Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,636 · Stories: 19,540

• Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus

  

  A grackle found mainly in Central and South America, with its range extending into parts of North America. Males have long tails and a purple gloss, while females are brown.

• Spangled Cotinga Cotinga cayana

  The Spangled Cotinga is a forest bird of northern South America. Males are brilliant blue, while females are brownish.

• Rufous-vented Laughingthrush Pterorhinus gularis

  The Rufous-vented Laughingthrush ranges from the eastern Himalayas into northern Indochina. It has a black facial mask, yellow throat and rufous-chestnut on the belly and outer tail feathers.

• Three-banded Plover Charadrius tricollaris

  The Three-banded Plover is a small shorebird with a red eye-ring and black-and-white breast bands that searches for prey beside inland water.

• Zino's Petrel Pterodroma madeira

  This seabird has a grey back and white underparts. It breeds in Madeira’s central mountains and feeds at sea on squid, small fish and other prey.

• Rusty-bellied Shortwing Brachypteryx hyperythra

  This shortwing has strongly different plumage in males and females. It lives in damp forest and dense undergrowth in the eastern Himalayas.

• Orange-breasted Bunting Passerina leclancherii

  The Orange-breasted Bunting forages for seeds in dry scrub and rural areas on Mexico’s Pacific slope. Males show blue, green, orange, and yellow; females are grey-green and pale yellow.

• Long-tailed Triller Lalage leucopyga

  This triller occurs on Makira, in Vanuatu, and in New Caledonia. Males are dark brown-black with a white wing patch, while females are browner; it uses habitats from edges and scrub to forest.

• Makira Starling Aplonis dichroa

  This starling lives on Makira in the Solomon Islands. Its dark body has blue and purple sheen, and it occurs in forest and along forest edges.

• Rufous-capped Lark Calandrella eremica

  This small lark occurs in southwestern Arabia and the northern Horn of Africa. Its crown is rufous and is sometimes raised into a small crest.

• Maghreb Magpie Pica mauritanica

  The Maghreb Magpie is a magpie distinguished by blue bare skin around the eye. It searches the ground for insects and small animals, and also eats fruit and seeds.

• Tawny-breasted Parrot-Finch Erythrura hyperythra

  The Tawny-breasted Parrotfinch is a small finch of mountain bamboo and forest edges.

• Volcano Swiftlet Aerodramus vulcanorum

  The Volcano Swiftlet is a swiftlet of Java's high mountains. It is seen over volcanic craters and the surrounding montane forest.

• Gibber Chat Ashbyia lovensis

  This small bird occurs in the arid interior of Australia. It has yellow cheeks, throat, and underparts, with a sandy-brown crown and upperparts.

• Baudo Guan Penelope ortoni

  The Baudó Guan is a large bird of the humid forests of western Colombia and Ecuador. Its dark brown body has small white patches, and a red wattle hangs from its throat.

• Strange Weaver Ploceus alienus

  The Strange Weaver lives in montane forest of the Albertine Rift and searches among branches and leaves for small invertebrates. Natural-history details are sparse, so nest construction and social behavior are not described here.

• Puerto Rican Nightjar Antrostomus noctitherus

  The Puerto Rican Nightjar is endemic to Puerto Rico and lives in dry forests in the southwest. Its mottled brown plumage helps it blend into leaf litter.

• Scarlet-chested Sunbird Chalcomitra senegalensis

  The Scarlet-chested Sunbird is notable for the red chest and iridescent head of the male in nuptial plumage. It feeds on nectar and small animals.

• Brown-breasted Parakeet Pyrrhura calliptera

  The Brown-breasted Parakeet is a green parakeet that lives in small flocks in the humid montane forests of Colombia’s Eastern Andes, eating fruit, flowers, and seeds.

• Papuan King-Parrot Alisterus chloropterus

  The Papuan King-Parrot is a long-tailed parrot of New Guinea’s forests and clearings. Males show vivid red, blue, and green, while female plumage differs between eastern and western parts of the island.

• African Collared Dove Streptopelia roseogrisea

  The African Collared Dove has a pale rosy-grey head and neck and a narrow dark half-collar on the nape. It searches for seeds on the ground.

• Mountain Wren Troglodytes solstitialis

  A broad buff eyebrow and rufous-brown upperparts mark this wren. It forages in humid montane forest and scrub in the Peruvian Andes, often with mixed-species flocks.

• Andean Swallow Orochelidon andecola

  An Andean swallow that searches for food over high grasslands. Its dark blue back, gray rump, and pale underside are useful marks.

• Vermiculated Fishing Owl Scotopelia bouvieri

  The Vermiculated Fishing Owl is a large owl that hunts fish, crabs, and frogs along rivers at night. Its brown back is finely vermiculated, and its pale belly is streaked.