Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,813 · Stories: 19,540

• Red-eared Firetail Stagonopleura oculata

  

  This finch lives in forests in southwestern Australia. It has a red bill and ear patch and black-and-white spots on the belly.

• Rubeho Akalat Sheppardia aurantiithorax

  The Rubeho Akalat occurs in forest in the Eastern Arc mountains of central Tanzania. Its throat and upper breast are deep orange, and observations describe it feeding on the ground and low branches.

• Ochre-breasted Antpitta Grallaricula flavirostris

  This small antpitta lives in the undergrowth of humid montane forest. Its ochre breast and dark-edged feather pattern help identify it.

• Ringed Kingfisher Megaceryle torquata

  The ringed kingfisher has a large bill and catches fish by rivers and lakes. It ranges through Central and South America and reaches southern Texas.

• Lesser Nighthawk Chordeiles acutipennis

  The Lesser Nighthawk lives in dry country and catches insects on the wing at dusk. It lays eggs directly on the ground with little or no nest material.

• Scarlet-breasted Fruiteater Pipreola frontalis

  This fruiteater occurs in two separated parts of the eastern Andes. Males have red on the throat and breast, while females have green upperparts and scaled underparts; birds forage in humid montane forest.

• Socotra Scops Owl Otus socotranus

  This small, pale-gray owl lives on Socotra in arid places with trees, including palms. It is more often detected by its voice than seen.

• Long-tailed Minivet Pericrocotus ethologus

  The Long-tailed Minivet male is notable for a black head and red on the wings. It searches for insects in treetops and is usually social outside the breeding season.

• Cuban Palm Crow Corvus minutus

  This crow is endemic to western Cuba. It is reported mainly from lowland cultivation with scattered palms, where it forages on the ground for invertebrates, lizards and fruit.

• Red-necked Crake Rallina tricolor

  The Red-necked Crake ranges from eastern Indonesia through New Guinea to northeastern Australia. Adults are chestnut from the head to the breast.

• Rüppell's Starling Lamprotornis purpuroptera

  This starling inhabits grassland and scrub in eastern Africa. Adults have glossy blue-green and purple plumage with a long tail, and feed on fruit, insects, and other available food.

• Golden Palm Weaver Ploceus bojeri

  The Golden Palm Weaver lives in lowland eastern Africa. A breeding-plumage male has an orange head and breast. The species eats seeds and insects and is known for its complex, ball-shaped woven nest.

• Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla

  The Least Sandpiper is a small shorebird marked by yellow-green legs. It breeds in northern North America and winters from the southern United States to northern South America.

• Pale Baywing Agelaioides fringillarius

  The Pale Baywing lives in semi-open habitats in northeastern Brazil. It is sandy brown with rufous wings and a heavy black bill. In a Minas Gerais study, 4–6 adults fed and defended six nests containing nestlings.

• Whistling Heron Syrigma sibilatrix

  The Whistling Heron searches for food in open grasslands and shallow water. In Bolivia it is recorded from the lowlands to the southern Andean foothills.

• Olive-backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni

  This account focuses on the seasonal movements of the Japanese subspecies of Olive-backed Pipit. It breeds in open woodland and grassland from Shikoku and Honshu northward, then moves to lowlands with little persistent snow in autumn and winter.

• Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor

  A small bird with a blue-green back and white underside that catches insects in flight.

• Beautiful Sunbird Cinnyris pulchellus

  A small sunbird of West and East Africa, found in habitats such as savanna and dry woodland. Males have iridescent plumage and long tail streamers, and both sexes feed at flowers.

• Golden-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia atricapilla

  A sparrow of western North America, it breeds in the north during summer and winters along the Pacific Coast.

• Ruddy Spinetail Synallaxis rutilans

  This Amazonian spinetail has chestnut-rufous head and underparts with a black throat. It forages in the forest understory and appears associated with thick growth near treefall gaps.

• Black-eared Sparrow-Lark Eremopterix australis

  The Black-eared Sparrow-Lark lives in dry grasslands of southern Africa and may move after good rains.

• Volcano Hummingbird Selasphorus flammula

  This hummingbird occurs in the high mountains of Costa Rica. It uses open páramo and scrub, and male throat colors differ among mountain populations.

• Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler Phylloscopus ruficapilla

  This warbler occurs in scattered forests across southern and eastern Africa. It forages actively among leaves in the mid-stratum and canopy of mature evergreen forest. It is small and slender, with a narrow bill, a relatively long tail, and a dark line through the eye.

• Snowy Plover Charadrius nivosus

  The Snowy Plover is a pale, sand-colored shorebird that blends into beaches and salt flats. It searches for small invertebrates as it moves across the shore.