Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,768 · Stories: 19,540

• Greater Thornbird Phacellodomus ruber

  

  This 19–21 cm thornbird occurs in wetland-edge thickets and other scrub. It searches on the ground and in dense vegetation for insects and other invertebrates.

• Yellow-necked Spurfowl Pternistis leucoscepus

  The Yellow-necked Spurfowl lives in eastern African scrub and bushed grassland, often near water. Males have sharp spurs behind the legs and forage on foot along the ground.

• Northern boobook Ninox japonica

  An owl of woodland with large trees that hunts insects at night.

• Costa Rican Brush Finch Arremon costaricensis

  This brush finch lives in forests of Costa Rica and western Panama. Its 1907 description noted the olive back and yellow wing bend as differences from a close relative.

• Brown Babbler Turdoides plebejus

  The Brown Babbler's pale lores and chin stand out against its brown plumage. It searches the ground for insects and other invertebrates in scrub and acacia thickets.

• Chattering Giant-Honeyeater Gymnomyza viridis

  This is a large honeyeater recorded in forests on Taveuni, Fiji. Field notes from 1970 describe visits to wild banana flowers and pandanus, as well as pairs feeding one another.

• Capped Wheatear Oenanthe pileata

  The Capped Wheatear has striking black-and-white head and breast markings and occurs in southern and eastern Africa. It is resident in some areas and seasonal or erratic in others; its movements are not well understood.

• Chihuahuan Raven Corvus cryptoleucus

  The Chihuahuan Raven lives in dry grasslands and desert scrub. It forms flocks year-round and searches widely for food.

• Ankober Serin Crithagra ankoberensis

  The Ankober Serin is a small bird of rocky slopes and escarpments in the Ethiopian highlands. It eats grass and herb seeds and can forage in flocks of several dozen.

• Foxy Cisticola Cisticola troglodytes

  The Foxy Cisticola is a small cisticola distributed across sub-Saharan Africa. It searches for invertebrates near the ground in savanna, scrub, and streamside vegetation.

• Blue-faced Malkoha Phaenicophaeus viridirostris

  A long-tailed cuckoo of southern India and Sri Lanka, found from lowlands to foothills and often in thorn scrub or second growth.

• Purple-crowned Lorikeet Parvipsitta porphyrocephala

  The Purple-crowned Lorikeet has a purple crown as an adult and often feeds on nectar and pollen from eucalypts.

• Galapagos Dove Zenaida galapagoensis

  Its brown wings have black-and-white bars, and its neck and chest are pinkish. It is more common in the dry lowlands of some islands.

• Semiplumbeous Hawk Leucopternis semiplumbeus

  This small raptor inhabits humid forest from Central America into northwestern South America. It uses the understory and lower canopy and rarely ventures into open areas.

• Amethyst Sunbird Chalcomitra amethystina

  This sunbird occurs in sub-Saharan Africa. It uses its long curved bill to drink nectar from flowers.

• Yellow-shouldered Grosbeak Parkerthraustes humeralis

  It ranges from eastern Colombia to northern Bolivia and the southwestern Brazilian Amazon. In moist lowland forest it forages mainly in the canopy and sometimes joins mixed-species flocks.

• Crowned Chat-Tyrant Silvicultrix frontalis

  This small Andean bird occurs in forest and scrub. The central Peru-to-Bolivia population has been proposed as a separate species.

• Tibetan Blackbird Turdus maximus

  The Tibetan Blackbird is a high-altitude Himalayan thrush. This entry uses Turdus maximus, while noting that some taxonomic references place it within a broader blackbird grouping. Nepal is one part of its range.

• Torrent Duck Merganetta armata

  The torrent duck lives on fast rivers in the Andes. It dives into the current to catch aquatic insect larvae and other small prey.

• Sooty Antbird Hafferia fortis

  The Sooty Antbird lives in Amazonian forest understory and sometimes forages near columns of army ants.

• Ochraceous Bulbul Alophoixus ochraceus

  A white throat and wispy crest identify this bulbul. It searches among branches and leaves in lowland and foothill forest.

• Yellow-headed Amazon Amazona oratrix

  The Yellow-headed Amazon is a green parrot found in Mexico and parts of Central America; the extent of yellow on the head varies by subspecies.

• Chestnut-breasted Coronet Boissonneaua matthewsii

  The Chestnut-breasted Coronet is a mountain hummingbird with a green head and back and chestnut underparts. It feeds from the forest understory into the canopy.

• Scaly-bellied Woodpecker Picus squamatus

  The Scaly-bellied Woodpecker has different head colors in adult males and females and a scale-like pattern on its belly. Its range and feeding records are presented for separate regions.