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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.

Yellow-hooded Blackbird

Yellow-hooded Blackbird

A marsh-dwelling blackbird of northern South America, with males showing a bright yellow hood and breast against an otherwise black body, often seen perched on reeds and grass stems.

songbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird

Yellow-headed Blackbird

The Yellow-headed Blackbird is a large, striking marsh bird easily identified by its bright yellow head and breast contrasting sharply with glossy black body plumage and a bold white wing patch.

songbird
Eurasian Blackbird

Eurasian Blackbird

A familiar thrush of European gardens and woodland, with males entirely glossy black offset by a bright yellow-orange bill, while females are a more subdued dark brown.

songbird
Wilson's Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

A small, bright yellow warbler with an active, flitting manner, males topped with a neat, glossy black cap and no wing bars or streaking anywhere.

songbird
White-bellied Woodpecker

White-bellied Woodpecker

One of Asia's largest woodpeckers, this glossy black bird is named for the flash of white on its lower belly, which sets it apart from its all-dark relatives.

woodpecker
Scarlet-headed Blackbird

Scarlet-headed Blackbird

A striking marsh-dwelling blackbird with a vivid scarlet head, neck, and breast set against an otherwise entirely black body, found in wetlands of central South America.

songbird
Red-winged Blackbird

Red-winged Blackbird

A common marsh-dwelling blackbird whose males display bold red-and-yellow shoulder patches on glossy black plumage, while females are entirely different, streaked brown like a large sparrow.

songbird
Middle Spotted Woodpecker

Middle Spotted Woodpecker

A small, delicately patterned European woodpecker of old oak woodland, easily told from the Great Spotted Woodpecker by its unbroken red cap and streaked, rather than solidly barred, flanks.

woodpecker
Ring-necked Duck

Ring-necked Duck

A medium diving duck with a peaked head shape and a glossy black back, best distinguished from scaup by a white vertical spur at the base of the wing rather than a grey back.

waterfowl
Blackburnian Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

A small wood-warbler with a vivid orange throat and face set against black facial markings, breeding high in mature conifer canopy.

songbird
American Oystercatcher

American Oystercatcher

A large pied shorebird of American coastlines, with a black head and neck, brown rather than black back, and a long orange-red bill used to open shellfish.

shorebird
Tricolored Blackbird

Tricolored Blackbird

The Tricolored Blackbird is a highly colonial marsh-nesting blackbird, similar to the Red-winged Blackbird but distinguished by a white (rather than yellow) border on its red shoulder patch.

songbird
Paradise Tanager

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
Cape Crow

Cape Crow

A slender, all-black crow of southern and eastern Africa's open grasslands, notable for its long, thin bill.

corvid
Amethyst Sunbird

Amethyst Sunbird

A predominantly dark sunbird whose males show glittering amethyst-purple patches on the crown, throat, and shoulder that flash brightly against otherwise blackish plumage.

songbird
Cinereous Vulture

Cinereous Vulture

One of the heaviest flying raptors, with uniformly dark brown plumage, a dense dark ruff, and broad flight feathers adapted for soaring across open Eurasian terrain.

raptor
Townsend's Warbler

Townsend's Warbler

Townsend's Warbler is a striking Pacific Northwest warbler with a bold black-and-yellow face pattern and olive-streaked back.

songbird
Red-crowned Woodpecker

Red-crowned Woodpecker

A small, widespread woodpecker of northern South America with a barred black-and-white back and a bright red crown on males.

woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Siskin

Yellow-bellied Siskin

A tropical montane finch with a black head and back offset by warm yellow underparts, found in cloud-forest edges and clearings.

songbird
Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

A Texas and Mexican woodpecker with a barred black-and-white back and golden-yellow patches on the nape and face rather than red.

woodpecker
Antillean Siskin

Antillean Siskin

A small island finch restricted to the mountains of Hispaniola, showing a black head and back set against bright yellow underparts.

songbird
Yellow-crowned Woodpecker

Yellow-crowned Woodpecker

A small South Asian woodpecker recognized by a yellow patch on the forecrown, paired with a classic black-and-white barred back and streaked underparts.

woodpecker
White Woodpecker

White Woodpecker

An unusually pale South American woodpecker, mostly white with contrasting black wings and back and a patch of bare yellow facial skin.

woodpecker
Hoffmann's Woodpecker

Hoffmann's Woodpecker

A common Central American woodpecker with a black-and-white barred back and a small patch of yellow on the nape, adaptable to gardens and open plantations.

woodpecker