Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,768 · Stories: 19,540

• Grosbeak Starling Scissirostrum dubium

  

  This starling is endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia. It lives mostly in tropical lowlands and lightly wooded forest and excavates nest cavities in rotting or dying trunks.

• Philippine Oriole Oriolus steerii

  The Philippine Oriole occurs in the Philippines and is found in forest from lowlands to foothills, including forest edges.

• Giant Weaver Ploceus grandis

  The Giant Weaver occurs only on São Tomé. It is often seen in small groups in secondary forest and oil-palm plantations, feeding on seeds, palm nuts, and invertebrates.

• Purple-bearded Bee-eater Meropogon forsteni

  The Purple-bearded Bee-eater occurs only on Sulawesi. Adult males have long purple throat feathers that hang like a beard.

• Little Stint Calidris minuta

  A tiny wader that passes through the UK on migration. Many pass in autumn, and most migrate to Africa for winter.

• Pale-eyed Blackbird Agelasticus xanthophthalmus

  This bird has glossy black plumage and a pale eye. An adult was recorded at Cocha Cashu, Peru, in 1982; the species account lists wet grasslands and grassy margins of oxbow lakes as habitat.

• Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus

  Adults in breeding plumage have a dark reddish-brown head and chest with white wings that flash as they take flight. In Hong Kong it occurs in wetlands year-round, with both migrants and resident birds.

• Short-tailed Pipit Anthus brachyurus

  The Short-tailed Pipit is a small, ground-living bird with bold streaks on its back and breast. It ranges from Gabon through the Congo region to eastern Angola and Zambia, with a separate population in Uganda. In southern Africa it uses moist, short grassland.

• Eurasian Crag Martin Ptyonoprogne rupestris

  The Eurasian Crag Martin catches flying insects as it moves near cliffs and gorges.

• Socorro Mockingbird Mimus graysoni

  A mockingbird of Socorro Island, Mexico, that searches for fruit and small animals in the island highlands.

• Moreau's Sunbird Cinnyris moreaui

  This sunbird lives in montane forest in Tanzania. It feeds on nectar and makes a small purse-shaped nest from leaves or dry grass bound with silk.

• Bolivian Brush Finch Atlapetes rufinucha

  A brushfinch of montane forest in Bolivia and far southern Peru, also using edges and second growth.

• Ochre-cheeked Spinetail Synallaxis scutata

  A furnariid of South America. In southeastern Peru it forages in dense understory along forest edges and in second growth.

• Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark Eremopterix griseus

  The male has a gray crown, a white patch on the nape, and a dark face and underside. The female is paler brown. This small lark searches for food on dry open ground.

• Rufous Hummingbird Selasphorus rufus

  The Rufous Hummingbird makes long migrations through western North America. Males are notably rufous, while females are green with rufous sides.

• Arabian Warbler Curruca leucomelaena

  The Arabian Warbler is marked by its black hood and long black tail. It moves slowly through acacia canopies in dry scrub and along wadis.

• Narina Trogon Apaloderma narina

  The Narina Trogon is described across forests south of the Sahara. Southern African accounts include evergreen and riverine forest and note seasonal movement from highland sites to lower ground in winter.

• Ijima's Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus ijimae

  Ijima’s Leaf Warbler is a migratory bird with a milky-white throat, chest, and belly and a yellow brow stripe. It searches forests and bamboo groves for insects and spiders, and also eats seeds.

• Black-bellied Plover Pluvialis squatarola

  A large plover that breeds in the Arctic and feeds on coastal mudflats during migration and winter. Breeding-plumaged males show a sharp black-and-white pattern.

• Royal Spoonbill Platalea regia

  The Royal Spoonbill is a large white waterbird. It sweeps its black, spoon-shaped bill through shallow water to find fish and shrimp. During breeding, its head crest grows longer.

• Japanese Reed Bunting Emberiza yessoensis

  The Japanese Reed Bunting uses grassland, farmland, and dry riverbeds. This account focuses on the form that breeds in Honshu and Kyushu.

• Dark Batis Batis crypta

  The Dark Batis occurs in evergreen upland forest from the mountains of eastern Tanzania to northwestern Malawi. Males have a black facial pattern and broad chest band, plus a white wing stripe.

• White-collared Blackbird Turdus albocinctus

  The White-collared Blackbird is a thrush whose male has a broad white collar against black plumage. It searches for food among leaf litter and moves in pairs or small groups. It occurs in Himalayan mountain forests and alpine meadows.

• Chestnut-rumped Heathwren Hylacola pyrrhopygia

  This small bird occurs in South Australia’s Mount Lofty Ranges. The appearance and habits described here are for the form recorded in that region.