Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,768 · Stories: 19,540

• Green Hermit Phaethornis guy

  

  This large hummingbird has a long curved bill and white-tipped tail feathers. It feeds on nectar in the understory and edges of humid forest.

• Speckle-chested Piculet Picumnus steindachneri

  White spots mark this small woodpecker’s black breast, and black bars cross its white belly. It lives in the mountain forests of northwestern Peru and searches for food among shrubs and vines.

• Unicolored Blackbird Agelasticus cyanopus

  This bird lives in lowland wetlands and wet grasslands of South America. Adult males are black, while females have brown upperparts and yellowish underparts.

• Plain Thornbird Phacellodomus inornatus

  Phacellodomus inornatus is a thornbird of the Llanos region from northeastern Colombia into Venezuela. The recent Clements treatment recognizes it as distinct from the Rufous-fronted Thornbird.

• Snow Mountain Quail Synoicus monorthonyx

  This quail lives in alpine grasslands of the Snow Mountains and along scrub edges. It is a ground-dwelling bird that eats seeds and other plant matter.

• Black Skimmer Rynchops niger

  The Black Skimmer is a waterbird of American coasts, estuaries, and lagoons. It catches small fish by flying just above the water with its longer lower bill cutting the surface.

• Vermiculated Fishing Owl Scotopelia bouvieri

  The Vermiculated Fishing Owl is a large owl that hunts fish, crabs, and frogs along rivers at night. Its brown back is finely vermiculated, and its pale belly is streaked.

• Buru Dwarf Kingfisher Ceyx cajeli

  A small kingfisher endemic to Buru Island, Indonesia. Wallace's original description notes a black upper surface with pale-blue spots and feather edges, rufous-yellow underparts, a white throat, and coral-red bill and feet. A later nineteenth-century letter describes feeding in swamp thickets.

• Baird's Sparrow Centronyx bairdii

  Baird’s Sparrow lives in North American grasslands. It has a short tail and a flat head, and runs through grass while looking for food.

• Black-billed Weaver Ploceus melanogaster

  The Black-billed Weaver lives in dense undergrowth in African montane forest. Male yellow markings vary between its geographically separated forms: the Cameroon form has a yellow breast collar, while the eastern form has yellow on the face.

• Allen's Gallinule Porphyrio alleni

  This wetland bird resembles a large purple-and-green moorhen. It is patchily distributed across sub-Saharan Africa and feeds mainly on plants, with invertebrates and fish also recorded.

• Giant Laughingthrush Ianthocincla maxima

  This large laughingthrush is found in China. It uses mountain scrub along forest edges, rhododendron thickets, and meadows.

• Tui Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae

  This large honeyeater is endemic to New Zealand. It occurs from forest to suburban gardens and moves locally as flowering and fruiting plants change through the seasons.

• Gould's Petrel Pterodroma leucoptera

  The nominate subspecies of Gould's Petrel is a small seabird that breeds on islands off New South Wales.

• White-browed Bush Robin Tarsiger indicus

  The male is notable for its white eyebrow and ochre belly. The bird stays close to the ground in shrubby mountain forest.

• Black-throated Magpie-Jay Cyanocorax colliei

  This large magpie-jay is native to Mexico. It uses tropical deciduous and secondary forest and shrubland, and is omnivorous.

• Vietnamese Greenfinch Chloris monguilloti

  This small finch has a dark head and bright yellow wing panels. It lives in pine forests in southern Vietnam's highlands and forages in small flocks.

• Graceful Prinia Prinia gracilis

  Qatar e-Nature describes a small bird with pale greyish plumage and a long tail. It tends to stay hidden in vegetation.

• Russet-crowned Warbler Myiothlypis coronata

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

• Pied Coucal Centropus ateralbus

  The Pied Coucal occurs in the Bismarck Archipelago. Its plumage varies from mostly black birds to individuals with much more white or pearly grey.

• Bronze Mannikin Lonchura cucullata

  A small, social bird widespread south of the Sahara. A Southern African account describes flocks feeding on grass seeds in grassy and scrubby places and along woodland edges.

• Brehm's Tiger Parrot Psittacella brehmii

  Brehm's Tiger Parrot is a green parrot of New Guinea's mountain forests. Barred back feathers and the male's yellow facial crescent are useful field marks.

• Black-winged Ground Dove Metriopelia melanoptera

  This small gray-brown dove has pink skin around the eye and white shoulders. In the Argentine Andes, it uses open slopes and steppe and moves in small groups.

• Pallas's Fish Eagle Haliaeetus leucoryphus

  Pallas's Fish Eagle is a large raptor found across parts of central, southern, and eastern Asia. It uses rivers and wetlands where it can catch fish.