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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.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

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.

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Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is Europe's smallest woodpecker, its black-and-white barred back and small size distinguishing its feathers from the much larger, bolder-patched Great Spotted Woodpecker.

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Great Slaty Woodpecker

Great Slaty Woodpecker

The largest living woodpecker species, a huge slate-grey bird of South and Southeast Asian forests that typically travels in noisy family parties.

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Buff-spotted Woodpecker

Buff-spotted Woodpecker

A small, delicately spotted woodpecker of African rainforest understory, patterned in olive-green with buff spotting rather than the bold barring typical of many woodpeckers.

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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.

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Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker

Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker

A boreal-forest specialist recognized by its yellow crown patch in males and finely barred black-and-white flanks, closely tied to insect-affected conifers.

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Great Spotted Kiwi

Great Spotted Kiwi

The largest of the kiwi species, this flightless New Zealand bird has grayish, hair-like plumage marked with light mottled banding that gives it a more patterned look than its brown relatives. It inhabits rugged mountain forest and subalpine grassland on the South Island.

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Nubian Woodpecker

Nubian Woodpecker

An East African savanna woodpecker with bold black spotting across cream underparts and a barred greenish back, favoring dry thornbush country.

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Black Woodpecker

Black Woodpecker

The largest woodpecker across most of Europe and northern Asia, entirely black except for a red crown patch and a pale bill.

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Bennett's Woodpecker

Bennett's Woodpecker

A southern African woodland woodpecker with heavy black spotting on pale underparts, closely related to other spotted African woodpeckers but favoring drier broadleaf woodland types.

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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.

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Rufous Woodpecker

Rufous Woodpecker

An unusually uniform rufous-brown woodpecker of South and Southeast Asia, best known for nesting inside the arboreal nests of tree ants.

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Robust Woodpecker

Robust Woodpecker

A large, striking woodpecker of the Atlantic Forest region of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay, marked by a prominent red crest and bold black-and-white pattern.

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Powerful Woodpecker

Powerful Woodpecker

A large woodpecker of Andean cloud forest, closely related to the Crimson-crested and Magellanic Woodpeckers but with distinctive buffy, barred underparts rather than clean black-and-white.

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Olive Woodpecker

Olive Woodpecker

A southern and eastern African woodpecker with an olive-green back and grey head, familiar in forest, fynbos margins, and well-wooded gardens.

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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.

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Ground Woodpecker

Ground Woodpecker

A highly unusual, almost entirely terrestrial woodpecker of southern African rocky grassland, with pink-flushed underparts and none of the tree-climbing habits of its relatives.

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Magellanic Woodpecker

Magellanic Woodpecker

A spectacular, crow-sized woodpecker of Patagonian beech forests, with the male's entire head blazing red and crowned by a distinctive forward-curling crest.

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Lewis's Woodpecker

Lewis's Woodpecker

An unusually plumaged western woodpecker with an iridescent greenish-black back, dark red face, and pink-toned belly, often seen flycatching like a crow.

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Arizona Woodpecker

Arizona Woodpecker

A woodpecker of southwestern oak canyons notable for its plain brown back, unlike the black-and-white barred pattern of most related species.

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Syrian Woodpecker

Syrian Woodpecker

A close look-alike of the Great Spotted Woodpecker found across southeastern Europe and the Middle East, best separated by an incomplete black neck bar and a paler pink vent.

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Pileated Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

The largest common North American woodpecker, unmistakable for its crow-like size, deep black body, flaming red crest, and bold white neck stripes.

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Nuttall's Woodpecker

Nuttall's Woodpecker

A small woodpecker largely restricted to California oak woodlands, similar to Ladder-backed Woodpecker but with cleaner white underparts and a solid black nape band.

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Lineated Woodpecker

Lineated Woodpecker

A widespread Neotropical woodpecker with a shaggy red crest and bold white stripes running down the sides of its neck, common in forest edge habitats from Mexico to northern Argentina.

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