Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,825 · Stories: 19,540

• Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher Terpsiphone rufiventer

  

  Males have a black head, chestnut body and long tail streamers. The species lives in wooded parts of western, central and eastern Africa south of the Sahara, and eats insects.

• Locustella pryeri

  Locustella pryeri is a small grassland bird found in parts of Japan and China. Japan's environment ministry lists grasslands, including reed beds, as preferred habitat, and a study at Hotokenuma examined its nesting microhabitats.

• Socotra Bunting Emberiza socotrana

  The Socotra Bunting is restricted to Socotra Island. Adults show a black-and-white striped head, chestnut wing coverts, and a richer cinnamon breast in breeding plumage.

• Bristle-thighed Curlew Numenius tahitiensis

  The Bristle-thighed Curlew has a long, down-curved bill and a conspicuous head stripe. It breeds in western Alaska and migrates long distances to Pacific islands.

• Red-billed Teal Anas erythrorhyncha

  A duck distributed in eastern and southern Africa. It uses shallow freshwater wetlands with vegetation; the male’s bill becomes redder during breeding, according to the regional account.

• Beijing Babbler Rhopophilus pekinensis

  The Beijing Babbler is a resident of northern China and North Korea. It has a long tail, a streaked grey-brown back, a white throat, and rusty flanks.

• Madagascar Blue Vanga Cyanolanius madagascarinus

  The Madagascar Blue Vanga lives in forests on Madagascar. Males have a blue head and back, a black stripe through the eye, and white throat and underparts. Females are duller. It searches among leaves for insects and sometimes eats berries.

• Greater Short-toed Lark Calandrella brachydactyla

  The Greater Short-toed Lark is a small lark of open, dry country. A breeding study in central Italy recorded nesting, groups of fledglings, and family groups before migration.

• Middle American Screech Owl Megascops guatemalae

  This screech-owl ranges from Mexico to northern Nicaragua. Greyish and reddish morphs occur, and it uses humid as well as drier forests and woodland from low to mid elevations.

• Violet Cuckoo Chrysococcyx xanthorhynchus

  The Violet Cuckoo is notable for the male’s violet gloss and barred underside. It uses the canopy and lays its eggs in other birds’ nests.

• Red-rumped Tinkerbird Pogoniulus atroflavus

  The Red-rumped Tinkerbird lives in forest from southern Senegal to the western Congo Basin and western Uganda. It uses humid forest and feeds mainly on fruit.

• Yellow-breasted Apalis Apalis flavida

  The Yellow-breasted Apalis is a small bird with yellow on the sides of its neck and breast. At the Namibian sites described by the source, it occurs in pairs or small family groups and feeds on insects.

• New Caledonian Whistler Pachycephala caledonica

  In the nominate subspecies described by Province Sud, the male has a dark gray head, white throat, black collar, and yellow belly. The female is brown, with a white throat and pale brown belly.

• Great-billed Heron Ardea sumatrana

  The Great-billed Heron is a large heron with a massive bill. It lives around coastal rocks and shallow water near mangroves.

• Large Grey Babbler Argya malcolmi

  The Large Grey Babbler is a big babbler with a long tail. It forages on the ground by day for small invertebrates.

• Brown-backed Solitaire Myadestes occidentalis

  The Brown-backed Solitaire is a thrush of mountain forests from Mexico into northern Central America. It is brown with gray markings and eats mostly fruit in forests near water.

• Shelley's Oliveback Nesocharis shelleyi

  Shelley's Oliveback is a compact finch with a short tail and thick bluish bill. It lives in highland forests, forest edges, and farmland in parts of West-Central Africa.

• Caucasian Snowcock Tetraogallus caucasicus

  A pheasant-family bird of high rocky slopes in the Caucasus, it may move lower during severe winter weather.

• Spotless Starling Sturnus unicolor

  A starling native to the Iberian Peninsula and western Mediterranean. Adults have glossy dark plumage, and bill color and pale feather tips change with season.

• Blue-headed Pitta Hydrornis baudii

  The Blue-headed Pitta is endemic to Borneo. An adult male has a blue-violet head and reddish-brown back and searches for food on the forest floor.

• Brown-throated Martin Riparia paludicola

  The Brown-throated Martin is a small brown-toned swallow. The common pale morph has a white belly; the less common brown morph also has a brown belly.

• Masked Fruiteater Pipreola pulchra

  This fruiteater is restricted to montane forest on the eastern Andes of Peru, using the canopy and subcanopy.

• Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus

  A North American bird: adult males are black and white with a red breast, while females and young birds are brown and streaked.

• Nihoa Finch Telespiza ultima

  The Nihoa Finch is naturally found only on Nihoa in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Its stout bill is suited to eating seeds and other foods.