Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,824 · Stories: 19,540

• Banded Wren Thryophilus pleurostictus

  

  It lives in open lowland and foothill woodland and searches shrubs and other vegetation for invertebrates, including spiders. Its flask-shaped nest has a long entrance that slopes downward.

• Iranian Ground Jay Podoces pleskei

  The Iranian Ground Jay is a ground-living corvid restricted to eastern Iran. Its sandy body, black facial marks, and dark throat patch contrast with the ground as it runs in search of food.

• Orange-crowned Warbler Leiothlypis celata

  Its understated plumage ranges from grey to olive-green, and the orange crown patch is usually hidden by feathers. It searches low shrubs and leaves for insects.

• Eastern Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica

  In Hong Kong, this swallow is recorded most often from autumn into winter. It flies over lowland fish ponds and catches insects in the air.

• Handsome Sunbird Aethopyga bella

  The Handsome Sunbird is a Philippine sunbird. Males have iridescent green on the head, while females have a yellow rump. A field study on Cebu recorded it taking nectar from forest mistletoe flowers.

• Socotra Cisticola Cisticola haesitatus

  This small cisticola occurs on Socotra Island. It uses low coastal scrub and places where scattered shrubs grow in grassland.

• Spot-fronted Swift Cypseloides cherriei

  The Spot-fronted Swift occurs in Costa Rica and scattered areas of northern South America. It has a short, square tail and a distinctive pale pattern around the eyes.

• Bonaparte's Nightjar Caprimulgus concretus

  Bonaparte's Nightjar is a small nightjar of lowland forests in Southeast Asia. It catches insects in flight after dusk and rests among dense foliage by day.

• Rosy Starling Pastor roseus

  Adults have a pale pink body with a glossy black head, wings, and tail. They breed in grasslands and winter in India.

• Letter-winged Kite Elanus scriptus

  The Letter-winged Kite is an Australian raptor with a black mark under each wing that can look like an M or W. It is active by night as well as by day and mainly eats rodents.

• Timor Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus presbytes

  The Timor Leaf Warbler is a small warbler recorded on Timor and Flores. It uses forest edges and montane woodland on Flores, and lowland scrub on Timor.

• Arabian Babbler Argya squamiceps

  This brown babbler has a long tail. It searches the ground for small invertebrates by day and lives in dry scrub and other open habitats.

• Velvet Scoter Melanitta fusca

  The male is black with a white marking, while the female has pale patches on the head. It breeds in northern Europe and uses coastal waters in winter.

• Sapphire-spangled Emerald Chionomesa lactea

  This hummingbird has a green body with a shimmering violet-blue throat and breast. In eastern Peru it visits flowers at forest edges and secondary growth, and also catches small insects in flight.

• Apurimac Spinetail Synallaxis courseni

  This spinetail is largely restricted to Peru’s Apurimac Valley, where it forages in dense humid montane undergrowth and second growth; juveniles lack the adult’s rufous crown.

• Gray-striped Francolin Pternistis griseostriatus

  The Gray-striped Francolin is a ground-dwelling bird of forests and thickets in western Angola. Pairs and small groups keep to dense cover.

• Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius

  A shorebird of North America. Breeding adults show dark spots on the belly, and the bird teeters as it walks by water.

• Mountain Firetail Oreostruthus fuliginosus

  The Mountain Firetail is a chunky finch of the New Guinea highlands. It occurs along montane forest edges and where subalpine grassland meets shrubland.

• Pectoral Sparrow Arremon taciturnus

  This sparrow occurs in the forest understory of the Amazon Basin. White head stripes and the male's black breast band are useful field marks.

• Sooty-crowned Flycatcher Myiarchus phaeocephalus

  A flycatcher recorded in northwestern Peru and the Marañón basin. PeruAves also lists Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, and Bolivia.

• Red-rumped Parrot Psephotus haematonotus

  The Red-rumped Parrot is an Australian parrot whose male has a conspicuous red rump and yellow belly. Females are grey-green, so the sexes look quite different.

• Mindanao Brown Dove Phapitreron brunneiceps

  The Mindanao Brown Dove is known from forests on Mindanao and Basilan in the Philippines. A conservation account describes its use of upland forest and fruiting trees.

• Timor Friarbird Philemon inornatus

  This honeyeater occurs on Timor. A study in West Timor recorded it taking nectar at forest edges in the morning.

• Barau's Petrel Pterodroma baraui

  Barau’s Petrel spends most of its life at sea and breeds in the highlands of Réunion.