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.
Dark-eyed Junco
A familiar winter feeder bird, the Dark-eyed Junco flashes bright white outer tail feathers against a slate-gray or brown body when it flies.
songbird
Yellow-eyed Junco
A montane junco of the southwestern borderlands, distinguished from its dark-eyed relative by a striking pale yellow eye.
songbird
Spotted Owl
An old-growth forest specialist of western North America, dark brown overall with distinctive rounded white spotting across its plumage, dependent on structurally complex mature forest.
owl
Black-whiskered Vireo
The Black-whiskered Vireo closely resembles the Red-eyed Vireo but shows a distinctive dark malar stripe, and it favors coastal mangroves and hammocks in Florida and the Caribbean.
songbird
Chaco Owl
A dark-eyed true owl of the Gran Chaco woodlands, closely related to the Rufous-legged Owl, with densely barred brown plumage suited to dry scrub forest.
owl
Pacific Black Duck
The Pacific Black Duck is a mottled dark brown dabbling duck with a distinctive pale face crossed by dark eye stripes, common on wetlands across Australia and the Pacific.
waterfowl
Seaside Sparrow
A dark, long-billed sparrow tightly restricted to coastal salt marshes, with a small yellow spot in front of the eye.
songbird
Yellow-vented Bulbul
A common Southeast Asian songbird with brown upperparts, pale underparts, a dark eye stripe, and a bright yellow vent patch.
songbird
Sagebrush Sparrow
A pale gray-headed sparrow of Great Basin sagebrush country, with a white eye-ring and a dark central breast spot.
songbird
Osprey
The Osprey is a fish-eating raptor with dark brown upperparts, a white head marked by a bold dark eye-stripe, white underparts, and long, angled wings showing a distinctive dark carpal patch and barred flight feathers.
raptor
Peaceful Dove
A small, gentle Australian dove with fine dark barring across the neck and breast and a soft, pale blue ring around the eye.
dove pigeon
Black-browed Albatross
One of the most widespread and abundant albatrosses, readily identified by a bold dark stripe through the eye that gives it a permanently stern, 'browed' expression.
seabird
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
Mourning Warbler
A skulking, gray-hooded warbler of dense thickets, with adult males showing a dark, mottled patch across the throat and upper breast and no eye-ring.
songbird
Snowy-browed Owl
This tiny Asian pygmy owl is known for its compact, heavily spotted brown plumage and a pair of dark false eye-spots on the nape that help confuse predators.
owl
West Peruvian Dove
A large coastal dove of western South America, similar to the Eared Dove but bigger and grayer, with a small dark mark below the eye and pale grey tail tips.
dove pigeon
Forster's Tern
A North American marsh tern with notably pale, frosty primaries and a distinctive nonbreeding head pattern featuring a dark patch through the eye rather than a full black cap.
seabird
Eared Dove
One of South America's most abundant doves, recognized by a small dark crescent below the eye and neat black spots scattered across its warm pinkish-brown wings.
dove pigeon
Pied Currawong
A large, mostly black Australian songbird, the Pied Currawong is marked by white patches on the wings and tail tip, and a bright yellow eye that stands out against its dark plumage.
songbird
Yellow-headed Caracara
A pale-headed, adaptable caracara commonly seen around cattle and open farmland across Central and South America, easily told by its creamy-yellow head and dark eye-stripe.
raptor
Common Goldeneye
The Common Goldeneye is a striking black-and-white diving duck named for its piercing golden-yellow eye, with males showing a round white spot on an otherwise glossy dark green head.
waterfowl
Egyptian Goose
A pale buff-brown African waterfowl, more closely related to shelducks than true geese, marked by a dark chestnut eye patch, a chestnut breast smudge, and a bold white wing patch bordered in iridescent green.
waterfowl
Barred Owl
A large, round-headed owl of eastern North American forests, known for its dark eyes and the distinctive combination of horizontal chest barring and vertical belly streaking on its plumage.
owl
Flammulated Owl
A tiny, highly secretive migratory owl of western pine forests, camouflaged to match bark with a fine mottled gray-and-rufous pattern, and unusual among small owls for its dark eyes.
owl