Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,768 · Stories: 19,540

• Spot-breasted Thornbird Phacellodomus maculipectus

  

  The Spot-breasted Thornbird is a furnariid of woodlands, savannas, scrub, and wetlands in northwestern Argentina. Its rufous head and pale-marked breast stand out; it builds an elongated nest of twigs.

• Scaly Francolin Pternistis squamatus

  The Scaly Francolin is a ground-dwelling bird with dull-brown plumage, a red bill, and red legs. It stays in thick cover and can be hard to see.

• Madagascar Scops Owl Otus rutilus

  The Madagascar Scops Owl is a small owl with reddish and gray plumage forms. It hunts small prey at night and rests on branches by day.

• Green-striped Brush Finch Arremon virenticeps

  A Mexico City bird guide describes this Mexican brushfinch among dense shrubs near the ground in mountain forest. Its white throat and olive back help identify it.

• Grey-cheeked Fulvetta Alcippe morrisonia

  The Taiwanese population described by the Ministry's bird guide is a forest bird with a grey head and a white eye-ring. Outside the breeding season it forages in mixed-species flocks.

• White-naped Honeyeater Melithreptus lunatus

  A honeyeater of eastern and southeastern Australia. Its olive back, black crown and white nape band are distinctive.

• Yellow-breasted Forest Robin Stiphrornis mabirae

  Clements treats Stiphrornis mabirae as a separate species. A Salonga survey recorded individuals singing in terra firma forest.

• American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos

  The all-black American Crow searches the ground for many kinds of food. In some places, large flocks gather to roost in winter.

• Blyth's Rosefinch Carpodacus grandis

  Blyth's Rosefinch is a large rosefinch of high-elevation conifer forest and areas near the treeline. Males and females differ in plumage.

• Desert Cisticola Cisticola aridulus

  The Desert Cisticola is a small bird of dry grassland and scrub. During breeding, males and females differ in their crown pattern and forage in low grass.

• Channel-billed Cuckoo Scythrops novaehollandiae

  The Channel-billed Cuckoo is a large cuckoo with a massive pale, down-curved bill. It migrates to Australia from New Guinea and Indonesia and lays its eggs in other birds' nests.

• Yellow-billed Lorikeet Neopsittacus musschenbroekii

  The Yellow-billed Lorikeet lives in the mountains of New Guinea, and its plumage varies between subspecies.

• Makatea Fruit Dove Ptilinopus chalcurus

  The Makatea Fruit Dove is confined to Makatea in French Polynesia, where it uses wooded areas and trees near villages.

• Tiny Hawk Microspizias superciliosus

  This small hawk inhabits humid lowland forest from Central America into South America. Fine barring and a long banded tail mark its shape; it hunts small birds, including hummingbirds.

• Green-headed Sunbird Cyanomitra verticalis

  The Green-headed Sunbird lives in African forests and wooded habitats. Males have an iridescent green head and breast, while females have a green crown.

• White-bellied Dacnis Dacnis albiventris

  The White-bellied Dacnis forages in the canopy of mature terra firme forest, which is not seasonally flooded. Males have blue heads and breasts with white bellies; females have greenish upperparts and yellowish underparts.

• Oustalet's Tyrannulet Phylloscartes oustaleti

  A small tyrannulet of Brazil's Atlantic Forest. It uses the canopy and subcanopy and occurs in mixed-species flocks.

• Orange-headed Thrush Geokichla citrina

  The Orange-headed Thrush has an orange head and underparts, with plain gray or brown upperparts. Facial markings vary among subspecies; in Singapore it searches wooded ground for insects and also eats fruit.

• Surf Scoter Melanitta perspicillata

  The Surf Scoter is a sea duck that nests in northern North America and spends the rest of its annual cycle mostly near ocean coasts.

• Black-tailed Antbird Myrmoborus melanurus

  This antbird forages in dense thickets and scrub along lowland Amazonian rivers. Males are dark, while females are rufous-brown above; both sexes have a white throat, pale wing bars, and red irises.

• Grey-headed Bristlebill Bleda canicapillus

  The Grey-headed Bristlebill occurs in West African forest, thickets, and lightly wooded savanna. Its slate-gray head and bill bristles are distinctive.

• Chestnut-fronted Macaw Ara severus

  The Chestnut-fronted Macaw is a green macaw with a long tail and blue and red markings. It can be quiet and hard to spot in the canopy, and is usually in pairs or small flocks outside communal roosts.

• Bee Hummingbird Mellisuga helenae

  The Bee Hummingbird is described as the world's smallest bird. Males have iridescent throat feathers, and the birds visit flowers for nectar in Cuba.

• White-fronted Woodpecker Melanerpes cactorum

  The male has a white forehead and yellow throat. This woodpecker lives in southern South American habitats such as dry forest and savanna; a study documented sap feeding in Argentina's Chaco.