff-orange underparts and bold black-and-white head pattern in breeding plumage.
songbird
Saddleback
The Saddleback is a glossy black New Zealand wattlebird with a bold chestnut saddle across its back, now largely restricted to predator-free islands and sanctuaries.
songbird
Slender-billed Crow
A forest-dwelling crow of Southeast Asia distinguished by its notably slim, elongated bill.
corvid
Sacred Kingfisher
A quietly colored kingfisher of Australia and New Zealand, its blue-green upperparts easily overlooked until it darts from a perch.
other
Slaty-backed Forest Falcon
A large, uncommon forest-falcon notable for its unusually plain plumage - solid slate-grey above and mostly unbarred white below, unlike most of its close relatives.
raptor
Saddle-billed Stork
One of Africa's tallest and most colorful storks, with a glossy black-and-white body and a spectacular red, black, and yellow bill, though the feathers themselves are simply patterned in black and white.
wading bird
Sinaloa Crow
A small crow of Mexico's Pacific coastal lowlands, closely related to the Tamaulipas Crow of the Gulf coast.
corvid
Rose-bellied Bunting
A rare Mexican bunting found only near the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the male Rose-bellied Bunting shows turquoise-blue upperparts and a distinctive rose-pink belly.
songbird
Silver Pheasant
A striking forest pheasant of Southeast Asia, with males showing crisp white upperparts finely marked with black lines contrasting against glossy blue-black underparts.
gamebird
Ruffed Grouse
A woodland grouse of North America recognized by its intricately mottled brown or grey plumage, fan-shaped banded tail, and neck ruffs used in courtship drumming displays.
gamebird
Silver-beaked Tanager
A richly colored tanager of the Amazon basin, the male Silver-beaked Tanager shows deep velvety maroon-red plumage set off by a strikingly pale, silvery lower bill.
songbird
Ruddy Turnstone
A boldly patterned, harlequin-like shorebird known for flipping stones and debris in search of food, with breeding feathers combining rufous, black, and white in a striking tortoiseshell pattern.
shorebird
Siberian Jay
A soft-plumaged jay of the northern boreal forest, easily recognized by its fluffy grey-brown body and rusty-orange wing and tail patches.
corvid
Rock Kestrel
The Rock Kestrel is the resident southern African counterpart of the Common Kestrel, sharing a rufous, black-spotted back and grey head, hunting over open grassland and farmland.
raptor
Short-eared Owl
A wide-ranging owl of open grassland and marsh, notable for hunting in daylight on buoyant, moth-like wingbeats, with streaked buffy-brown plumage and ear tufts so small they are rarely visible.
owl
Rock Bunting
The Rock Bunting is a bunting of dry, rocky hillsides across southern Europe and Asia, identified by its gray head with bold black stripes and a chestnut-streaked back.
songbird
Short-billed Dowitcher
A long-billed, sewing-machine-feeding shorebird whose breeding-season feathers show a warm rufous-orange wash with fine spotting, closely resembling the Long-billed Dowitcher but generally with finer, more restrained markings.
shorebird
Rock Wren
A pale, finely speckled wren of arid rocky terrain, identified by its habit of bobbing on boulders and its buffy-tipped tail corners flashed in flight.
songbird
Shiny Cowbird
A slender, glossy blackbird relative widespread across South America and the Caribbean, notable for its uniform purplish-blue sheen and habit of parasitizing other birds' nests.
songbird
Rock Sandpiper
The Pacific counterpart of the Purple Sandpiper, this stocky, dark shorebird forages on wave-swept rocky shores from Alaska south along the Pacific coast, its feathers showing the same somber, storm-suited coloring.
shorebird
Shikra
A small, agile hawk of Africa and Asia resembling a miniature goshawk, identified by blue-gray upperparts and finely rufous-barred underparts.
raptor
Rufous-collared Robin
The Rufous-collared Robin is a highland thrush of Mexico and Guatemala, identified by its bright rufous-orange collar and breast band contrasting sharply against otherwise dark gray-black plumage.
songbird
Sharp-tailed Grouse
A prairie grouse recognized by its mottled brown plumage, V-shaped chevron markings on the underside, and a short, pointed central tail used in a distinctive courtship dance.
gamebird
Rufous-capped Warbler
The Rufous-capped Warbler is a lively, tail-cocking warbler of brushy scrub habitat, marked by a rufous crown and bold white facial markings.
songbird
Seychelles Kestrel
The Seychelles Kestrel is one of the smallest kestrels in the world, endemic to the granite islands of the Seychelles, with dark rufous-brown, spotted plumage.
raptor
Rock Pigeon
A stocky, familiar city bird whose feather color is famously variable, though wild-type individuals retain a blue-gray body with two dark wingbars and an iridescent green-purple neck.
dove pigeon