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.
Sabine's Gull
A strikingly patterned Arctic-breeding gull whose bold black, white, and gray tricolored wing pattern and forked tail make it one of the most distinctive gulls in flight.
seabird
Townsend's Solitaire
A slender, uniformly gray thrush relative of western mountains, identified by its bold white eye-ring, long tail, and buffy wing patch visible in flight.
songbird
Tennessee Warbler
A plainly patterned warbler with a gray head, white eyebrow stripe, and whitish underparts, notable for its unmarked, wing-bar-free appearance and boreal breeding range.
songbird
Blue-winged Warbler
A bright yellow-headed warbler with blue-gray wings marked by two white wing bars and a thin black line through the eye, closely related to and often hybridizing with the Golden-winged Warbler.
songbird
Gyrfalcon
The largest falcon in the world, a powerful hunter of the high Arctic occurring in white, gray, and dark plumage morphs, all sharing broader wings and greater bulk than any other falcon.
raptor
Flame-colored Tanager
A mountain-forest tanager of Mexico and Central America, the male Flame-colored Tanager combines orange-red body plumage with a distinctively black-streaked back and white wing bars.
songbird
Bearded Vulture
A striking mountain vulture with long narrow wings, a long wedge-shaped tail, and underparts that range from creamy white to rich rusty-orange, often stained by iron-rich soil.
raptor
Great Spotted Woodpecker
The Great Spotted Woodpecker is a striking black-and-white bird with bold white wing patches, a crimson undertail, and stiff, pointed tail feathers adapted for bracing against tree trunks while excavating and drumming.
woodpecker
Great Curassow
A large, turkey-sized forest bird, with males glossy black and white below and topped by a curly crest and bright yellow bill knob. Females occur in several distinct color morphs, ranging from barred to rufous to blackish.
gamebird
Bald Eagle
North America's national bird, whose pure white head and tail feathers contrasting with dark brown body plumage make the adult unmistakable, though immatures take years to acquire this pattern.
raptor
Brambling
A northern finch closely related to the Chaffinch, showing warm orange breast and shoulder feathers, a mottled black-and-orange back, and a bold white rump patch that flashes distinctively in flight.
songbird
Bar-headed Goose
A pale gray goose renowned for migrating over the Himalayas at extreme altitude, identified by a white head marked with two bold black bars across the crown and nape.
waterfowl
Iceland Gull
A pale, gentle-faced gull of the North Atlantic Arctic, the Iceland Gull shows pale gray back feathers and white to very pale wingtips, smaller and more delicately built than the similar Glaucous Gull.
seabird
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
Tropical Parula
A tiny blue-gray and yellow warbler of the far southern U.S. and Latin America, easily told from its northern cousin by its unbroken olive back patch and lack of white eye crescents.
songbird
Eastern Phoebe
A plain-plumaged flycatcher recognized more by its tail-wagging habit than bright colors, with grayish-brown feathers above and a faint yellow wash on white underparts.
songbird
Black Tern
A distinctive marsh tern that turns almost entirely sooty-black during the breeding season, a striking departure from the pale gray-and-white pattern typical of most terns.
seabird
African Sacred Ibis
An African wading bird with white plumage, a bare black head and neck, and loose black plumes on the lower back, historically revered in ancient Egypt and now also established as an introduced species in parts of Europe and North America.
wading bird
Northern Wheatear
The Northern Wheatear is an open-country songbird best known for its bold white rump and black-and-white tail pattern, flashed conspicuously in flight above blue-grey or buff-brown body plumage.
songbird
European Stonechat
The European Stonechat is a small, compact songbird whose breeding males show a jet-black head and orange-chestnut breast set off by white neck patches, against a mottled brown back.
songbird
Eastern Towhee
A large, ground-dwelling sparrow relative with bold black (or brown), white, and rufous plumage, often first noticed scratching noisily through leaf litter in dense thickets.
songbird
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
Reed Bunting
The Reed Bunting is a wetland-associated songbird whose breeding males show a striking black head and white collar against streaked brown upperparts, while females and winter birds are more subtly patterned brown.
songbird
Wood Duck
One of the most ornately feathered ducks in the world, with males showing an iridescent crested head and boldly patterned body, and females recognizable by a distinctive white teardrop eye patch.
waterfowl