Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,673 · Stories: 19,540

• Checkered Woodpecker Veniliornis mixtus

  

  The Checkered Woodpecker's specimen account describes a dark, white-streaked head and red on the male's hind-crown. In 2022 a pair was recorded nesting in a tamarisk and feeding young in Chubut, Argentina.

• African Cuckoo Cuculus gularis

  This cuckoo lives in open woodland and savanna across parts of sub-Saharan Africa. In southern Africa it lays its eggs in Fork-tailed Drongo nests.

• Abyssinian White-eye Zosterops abyssinicus

  The Abyssinian White-eye is marked by a white eye-ring and occurs in small groups in wooded highlands.

• Mountain Kingfisher Syma megarhyncha

  The Mountain Kingfisher is a large kingfisher of New Guinea's mountain forests. It has a longer bill than its close relative, although the black marking on the upper bill is absent in the Huon Peninsula subspecies.

• Dambo Cisticola Cisticola dambo

  The Dambo Cisticola has a very long black tail, and the breeding male gives a distinctive song and aerial display. In a 1931 survey along the Congo–Zambezi divide, birds bred in open flats with short grass; records extended from Nasondoye to eastern Angola.

• Stripe-breasted Starthroat Heliomaster squamosus

  This hummingbird occurs in eastern Brazil. Males have a bright breeding plumage and a duller post-breeding plumage.

• Grey-eyed Bulbul Iole propinqua

  Its grey-to-white eye with a dark rim is conspicuous. It feeds mainly on fruit and insects, foraging in forest canopies and mid-storeys.

• Chestnut-breasted Mountain Finch Poospizopsis caesar

  This finch-like tanager occurs in the southern Peruvian Andes. It forages in semi-humid scrub, and its white throat and eyebrow contrast with a chestnut breast.

• Swamp Sparrow Melospiza georgiana

  The Swamp Sparrow lives in wetlands from central Canada to the eastern United States. Its rusty cap and wings stand out, and it searches for food in shallow water.

• Blackpoll Warbler Setophaga striata

  A small warbler that breeds in northern North American forests and migrates south across the ocean in fall. Breeding males have a distinctive black cap.

• Collared Hill Partridge Arborophila gingica

  A black collar edged with white stands out across the chest of this partridge. It lives in forests and bamboo scrub in southeastern China, eating seeds, fruits, and small animals.

• Silver Teal Spatula versicolor

  The silver teal is a small duck with a dark brown cap and a blue-green wing patch. It is recorded at lakes and rivers in Argentina.

• Great Black-headed Gull Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus

  Great Black-headed Gulls breed from the Black Sea region east to Mongolia and move south for winter. In Hong Kong, they have been recorded on an estuary mudflat during winter and passage periods.

• Greyish Miner Geositta maritima

  The Greyish Miner is recorded from western Peru to northern Chile. It walks through sparsely vegetated rocky desert in search of insects and seeds.

• Javan Cochoa Cochoa azurea

  A thrush relative of Java's mountain forests. Males are conspicuously blue, and the bird keeps to the middle and upper forest canopy.

• Arctic Redpoll Acanthis hornemanni

  This small finch breeds at high northern latitudes. In winter records from British Columbia, adult males appear especially pale.

• Plumbeous-crowned Tyrannulet Phyllomyias plumbeiceps

  This small tyrant flycatcher occurs in the Andes from Colombia through Ecuador to southern Peru. It searches forest vegetation for small invertebrates.

• Black-vented Oriole Icterus wagleri

  This oriole inhabits dry forest and semi-open foothill woodland from Mexico into Central America. Adult males are conspicuously yellow and black.

• Rufous Babbler Argya subrufa

  This babbler has rich brown upperparts and rufous underparts. In forests and thickets of the Western Ghats, groups forage on the ground.

• Boyd's Shearwater Puffinus boydi

  Boyd's Shearwater breeds on the Cape Verde Islands. Its back and wings are dark, its underside is white, and it takes small fish and cephalopods at sea.

• Variable Wheatear Oenanthe picata

  Male Variable Wheatears occur in several black-and-white plumage forms, and females also vary in color. In southern Kazakhstan, the species breeds in dry mountains and along river cliffs.

• Hildebrandt's Starling Lamprotornis hildebrandti

  Hildebrandt's Starling is resident in Kenya and northeastern Tanzania. It uses dry woodland and scrub and has been recorded foraging on foot near livestock.

• Red-capped Lark Calandrella cinerea

  The Red-capped Lark is a small lark of African grasslands. Its reddish crown stands out, and plumage varies among subspecies.

• Lidth's Jay Garrulus lidthi

  This jay, endemic to the Amami Islands, has a blue head and rusty body. Its calls carry through the forest, and it may be seen in small flocks.