Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,768 · Stories: 19,540

• Yellow-billed Egret Ardea brachyrhyncha

  

  This egret occurs in a range of South African wetlands. It catches fish, amphibians, and aquatic invertebrates by standing still or walking slowly through shallow water.

• Eurasian Pygmy Owl Glaucidium passerinum

  A small owl of northern Eurasian coniferous forests. It hunts small birds and mammals around dusk and before sunrise.

• Yellow-footed Gull Larus livens

  The Yellow-footed Gull is a large gull that breeds on islands around the Gulf of California. Adults are marked by yellow legs, a gray back and wings, and a white body.

• Purple-naped Sunbird Hypogramma hypogrammicum

  The Purple-naped Sunbird lives in forests across Southeast Asia. The male is green overall with bright green streaking below. It feeds low in the vegetation on insects and spiders, as well as nectar, fruit, and seeds.

• Melodious Blackbird Dives dives

  This icterid occurs in Central America. Adult males are glossy black with a blue sheen, while females and young birds are duller. In Costa Rica it is seen in pairs or small groups.

• Seaside Sparrow Ammospiza maritima

  The Seaside Sparrow is a small sparrow of North American salt marshes. It searches mudflats for small animals and seeds with its long, heavy bill.

• Barred Rail Hypotaenidia torquata

  The Barred Rail occurs in the Philippines and Indonesia and uses wet grassland and wetlands. Its short cocked tail and rufous chest band help identify it.

• St. Helena Plover Charadrius sanctaehelenae

  This plover lives only on St Helena. It has thin, long legs and remains throughout the year in open grassland and other open parts of the island.

• Sao Tome Paradise Flycatcher Terpsiphone atrochalybeia

  The Sao Tome Paradise Flycatcher is found only on São Tomé. It uses forest understory and midstory, including shaded lowland cocoa plantations, and has been recorded catching insects over rivers.

• Bulwer's Petrel Bulweria bulwerii

  This all-dark seabird spends most of its life at sea and breeds on remote volcanic islands. In warm waters, it typically feeds on bioluminescent fish that surface at night.

• Ethiopian Swallow Hirundo aethiopica

  A small swallow with a reddish forehead, dark-blue upperparts and a deeply forked tail. It catches flying insects; its two subspecies occupy separate parts of Africa.

• Indian Jungle Crow Corvus culminatus

  This crow is recorded from southern peninsular India and Sri Lanka. ITIS, citing the IOC checklist, lists it as a species, while Clements 2024 keeps it among the subspecies of the Large-billed Crow. This entry describes the southern form in an older regional account.

• Brown-winged Kingfisher Pelargopsis amauroptera

  Adults have orange-brown underparts and a blue back. In southwestern Bangladesh's mangroves, the bird watches waterways from low perches and dives for prey.

• Greater Hoopoe-Lark Alaemon alaudipes

  The Greater Hoopoe-Lark is a desert bird with sandy plumage, a long tail, and a down-curved bill. It is usually seen alone or in pairs.

• Scaled Fruiteater Ampelioides tschudii

  Its back has black-edged scales, its crown is black, and its eyes are yellow. In Andean montane forest it forages at several heights.

• Besra Tachyspiza virgata

  The Besra is a small raptor found from South to Southeast Asia. It hides among dense foliage and pursues small birds and other prey with quick flight.

• Russet-naped Wren Campylorhynchus humilis

  The Russet-naped Wren inhabits dry lowlands on Mexico's Pacific slope. It uses scrub and open woodland, where it feeds on invertebrates near the ground.

• Slate-colored Solitaire Myadestes unicolor

  A gray-plumaged thrush of Central America. It keeps quietly to the understory of cloud forest and oak-pine woodland.

• Buff-throated Saltator Saltator maximus

  This bird lives in humid forests from Central America into northern South America. It has a green back, white eyebrow, and pale throat edged in black, and feeds on fruit and insects in the lower vegetation.

• Baglafecht Weaver Ploceus baglafecht

  The Baglafecht Weaver is seen in pairs, small groups, or alone in the Kenyan highlands described by the Mpala field guide. It hangs a foliage-hidden nest from a branch or frond.

• Yellow-browed Shrike-Vireo Vireolanius eximius

  This shrike-vireo occurs from eastern Panama through northern Colombia to northwestern Venezuela. It uses humid lowland forest and tall second-growth woodland, gleaning food in the canopy.

• Star-throated Antwren Rhopias gularis

  This small antwren lives in the Atlantic Forest of eastern Brazil. Both sexes have grey underparts, rufescent-brown upperparts and a black throat spotted with white. It forages low in dense vegetation.

• Coastal Cisticola Cisticola haematocephalus

  A cisticola of East African wetlands and moist grassland. It has a streaked back and a relatively long tail.

• Rufous-crowned Tody-Flycatcher Poecilotriccus ruficeps

  This tiny flycatcher, about 9.5 cm long, has a rufous crown, pale cheeks edged in black and a yellow underside. It searches for insects in the understorey of humid montane forest and tall second growth.