Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,768 · Stories: 19,540

• Buff-banded Rail Hypotaenidia philippensis

  

  The Buff-banded Rail is marked by a chestnut-buff breast band and black-and-white barring. In Australia it keeps to cover around wetlands and crops while probing for food in mud.

• Minute Hermit Phaethornis idaliae

  This hummingbird occurs in lowland southeastern Brazil. It has iridescent dark-green upperparts and pointed central tail feathers, and forages in the forest understorey.

• Rufous-throated Antbird Gymnopithys rufigula

  An antbird of northeastern South American lowland forest, including the Guianas and northeastern Brazil. It follows army-ant swarms to catch insects fleeing from the ants.

• Yellow-bibbed Lory Lorius chlorocercus

  The Yellow-bibbed Lory is a parrot with a red body, black crown, yellow chest band, and green wings. In the wild it lives in forests of the eastern Solomon Islands and eats flowers, fruit, and other foods.

• Caribbean Hornero Furnarius longirostris

  A hornero of Colombia and Venezuela. A grayish crown is described as a useful clue for distinguishing it from closely related horneros.

• White-streaked Friarbird Melitograis gilolensis

  The White-streaked Friarbird occurs in the North Moluccas. Fine white streaks mark its throat and breast; it feeds on nectar, arthropods and small fruit.

• Amazonian Parrotlet Nannopsittaca dachilleae

  The Amazonian Parrotlet is a small parrot recorded in bamboo and nearby forest in the southwestern Amazon. Its green body contrasts with a blue forehead.

• Reunion Grey White-eye Zosterops borbonicus

  The Reunion Grey White-eye is endemic to Réunion. Highland populations contain grey and brown plumage morphs, and the species also uses gardens, cultivated areas, and savannas created by people.

• Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus

  A large gull of the North Atlantic coast. Adults have broad black wings and back, a white head, and a large yellow bill.

• Snow Goose Anser caerulescens

  A goose with white and blue color forms. North American flocks gather in fields and wetlands during migration and winter.

• 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.

• Rufous Cisticola Cisticola rufus

  This cisticola was recorded as a resident species in a bird study in northern Ghana. It has dull rust-brown upperparts, and at Mole National Park it was reported in dry woodland and in unburnt grass patches during the dry season.

• Collared Sunbird Hedydipna collaris

  A small sunbird with a narrow blue-purple band on the male's breast, seen in forests and gardens in eastern South Africa.

• Pink-headed Warbler Cardellina versicolor

  This small bird is about 13 cm long and uses pine–oak and montane evergreen forest. The account describes gleaning invertebrates from vegetation. Sound recordings include Chiapas, Mexico.

• Lafresnaye's Piculet Picumnus lafresnayi

  This small woodpecker occurs in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. It uses humid lowland forest as well as forest edges, secondary growth, and clearings.

• Blanford's Rosefinch Agraphospiza rubescens

  This rosefinch lives in mountain areas from south-eastern Tibet and north-western Yunnan to parts of central China. Males are crimson, while females are mainly brown.

• Bornean Bulbul Rubigula montis

  The Bornean Bulbul inhabits hill and foothill forest on Borneo. It has an olive-yellow back, bright yellow throat and underparts, and a black head with an upright crest. It also occurs in degraded or regenerating forest and often perches in open areas.

• Swamp Francolin Ortygornis gularis

  This ground-dwelling bird forages in wet grass and along wetland edges. It eats plants and seeds as well as invertebrates from the ground.

• Striated Babbler Argya earlei

  In northern India's lowlands, this social babbler is usually found in reedbeds, wet grass, and scrub. Fine streaking on crown and back and bright yellow eyes stand out.

• Karoo Thrush Turdus smithi

  The Karoo Thrush is a thrush of dry southern African country. A research paper describes it as darker than forest-dwelling relatives, with a dusky-brown rather than white throat. It uses arid shrubland and riverine Acacia and feeds on the ground.

• Purplish-backed Quail-Dove Zentrygon lawrencii

  The Purplish-backed Quail-Dove is a plump gray ground dove. Its purple iridescent back, pale face with a dark moustache stripe, and reddish legs help identify it.

• Eastern Chanting Goshawk Melierax poliopterus

  This grey raptor has a banded tail. In East African grasslands and open woodland, it searches for prey from a perch.

• Stripe-necked Tody-Tyrant Hemitriccus striaticollis

  The Stripe-necked Tody-Tyrant lives in humid secondary woodland and river-edge thickets in South America. It has a dark-striped white throat and yellow underparts.

• Ultramarine Kingfisher Todiramphus leucopygius

  The Ultramarine Kingfisher is a forest kingfisher of the Solomon Islands region. Males and females differ in back color, so the sexes are not uniformly blue.