Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,673 · Stories: 19,540

• Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio

  

  The male has a chestnut back and black eye mask, and watches for prey from exposed perches.

• Choco Vireo Vireo masteri

  It is recorded in humid montane primary cloud forest in western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. It searches the upper forest for small invertebrates.

• Rainbow Pitta Pitta iris

  This resident pitta lives in the seasonal forests of northern Australia and searches the leaf litter for food that changes with the season. The sexes look very similar.

• 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.

• Green-backed Firecrown Sephanoides sephaniodes

  This small hummingbird occurs in Chile and Argentina. Males have an iridescent red crown and visit flowers for nectar. ROC reports that insects become a priority in its diet during the breeding season.

• White-backed Woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos

  The White-backed Woodpecker searches for food in forests with dead trees. It has black-and-white bars across its back and is often solitary outside the breeding season.

• White-browed Robin Poecilodryas superciliosa

  This robin occurs in north-eastern Australia. It has a long white eyebrow and bold white wing-bars, and nests in forest along creeks.

• Golden-winged Cacique Cacicus chrysopterus

  The Golden-winged Cacique has glossy black plumage with yellow patches on the rump and wings. It searches trees for fruit and insects.

• Black-streaked Puffbird Malacoptila fulvogularis

  An Andean bird of humid forests that sallies from a perch to catch invertebrates.

• Sykes's Nightjar Caprimulgus mahrattensis

  This sand-gray nightjar blends into dry semi-desert. It is active from dusk into the night, rests on the ground by day, and catches insects close to the ground.

• Fernbird Megalurus punctatus

  New Zealand Birds Online lists this bird as Poodytes punctatus, while the pool uses Megalurus punctatus. Its page describes the same Fernbird as small, well camouflaged and patchily distributed around New Zealand.

• Bamboo Foliage-gleaner Anabazenops dorsalis

  The Bamboo Foliage-gleaner is associated with bamboo and cane thickets. Its account highlights bamboo stands in southeastern Peru.

• Black Saw-wing Psalidoprocne pristoptera

  The Black Saw-wing is a dark swallow with a long forked tail. It flies over forests and plantations and is native to wooded parts of Africa. The amount of pale color on the underwing varies geographically.

• Mountain Bamboo Partridge Bambusicola fytchii

  The Mountain Bamboo Partridge has a brown head and olive-toned back, with chestnut spots across its breast. It uses forest, scrub, grassland, and bamboo cover.

• River Tern Sterna aurantia

  A tern with a yellow bill and a deeply forked tail. It flies over rivers and lakes in South Asia and catches fish.

• Chestnut-tipped Toucanet Aulacorhynchus derbianus

  This green toucanet occurs in Andean mountain forest. The male has chestnut tips on the central tail feathers, and the birds may move in small groups high in the forest.

• Central American Pygmy Owl Glaucidium griseiceps

  This entry treats Glaucidium griseiceps as the Central American Pygmy Owl. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the Least Pygmy Owl, and sources differ on the status of its local forms.

• Flat-billed Kingfisher Todiramphus recurvirostris

  The Flat-billed Kingfisher lives on Samoa. It uses dry and moist tropical forest, coasts, farmland, and urban areas, searching for food on the ground and in forests and eating invertebrates and lizards.

• Stripe-headed Sparrow Peucaea ruficauda

  This sparrow occurs from Mexico through Central America. Dry shrubland is its main habitat, with additional records from grassland, pasture, farmland, and woodland.

• Aldabra Fody Foudia aldabrana

  This small bird lives on Aldabra Atoll in Seychelles. Males have a bright red head, neck, and breast, sharply set off from a sulphur-yellow belly. Skerrett’s 1999 article also discusses the older name F. eminentissima aldabrana; this entry follows the pool name F. aldabrana.

• Okinawa Rail Hypotaenidia okinawae

  The Okinawa Rail is a forest bird of northern Okinawa, with a striking red bill and legs.

• Scaly Laughingthrush Trochalopteron subunicolor

  The Scaly Laughingthrush occurs in eastern Himalayan mountain forest and scrub, and may move to lower elevations in winter. A museum specimen is also recorded from Mount Fansipan in northern Vietnam.

• Red Wattlebird Anthochaera carunculata

  The Red Wattlebird is a large honeyeater with a reddish fleshy wattle at the side of its neck. It feeds mainly on nectar, along with insects and fruit.

• Cape Verde Shearwater Calonectris edwardsii

  An ocean-going shearwater that nests in burrows on islands. It is treated separately from Cory's Shearwater.