Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,813 · Stories: 19,540

• Brown Bush-hen Zapornia akool

  

  A rail of wet grass and marsh edges, with brown upperparts and a gray face and breast. It searches for food in damp cover.

• Chatham Islands Pigeon Hemiphaga chathamensis

  The Chatham Island pigeon is a large forest pigeon now confined to Chatham Island. Its blackish-blue head and breast contrast with maroon wings and a white belly; most birds live in the south of the island.

• Malagasy Pond Heron Ardeola idae

  In breeding plumage it is entirely white, with long plumes from the head down the nape. Birds from Madagascar migrate to mainland Africa after breeding.

• Red-chested Owlet Glaucidium tephronotum

  The Red-chested Owlet is a small owl without ear-tufts. It lives in forest and along forest edges and feeds chiefly on invertebrates.

• California Scrub Jay Aphelocoma californica

  The California Scrub-Jay is a blue, white, and gray-brown jay. It lives in dry shrubland, oak woodland, and some urban areas along the Pacific coast, and caches acorns for later.

• Hooded Oriole Icterus cucullatus

  Males are black and yellow-orange, while females are pale yellow. Females sew their hanging nests to the undersides of palm fronds.

• Green-headed Sunbird Cyanomitra verticalis

  The Green-headed Sunbird lives in African forests and wooded habitats. Males have an iridescent green head and breast, while females have a green crown.

• White-spectacled Warbler Seicercus affinis

  The White-spectacled Warbler is a scarce winter visitor in Hong Kong. A white eye-ring broken at the front and a yellow wing bar help identify it; it searches for insects in the understory.

• Striated Yuhina Yuhina castaniceps

  The Striated Yuhina moves through the middle storey and undergrowth, sometimes in groups with other birds. The account also uses Staphida and notes subspecies differences in crest colour.

• Black-necked Woodpecker Colaptes atricollis

  The Black-necked Woodpecker occurs on the western side of the Peruvian Andes. It has a black throat and upper breast, a barred body, and feeds mainly on ants and other insects.

• Long-billed Forest-warbler Artisornis moreaui

  This small forest bird has a long black bill. It searches leaves for small invertebrates in the mountains of eastern Tanzania.

• African Thrush Turdus pelios

  The African Thrush has a gray-brown back and yellow bill; its underparts range from buff and gray to rufous. It uses wooded places from forest edges to gardens.

• Rufous-bellied Euphonia Euphonia rufiventris

  Bolivian records describe this bird eating mainly fruit among dense foliage in the canopy and subcanopy. The male and female also differ in some plumage features.

• White-rumped Triller Lalage leucopygialis

  The White-rumped Triller has records from Sulawesi and other parts of Indonesia. Males are black and white with a conspicuous white rump and eyebrow; females have gray backs and faint breast barring. It occurs singly or in pairs at forest edges, in cultivated areas, and in mangroves.

• Arnot's Chat Pentholaea arnotti

  This bird inhabits woodlands of central and southern Africa. In the nominate subspecies, the male is black with a white crown and wing patch; small groups search for insects beneath large trees.

• Short-billed Bush-Tanager Chlorospingus parvirostris

  This small bird inhabits humid forests on the eastern Andes from Colombia to northwestern Bolivia. It has olive upperparts and yellow lines at the sides of the throat; the gray below varies among subspecies.

• Chestnut-collared Swift Streptoprocne rutila

  The Chestnut-collared Swift catches flying insects above mountain forests and open areas. Males have a rufous collar; in females and young birds it may be incomplete or absent.

• Cinereous Harrier Circus cinereus

  This harrier has a white rump and long wings. It searches for prey over South American marshes and grasslands; a breeding-season study in southern Chile recorded males passing prey to females in the air.

• Brown Honeyeater Lichmera indistincta

  It has a long, down-curved black bill and feeds mainly on nectar. It also takes insects when flowers are scarce.

• Biak Black Flycatcher Myiagra atra

  This island flycatcher has glossy black males and gray females. Its range includes islands off northwestern New Guinea.

• Rufous-bellied Swallow Cecropis badia

  A swallow with rich rufous, unstreaked underparts that uses open habitats such as grassland and feeds on invertebrates.

• Collared Whitestart Myioborus torquatus

  This warbler lives in Costa Rica's highland forests. It stays in pairs and may forage in mixed-species flocks.

• Streak-headed Woodcreeper Lepidocolaptes souleyetii

  A woodcreeper of Central American forests, with many pale streaks on the crown and nape and additional streaking on the back and wings.

• White-fronted Tern Sterna striata

  A medium-sized tern common along New Zealand’s coast. It catches small fish around the sea, lagoons, and river mouths, and nests in colonies on open coastal ground.