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.
Keel-billed Toucan
A rainforest toucan famous for its rainbow-hued bill, paired with black plumage and a bright yellow chest patch.
other
Channel-billed Toucan
A widespread Amazonian toucan with a mostly dark bill and warm yellow-orange chest, common in lowland rainforest canopy.
other
Toco Toucan
The largest toucan, instantly recognizable by its enormous bright orange bill contrasting with jet-black plumage.
other
White-throated Toucan
The White-throated Toucan is one of the largest Amazonian toucans, known for its oversized bicolored bill and bold white throat patch set against jet-black plumage. It moves through the rainforest canopy in noisy family groups, hopping between branches rather than flying long distances.
other
Gull-billed Tern
A stocky, pale tern known for its short, thick, gull-like black bill rather than the slender dagger bill typical of most terns.
seabird
Knob-billed Duck
A large, glossy black-and-white duck of tropical wetlands, best known for the fleshy black knob or comb that swells atop the breeding male's bill.
waterfowl
Red-billed Chough
An all-black cliff-dwelling corvid with a long curved red bill and red legs, known for its acrobatic flight over coastal and mountain terrain.
corvid
Thick-billed Raven
The largest raven species, endemic to the Ethiopian highlands, known for its massive, deep bill marked with a pale crescent patch.
corvid
Boat-billed Heron
An unmistakable heron of tropical American wetlands, best known for its unusually broad, scoop-shaped bill and large, night-adapted eyes.
wading bird
Emerald Toucanet
The Emerald Toucanet is a small, mostly green toucan of Middle American and Andean cloud forests, its color allowing it to blend remarkably well into the foliage. Regional populations vary somewhat in throat color and bill pattern.
other
Royal Spoonbill
A white spoonbill of Australasia known for the long, trailing white crest plumes that breeding adults grow from the back of the head.
wading bird
Chestnut-eared Aracari
A toucan relative of South American forests, with a huge cream-and-black bill, a chestnut patch behind the eye, and yellow underparts crossed by a bold red-and-black band.
other
Snowy Egret
A small, energetic white heron of the Americas known for its black bill, black legs, and bright yellow feet.
wading bird
Woodland Kingfisher
A vocal African woodland kingfisher known for its loud, ringing call and a striking bicolor bill of red and black.
other
Pied Avocet
A crisp black-and-white wader with a black cap and nape, known for its elegant upturned bill and sweeping feeding motion.
shorebird
Loggerhead Shrike
A compact gray predator songbird with a black bandit mask and a hooked bill, known for impaling prey on thorns and barbed wire.
songbird
Wilson's Plover
A stocky coastal plover best known for its thick, heavy black bill, distinctly larger than that of similarly patterned ringed plovers.
shorebird
Limpkin
A brown, white-spotted wading bird related to both rails and cranes, known for its loud, wailing calls and long, slightly downcurved bill.
wading bird
Cory's Shearwater
A large, pale brownish-gray shearwater with a yellowish bill, known for its slow, languid flight style compared to other shearwaters of similar size.
seabird
Eurasian Curlew
Europe and Asia's largest curlew, with a long downcurved bill and streaky grayish-brown plumage, best known for its evocative bubbling call across moorlands and mudflats.
shorebird
Northern Shoveler
A dabbling duck best known for its oversized, spoon-shaped bill, with males showing a bold green head, white breast, and chestnut flanks over pale blue wing patches.
waterfowl
Hamerkop
A small brown African wading bird named for its hammer-shaped head, formed by a thick bill and a backward-pointing crest, best known for building enormous domed stick nests.
wading bird
Noisy Miner
A vocal, highly social Australian honeyeater, the Noisy Miner has gray body plumage, a black cap, and a bright yellow bill and bare eye-patch, and is well known for its bold group defense of territory.
songbird
Dodo
A large, flightless pigeon relative once native to Mauritius, known for its stout grey-brown body, oversized hooked bill, and small, curled tuft of tail feathers; it has been extinct since the late 1600s.
dove pigeon