Meet the world’s animals.
Photos: 12,676 · Stories: 19,540
- Canada Jay Perisoreus canadensis
Photo: USFWS Midwest Region from Midwest Region, United States · Public domain The Canada Jay lives year-round in northern North American forests and stores food in trees for colder periods. Its round head, long tail, and gray-and-white plumage make it distinctive.
- Western Alpine Munia Lonchura montana
This small finch occurs in the Snow Mountains of New Guinea. In the Mimika highlands, it is recorded in boggy alpine meadows at about 2,100–4,100 m.
- African Black Swift Apus barbatus
The African Black Swift catches insects in flight. The nominate subspecies in South Africa is described as partly migratory.
- Mao Gymnomyza samoensis
The Mao is a large honeyeater with a long, curved black bill. It forages for nectar, fruit, and insects in the canopy and upper parts of Samoan forests.
- Chestnut-headed Chachalaca Ortalis ruficeps
This chachalaca occurs south of the Amazon River in Brazil. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of O. motmot, O. m. ruficeps; a 2020 paper presents evidence for species status. It is found mostly in riverine habitats.
- Bar-winged Wren-Babbler Spelaeornis troglodytoides
A small babbler of the eastern Himalaya and nearby mountains. It moves through bamboo and ferns in the forest understory while looking for small invertebrates.
- Red Bishop Euplectes orix
The Red Bishop is a southern African bird whose breeding males turn red and black. It gathers in grassland and waterside reed beds and feeds on seeds and insects.
- 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.
- Crimson-backed Sunbird Leptocoma minima
The Crimson-backed Sunbird is a small bird endemic to India's Western Ghats. A breeding male has a purple throat and crimson rump, and the species feeds on nectar and small prey.
- Scarlet-fronted Parakeet Psittacara wagleri
The Scarlet-fronted Parakeet has a green body, red forehead, and long tail. It eats fruit and seeds and is native to Colombia and Venezuela.
- Plum-headed Parakeet Psittacula cyanocephala
The Plum-headed Parakeet is notable for the male’s reddish-purple head and the female’s blue-grey head. It lives in South Asian woodland and nearby open or cultivated areas.
- Golden Dove Ptilinopus luteovirens
The Golden Dove is a Fijian fruit dove that feeds in the forest canopy. Males are golden while females and young are green; a 1970 field report often noted its bark-like call.
- Bay Wren Cantorchilus nigricapillus
A small bird of forest and second-growth edges, ranging from Costa Rica to western Ecuador. Regional forms in Panama differ in breast color and the barring beneath.
- South African Cliff Swallow Petrochelidon spilodera
The South African Cliff Swallow has a glossy blue-black back and a squared tail. The reddish-brown rump and chest vary with plumage condition. It migrates between southern African breeding areas and wintering grounds in the Congo Basin.
- Andean Pygmy Owl Glaucidium jardinii
The Andean Pygmy Owl is a small owl. A Bogotá bird guide notes that it may also be seen by day; it has brown plumage with bars and spots and perches in shaded trees.
- Spotted Rail Pardirallus maculatus
The Spotted Rail occurs locally in marshes, wet savannas, and rice fields from Mexico and the Greater Antilles south to Argentina. In Jamaica, breeding evidence was reported after a long gap in records.
- Black-faced Antbird Myrmoborus myotherinus
The Black-faced Antbird lives in humid Amazonian forests. Males are bluish grey and black, while females are brown with a black mask, so the sexes have different plumage. It forages in the middle and upper canopy for insects and other arthropods.
- Sichuan Leaf-warbler Phylloscopus forresti
This leaf-warbler breeds in Sichuan. Its yellow crown stripe, yellow eyebrow, and pale yellow rump are among the field marks described in a specialist field guide.
- Southern Black Tit Melaniparus niger
The Southern Black Tit lives in dry open woodland and scrub in southern Africa. It searches among branches and leaves for small invertebrates.
- Snow-capped Manakin Lepidothrix nattereri
The Snow-capped Manakin lives in lowland humid forest in Brazil and Bolivia. Males are marked by white on the crown, nape, and rump.
- Grey Phalarope Phalaropus fulicarius
It is reddish in breeding plumage and gray and white in winter. It breeds in the Arctic and spends winter on the open ocean.
- Buff-faced Scrubwren Aethomyias perspicillatus
A field guide to the Mimika region of Papua records this species under its older name, Sericornis perspicillatus. The account describes olive upperparts and a pale buff-orange face, and records it in shrubs and the midstory at montane forest edges.
- Square-tailed Kite Lophoictinia isura
This kite has a white face with black streaks and a large white patch at the base of its long wings. It hunts small birds, especially nestlings, and insects in the canopy.
- Robust Woodpecker Campephilus robustus
This large woodpecker occurs in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. It uses humid forests, including Araucaria forest, and males and females differ in cheek markings.