Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,813 · Stories: 19,540

• Qilian Bluetail Tarsiger albocoeruleus

  

  The Qilian Bluetail (Tarsiger albocoeruleus) breeds in mountains of northern China, including Qinghai and Gansu. It is not separated from the Red-flanked Bluetail by an obvious plumage mark; research supports the split mainly through song and genetic evidence. Its wintering range remains unknown.

• Ocellated Crake Rufirallus schomburgkii

  The Ocellated Crake hides in grassland and mixed grass-and-shrub habitat. In Peru, the Peru Aves account reports it from Pampas del Heath in the southeast.

• Maroon-naped Sunbird Aethopyga guimarasensis

  This small sunbird occurs on Negros, Panay, and Guimaras in the western Visayas of the Philippines. It is recorded in forest and along forest edges; a species-level ecological dataset classifies nectar as its main food niche.

• Red-and-white Antpitta Grallaria erythroleuca

  Both sexes have similar rufous-brown and white plumage. In southeastern Peru's moist mountain forests, it searches near the ground for beetles, ants, and spiders.

• Galapagos Shearwater Puffinus subalaris

  This seabird is endemic to the Galápagos and often occurs near shore. A 1965 field study, using the then-current name Audubon's Shearwater subspecies subalaris, recorded it feeding around shoals of fish.

• Barred Wren-Warbler Calamonastes fasciolatus

  This small bird lives in semi-arid savanna in southern Africa. Fine barring and pale cheeks help identify it, and it sings a high trill from a tree top.

• Great Swallow-tailed Swift Panyptila sanctihieronymi

  This swift has long, narrow wings and a deeply forked tail. It catches insects on the wing over highlands and builds a long, hanging tubular nest.

• Magellanic Snipe Gallinago magellanica

  This snipe has a slender olive bill and patterned brown plumage. In Chile it is recorded from Atacama to Cape Horn, using wet grassland and waterside vegetation.

• White-cheeked Honeyeater Phylidonyris niger

  The White-cheeked Honeyeater inhabits eastern Australian heath and woodland. Adults show a white cheek patch and yellow tail and wing panels, and feed mainly on nectar.

• 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.

• Brown-rumped Seedeater Crithagra tristriata

  A small brown finch with fine streaks on the head. It feeds on seeds in highland scrub and woodland edges from Ethiopia to northern Somalia.

• Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus

  Adults in breeding plumage have a dark reddish-brown head and chest with white wings that flash as they take flight. In Hong Kong it occurs in wetlands year-round, with both migrants and resident birds.

• Sri Lanka Blue Magpie Urocissa ornata

  The Sri Lanka blue magpie is a blue-and-chestnut bird that lives in small groups in Sri Lanka's wet forests.

• White-whiskered Hermit Phaethornis yaruqui

  This hummingbird feeds on nectar in humid foothill and montane forests and dense scrub.

• Orange-breasted Bunting Passerina leclancherii

  The Orange-breasted Bunting forages for seeds in dry scrub and rural areas on Mexico’s Pacific slope. Males show blue, green, orange, and yellow; females are grey-green and pale yellow.

• Picui Ground Dove Columbina picui

  This small dove lives in open areas and towns in South America and feeds on seeds on the ground. Male and female plumage looks similar to human observers.

• Horsfield's Babbler Malacocincla sepiaria

  Horsfield's Babbler is a brown babbler that lives low in evergreen forests of Southeast Asia.

• Rufous-and-white Wren Thryophilus rufalbus

  This wren lives in woodland and scrub in northwestern Costa Rica. Its rufous back and white eyebrow are distinctive; pairs place grass-and-root nests low in vegetation.

• Limestone Leaf-warbler Phylloscopus calciatilis

  This leaf-warbler was described from limestone karst mountains in Vietnam and Laos. The paper records it in evergreen and semi-evergreen broadleaf forest.

• White-eared Monarch Carterornis leucotis

  The White-eared Monarch occurs in eastern Australia. Adults have black upperparts, pale-gray underparts and white marks on the ear region, wings and tail. The NSW profile records it singly or in pairs in forest, at edges and in the canopy or subcanopy.

• Burrowing owl Athene cunicularia

  A small, long-legged owl that uses burrows in the ground for nesting and shelter.

• Eurasian Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria

  In breeding plumage, a golden-spangled back contrasts with a black breast and belly. It uses uplands in summer and lowlands in winter.

• Red-crested Cotinga Ampelion rubrocristatus

  This cotinga ranges through the Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia. It has a grey body, dark head, wings, and tail, a brown crest that it rarely raises, bright red eyes, and a white tail band visible in flight.

• Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant Hemitriccus margaritaceiventer

  In Peru's eastern Andes, it forages in scrub, forest edges, and secondary forest. The source identifies the regional form as subspecies rufipes.