Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,676 · Stories: 19,540

• Australasian Bittern Botaurus poiciloptilus

  

  The Australasian Bittern is a large heron relative that hides among dense reeds and rushes. When alarmed, it points its neck and bill upward and freezes among the plants.

• Rufous-legged Owl Strix rufipes

  The Rufous-legged Owl is a nocturnal owl of the humid forests of northwestern Patagonia. Its underside has bold pale and brown bars, and the thighs and belly are cinnamon-colored.

• European Herring Gull Larus argentatus

  The European Herring Gull is a large gull commonly seen in Britain and Ireland. Its grey back and pink legs help identify it.

• Reichenbach's Sunbird Anabathmis reichenbachii

  Reichenbach's Sunbird has an iridescent blue-green face, neck and breast above an olive-brown mantle. A field record placed it at a forest edge and small lakes near Kinshasa, DRC.

• Tricolored Blackbird Agelaius tricolor

  This bird is native to western coastal North America. Males have red shoulder patches and females are gray. They nest in colonies among waterside vegetation and form large flocks outside the breeding season.

• Harris' Sparrow Zonotrichia querula

  A sparrow that breeds in northern Canada and winters in the central United States, it has a pink bill and seasonally changing head markings.

• Tawny-breasted Wren-Babbler Spelaeornis longicaudatus

  This small bird has a restricted range in northeast India. It lives mostly on the forest floor among mossy rocks and crevices.

• Giant Wood Rail Aramides ypecaha

  This large rail walks through wetlands as it searches for food. Its red legs, grey face and breast, and reddish nape help identify it.

• Collared Plover Charadrius collaris

  This plover ranges from Mexico through Central America to central Argentina and central Chile. Adults have a black breast band.

• Celestial Monarch Hypothymis coelestis

  The male's blue plumage and drooping crest stand out on this Philippine monarch flycatcher. BirdLife's 2001 account describes it in forest canopy and midstory, at forest edges, and in second growth.

• Cook's Petrel Pterodroma cookii

  Cook’s Petrel breeds on islands off New Zealand and ranges widely over the open ocean outside the breeding season.

• American Cliff Swallow Petrochelidon pyrrhonota

  A swallow that builds gourd-shaped mud nests in colonies on cliffs and beneath bridges.

• Sclater's Whistler Pachycephala soror

  This whistler inhabits montane forests in New Guinea. A study recorded a tendency for males to forage higher than females.

• Club-winged Manakin Machaeropterus deliciosus

  The Club-winged Manakin lives in humid forests of southwestern Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. Males use their wings to make mechanical sounds during display.

• Black-collared Jay Cyanolyca armillata

  The Black-collared Jay is a jay of Andean mountain forests.

• Shovel-billed Kingfisher Clytoceyx rex

  A large kingfisher recorded in montane forest of New Guinea. It digs for invertebrates on the forest floor with its stout bill.

• Bimaculated Lark Melanocorypha bimaculata

  The Bimaculated Lark walks across dry, open grasslands. Dark patches on both sides of its chest stand out, and breeding males sing long songs in flight.

• Olivaceous Piha Snowornis cryptolophus

  This cotinga has olive plumage and yellow bare skin around the eye. It uses the middle levels of Andean montane forest, where it may sit still before sallying for insects or taking fruit from hanging branches.

• Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris

  The Slender-billed Vulture is a large scavenging vulture. A 2023–2025 survey recorded 20 nests at 12 sites in Upper Assam, India.

• Rufous-browed Wren Troglodytes rufociliatus

  This wren has a rich rufous eyebrow and uses humid montane pine-oak and evergreen forest, moving among epiphytes, branches, and fallen logs.

• Chiguanco Thrush Turdus chiguanco

  This thrush has a gray-brown body, yellow bill, and yellow legs. The Peruvian account says it searches for food by hopping on the ground and eats fruit and insects.

• Silver-throated Tanager Tangara icterocephala

  This yellow tanager has a silvery-white throat. In Costa Rica, it uses humid mountain forest and forest edges.

• Northern Brown-throated Weaver Ploceus castanops

  This weaver lives in East African wetlands. The breeding male is bright yellow with a chestnut face.

• Lemon-chested Greenlet Hylophilus thoracicus

  A greenlet with a visual record from forest fragments in southeastern Brazil. A 2024 survey recorded it near Estrela Dalva in Minas Gerais.