Meet the world’s animals.
Photos: 12,676 · Stories: 19,540
- Red-collared Widowbird Euplectes ardens
Photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0 This widowbird inhabits grasslands and other open areas south of the Sahara. The breeding male is striking, with a black body, red collar, and elongated tail feathers.
- Tibetan Sand Plover Charadrius atrifrons
This plover breeds in Asian mountains and plateaus and winters along the coasts of Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In breeding plumage it has an orange breast and clean white flanks.
- Taiwan Barwing Actinodura morrisoniana
The Taiwan Barwing is endemic to Taiwan and lives in broadleaf and mixed forests at about 1,300–2,500 m.
- Snares Island Snipe Coenocorypha huegeli
The Snares Island Snipe has a stocky body and relatively short bill and legs. It probes the ground and mud for invertebrates.
- Common Diving Petrel Pelecanoides urinatrix
This small diving seabird breeds on islands in the Southern Hemisphere. It forages in waters around its breeding islands and uses burrows on land at night.
- Black-billed Magpie Pica hudsonia
The Black-billed Magpie is a large bird common in western North America, with a long tail and black-and-white plumage.
- Fairy Paradise Kingfisher Tanysiptera nympha
The Fairy Paradise Kingfisher is striking for its red underparts and long tail streamers. It lives in lowland forest and mangroves on New Guinea.
- Pavonine Quetzal Pharomachrus pavoninus
The Pavonine Quetzal lives in the upper canopy of Amazonian forest. Adult males have a bill with an orange-red base and yellow tip, while much of the species' ecology remains poorly known.
- Golden Vireo Vireo hypochryseus
This small vireo is endemic to Mexico. Adults are mainly olive and yellow, with a yellow line above the eye.
- Purple Grenadier Uraeginthus ianthinogaster
The Purple Grenadier occurs in East Africa. The species account consulted uses the name Granatina ianthinogaster, while the candidate pool lists Uraeginthus ianthinogaster. Adult males and females differ in their underpart colors.
- Pacific Reef Heron Egretta sacra
A heron that feeds along rocky shores and estuaries. It occurs in dark gray and white plumage forms and lives along coasts.
- Cinnamon-throated Hermit Phaethornis nattereri
The Cinnamon-throated Hermit lives in dry forest, savanna and woodland. It follows regular trap-lines between flowers and also eats insects. Its range includes separated areas in eastern Bolivia and Brazil, whose connection is uncertain.
- Swahili Sparrow Passer suahelicus
Adults are grayish brown, with a chestnut-red shoulder and a small white wing-bar. In grassland with some trees and light woodland, they feed mainly on seeds.
- Pale-legged Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus tenellipes
The Pale-legged Leaf Warbler breeds in East Asia and winters farther south in Southeast Asia. It has olive-brown upperparts and a pale eyebrow.
- Eastern Long-billed Lark Certhilauda semitorquata
This lark inhabits grasslands in eastern South Africa, Lesotho, and western Eswatini. It searches the ground for arthropods, seeds, and corms. This entry follows the species split from the Long-billed Lark complex.
- Moluccan King Parrot Alisterus amboinensis
This parrot lives in forests on Indonesian islands, including the Moluccas. The six subspecies differ in plumage.
- Glacier Finch Idiopsar speculifer
This bird occurs in the high Andes of Bolivia. It forages on the ground on barren slopes near the snow line, in puna grassland, and in wetlands.
- Violet-green Swallow Tachycineta thalassina
The Violet-green Swallow breeds in western North America. Its green and violet sheen and white facial markings make it distinctive.
- Short-billed Pipit Anthus furcatus
The Short-billed Pipit searches short grass and dry grassland. It has a mottled brown back and dark breast streaks, and has been recorded in several parts of Argentina.
- Australian Golden Whistler Pachycephala pectoralis
Adult male Australian Golden Whistlers have a yellow belly and black head, while females have a grayish back. They search lower and middle tree levels for insects and spiders and also eat berries.
- Square-tailed Nightjar Caprimulgus fossii
The Square-tailed Nightjar is active at night in open woodland, savanna and scrub south of the Sahara. It catches flying beetles, grasshoppers and moths and lays its eggs in a shallow depression on the ground.
- Tiny Hawk Microspizias superciliosus
This small hawk inhabits humid lowland forest from Central America into South America. Fine barring and a long banded tail mark its shape; it hunts small birds, including hummingbirds.
- Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater
The Brown-headed Cowbird feeds on the ground in open habitats. Females do not build their own nests; they lay eggs in the nests of other birds.
- Laughing Gull Leucophaeus atricilla
A coastal gull whose breeding adults have a black head, red bill, and narrow white eye crescents.