Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,813 · Stories: 19,540

• Yellow Bittern Botaurus sinensis

  

  A small heron that hides in reeds and freezes with its neck stretched when it senses danger.

• Berthelot's Pipit Anthus berthelotii

  This small pipit has grey-brown upperparts and a clearly streaked breast. The species is endemic to Macaronesia—Canary Islands, Madeira and the Selvagens—and may make short local movements during dry periods.

• Sri Lanka Swallow Cecropis hyperythra

  A swallow of Sri Lanka, it has a silvery purple-blue back and rusty rump and underparts. It catches insects in flight.

• Splendid Sunbird Cinnyris coccinigastrus

  This sunbird lives in savanna and woodland in tropical West and Central Africa. Males show metallic green, blue, violet, and scarlet; females are mainly gray with yellow on the belly.

• Spotted Towhee Pipilo maculatus

  The Spotted Towhee searches leaf litter for seeds and small invertebrates in western North American thickets and forest edges.

• Streak-backed Tit-Spinetail Leptasthenura striata

  This small bird ranges through the western Andes of Peru to northwestern Chile. A regional bird account describes pale streaks on the back and rufous streaks on the crown.

• Beesley's Lark Chersomanes beesleyi

  This lark is restricted to a small area of northern Tanzania. Checklists have changed its rank; this account follows the current split treatment as Chersomanes beesleyi.

• Purple-backed Sunbeam Aglaeactis aliciae

  Male Purple-backed Sunbeams have iridescent purple backs and rumps. This hummingbird feeds on nectar and small insects on high Andean slopes in northern Peru.

• Blyth's Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus reguloides

  A small leaf warbler that searches forests for insects. It uses higher-elevation forest in the breeding season and is known to move to lower ground in winter.

• Grey-headed Lapwing Vanellus cinereus

  The Grey-headed Lapwing has a grey head, yellow legs, and a dark breast band; it breeds in Japan and northeastern China.

• Naumann's Thrush Turdus naumanni

  Naumann's Thrush is seen from autumn to spring in Koshimizu, eastern Hokkaido. It forms flocks in woodland and open areas, feeding on insects, earthworms, and rowan berries on the ground.

• Russet-crowned Warbler Myiothlypis coronata

  In the Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia, this warbler is reported at elevations of 1,500–3,000 metres.

• Wing-banded Antbird Myrmornis torquata

  This ground-foraging antbird was documented in a French Guiana breeding study. The paper notes a throat-color difference between the sexes and records birds searching leaf litter in humid mature forest.

• Chestnut Teal Anas castanea

  In breeding plumage, the male has a chestnut head and neck with a green sheen on the crown, while the female is mottled brown. The species searches shallow water in Australian wetlands and estuaries.

• Rainbow lorikeet Trichoglossus moluccanus

  A colourful Australian parrot with a blue head, green wings and an orange-to-yellow breast.

• Black-bellied Cuckoo Piaya melanogaster

  This reddish cuckoo has a long tail. In Peru it is found in the canopy of tropical forest.

• Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush Garrulax monileger

  This laughingthrush ranges through South and Southeast Asia. It is diurnal and gregarious, and the described subspecies has a dark breast necklace and a white eyebrow.

• Cook's Swift Apus cooki

  Cook's Swift has long, sickle-shaped wings and a tail that closes to a needle-like point. It flies high over mountains, woodland, towns, and coasts, catching insects in the air.

• Sultan Tit Melanochlora sultanea

  A large, conspicuous tit that joins mixed-species flocks in lowland forest canopies.

• Mountain Serpent Eagle Spilornis kinabaluensis

  The Mountain Serpent-eagle lives in Borneo's mountain forests. It has dark brown plumage and a pale, speckled underside.

• Black-bellied Seedeater Sporophila melanogaster

  This seed-eating bird inhabits the highland grasslands of southern Brazil. A study recorded a rare male color form that differs from the usual plumage; it is not a separate species.

• Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus

  A seabird with dark upper wings and white undersides. It breeds on islands off the UK and migrates to the South American coast for winter.

• Sao Tome Prinia Prinia molleri

  This prinia is endemic to São Tomé. The study reports it as common in disturbed and edge habitats such as savanna, plantations, farmland and gardens, but rare and locally distributed in the primary-forest sites surveyed. It feeds low in the vegetation, from leaf undersides or the ground.

• Giant Wren Campylorhynchus chiapensis

  About 22 cm long, this large wren uses humid forest edges, second growth, and scrub in the Pacific lowlands. By day it forages on the ground for invertebrates.