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.
European Starling
An abundant introduced songbird whose feathers change appearance through wear alone, shifting from spotted in fresh winter plumage to glossy and unspotted by breeding season.
songbird
Common Starling
A glossy, iridescent songbird whose feathers shift from heavily spangled with pale spots in fresh winter plumage to sleek and nearly spot-free by the breeding season.
songbird
Spotless Starling
A glossy black starling of Iberia and northwest Africa closely resembling the Common Starling but lacking the pale spangling in breeding plumage.
songbird
Superb Starling
A dazzling East African songbird with glossy blue-green upperparts, a bold white breast band, and a warm chestnut-orange belly, common around towns and savanna.
songbird
Greater Blue-eared Starling
A dazzling African starling with metallic blue-green plumage, a darker blue ear patch, and violet-tinged flanks that shimmer in sunlight.
songbird
European Shag
A slender, all-dark cormorant relative with an iridescent green-black sheen and a distinctive forward-curling crest during the breeding season.
seabird
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
European Greenfinch
A stocky, olive-green finch with a stout conical bill, brightened by bold yellow flashes along the edges of its wing and tail feathers, especially vivid in breeding males.
songbird
European Serin
A tiny, streaky yellow-green finch with a short stubby bill and a bright yellow face and rump in breeding males.
songbird
European Roller
A vividly blue bird of open country, named for its acrobatic tumbling display flights during the breeding season.
other
European Robin
An iconic garden songbird with a vivid orange-red face and breast set against olive-brown upperparts, one of the most recognizable feather patterns in European gardens.
songbird
European Goldfinch
A strikingly patterned finch with a red face, black-and-white head markings, warm buff-brown body, and a vivid golden-yellow wing bar crossing otherwise black wings.
songbird
European Storm-Petrel
One of the smallest seabirds in the world, sooty black overall with a white rump patch, fluttering like a large bat low over the waves.
seabird
European Green Woodpecker
The European Green Woodpecker is a large, ground-feeding woodpecker with olive-green body feathers, a bright yellow rump, and a red crown, feeding more on the ground than most of its relatives.
woodpecker
European Bee-eater
A dazzlingly colorful, streamlined bird combining chestnut, gold, and turquoise plumage, often seen hawking insects in graceful flight.
other
European Turtle Dove
A small, warmly colored migratory dove with a tortoiseshell-patterned wing and a neat black-and-white striped neck patch found in no other common European dove.
dove pigeon
European Pied Flycatcher
A small Old World flycatcher in which breeding males show bold black-and-white plumage, while females and nonbreeding males are softer brownish-gray.
songbird
European Golden Plover
The Old World golden plover of moorland and tundra, showing bold gold-spangled upperparts and, in northern breeders, black underparts bordered by a white band.
shorebird
Common Quail
A tiny, secretive migratory quail of Old World farmland, cloaked in streaked brown plumage that renders it almost invisible in tall grass.
gamebird
Common Blackbird
A familiar thrush of European gardens, with males showing sleek all-black plumage and a bright bill, while females and juveniles are a more camouflaged sooty brown with subtle mottling.
songbird
Common Chiffchaff
A tiny, plain olive-brown warbler best known by its song, with dark legs and only faint facial markings — one of the least boldly patterned small European songbirds.
songbird
Common Chaffinch
A common European finch with males showing a blue-grey crown and warm pinkish-brown breast, and females a more subdued olive-brown, both sharing bold double white wing bars and a greenish rump.
songbird
Common Cuckoo
A slim, hawk-mimicking bird whose barred underparts and pointed wings closely resemble a small sparrowhawk, an example of remarkable plumage convergence in nature.
other
Common Crane
A widespread Eurasian crane with slate-grey plumage, a black-and-white striped head and neck, and drooping tertial plumes that form a bustle over the tail.
wading bird