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.
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
Northern Pygmy-Owl
A tiny, fierce diurnal owl of western mountain forests, notable for the false 'eyespots' on the back of its head. Its feathers show heavy white spotting on a rufous or gray-brown ground color.
owl
African Spoonbill
An all-white African wading bird with a red face and legs, identified by its plain white plumage and grey spoon-shaped bill without a crest.
wading bird
House Martin
The House Martin is a small aerial songbird with glossy blue-black upperpart feathers, a bright white rump patch, and clean white underparts, built for a life spent almost entirely on the wing.
songbird
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
Emu
Australia's largest bird, the Emu has loose, hair-like feathers that grow in pairs from a single shaft, giving its plumage a shaggy, fur-like texture unlike any flying bird.
other
Shikra
A small, agile hawk of Africa and Asia resembling a miniature goshawk, identified by blue-gray upperparts and finely rufous-barred underparts.
raptor
White-fronted Bee-eater
A social African bee-eater notable for its crimson throat and white forehead, nesting in dense colonies along riverbanks.
other
White-backed Woodpecker
A large, heavily barred woodpecker of old-growth forest, distinguished from the similar Great Spotted Woodpecker by its finely barred (rather than solid white) back and extensive pink-red vent.
woodpecker
Indian Roller
A brilliant blue-winged bird of South Asian farmland, revealing dazzling blue flight feathers when it takes to the air.
other
Temminck's Stint
A small, plain-plumaged stint that favors quiet freshwater edges over open mudflats, distinguished from its rufous relatives by generally duller upperpart feathers and distinctive white outer tail feathers.
shorebird
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
Red-backed Shrike
A small Eurasian shrike with strongly different male and female plumages, the male showing a gray head, chestnut back, and black bandit mask.
songbird
Ring-necked Pheasant
A large, long-tailed gamebird whose males carry some of the most vividly iridescent body feathers and dramatically elongated tail feathers of any bird found in open countryside.
gamebird
White-throated Bee-eater
A slender, streamlined bee-eater of Africa's Sahel belt, green-bodied with a crisp white throat and forehead and long wispy tail streamers that trail behind it in flight.
other
White-throated Caracara
A southern Andean raptor closely related to the Mountain Caracara, distinguished by a white throat patch separated from its white belly by a solid black chest band.
raptor
Herring Gull
A familiar large gull of the Old World, the Herring Gull shows pale gray mantle feathers, black-and-white patterned wingtips, and pink legs, taking several years to reach its fully patterned adult plumage.
seabird
Verreaux's Eagle
Verreaux's Eagle, also called the Black Eagle, is a striking African mountain eagle almost entirely glossy black except for a white back patch and pale flight-feather 'windows.' Its long, broad wings and tail are shaped for soaring along cliffs and escarpments.
raptor
Little Owl
A small, flat-headed owl whose boldly white-spotted brown feathers and habit of perching in daylight set it apart from Europe's other owls.
owl
Eurasian Hoopoe
An unmistakable bird with a fan-shaped crest and bold black-and-white barred wings, probing the ground with a long curved bill.
other
Tawny Frogmouth
A nocturnal Australian bird with mottled grey-brown feathers that mimic tree bark, allowing it to remain nearly invisible while perched motionless during the day.
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
Grace's Warbler
Grace's Warbler is a small, treetop-loving warbler of southwestern pine forests, showing a bright yellow throat set against a gray-streaked back.
songbird
Paradise Tanager
One of the most vividly colored songbirds in the world, the Paradise Tanager combines a turquoise-green head, black back, red rump, and purplish-blue throat in a single small canopy bird.
songbird