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.
American Crow
A large, all-black corvid found nearly continent-wide, whose sturdy glossy-black feathers with a slight iridescent sheen are among the most commonly found large feathers in North America.
corvid
Fish Crow
A slender, glossy all-black corvid of coastal and riverine eastern North America, distinguished from the larger American Crow mainly by voice and slightly smaller size.
corvid
American Robin
The American Robin is a familiar thrush whose warm orange breast feathers and plain gray-brown back feathers make it one of the easiest yard birds to identify from a single dropped feather.
songbird
Redhead
A medium-large diving duck with a rounded reddish-chestnut head, distinguished from the similar Canvasback by its rounder head shape and darker grey body.
waterfowl
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
California Gull
A medium-large gull of the American West, the California Gull shows medium gray back feathers and dark eyes, and is notable historically for its role in protecting early Utah crops from insect swarms.
seabird
Tricolored Heron
A slender dark heron of the Americas, easily told from other dark herons by the crisp white line running down its foreneck and belly.
wading bird
Eurasian Wigeon
The Old World counterpart to the American Wigeon, with a rich chestnut head, pale cream crown stripe, and grey axillary feathers that distinguish it from its American relative.
waterfowl
Vasa Parrot
A large, dark, unusually plain-plumaged parrot from Madagascar known for its loose, almost vulture-like feathering.
parrot
Military Macaw
A green macaw with a small red forehead patch and blue-edged wing and tail feathers, found in foothill forests and canyon country from Mexico to South America.
parrot
Common Buzzard
The Common Buzzard is a medium-large soaring raptor with broad, fingered wing feathers and a highly variable brown plumage, ranging from very dark to pale, that makes each individual's feathers somewhat distinct.
raptor
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
The Chestnut-backed Chickadee is a Pacific coastal chickadee whose warm chestnut-brown back and flank feathers set it apart from every other North American chickadee.
songbird
Western Gull
A heavily built, dark-backed gull of the Pacific coast, the Western Gull shows dark slate-gray mantle feathers and a notably powerful, thick bill, rarely wandering far from saltwater.
seabird
Scaled Dove
A small South American dove whose breast and neck feathers carry dark, crescent-shaped edges that overlap like fish scales.
dove pigeon
Stygian Owl
The Stygian Owl is a dark, dramatically plumaged owl of Latin America and the Caribbean, named for its blackish-brown feathers and prominent, closely-set ear tufts.
owl
House Wren
A plain grayish-brown wren common in yards and gardens across the Americas, identifiable by fine dark barring on its short, often-cocked tail feathers.
songbird
Northern Crested Caracara
A bold, ground-foraging raptor found from the southern United States through Central America, showing a black cap, cream barred neck, and dark body much like its southern relative the Crested Caracara.
raptor
Australian Masked Owl
A large, variably colored barn-owl relative of Australian forests, ranging from pale to dark rufous, with a distinctive heart-shaped facial disc and fine spotting on its feathers.
owl
Wild Turkey
A large North American gamebird with iridescent bronze-green body feathers, a broad fan-shaped tail banded in dark brown and buff, and a bare, colorful head.
gamebird
Swainson's Hawk
Swainson's Hawk is a long-winged buteo of open grassland and prairie, typically showing a dark breast bib, paler belly, and notably dark flight feathers contrasting against paler underwing coverts, distinct from the broader-winged buteos it shares range with.
raptor
Upland Sandpiper
A grassland shorebird with a small head, long neck, and long tail, the Upland Sandpiper shows richly patterned buffy-brown feathers with dark barring and a scaled look, entirely adapted to life away from water.
shorebird
Rock Sandpiper
The Pacific counterpart of the Purple Sandpiper, this stocky, dark shorebird forages on wave-swept rocky shores from Alaska south along the Pacific coast, its feathers showing the same somber, storm-suited coloring.
shorebird
Grass Owl
A ground-nesting barn-owl relative of tall grasslands from Asia to Australia, with long slender legs and golden-buff to dark brown feathers finely spotted, adapted to a life spent low over open grass.
owl
Ring-billed Gull
A common, adaptable medium-sized gull of North America named for the black band around its bill, the Ring-billed Gull shows pale gray back feathers and yellow legs, thriving in habitats from lakeshores to parking lots.
seabird