The mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and prefer to congregate in flocks of...
The Canada goose (Branta canadensis) is a large wild goose native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America. Like most geese, the Canada goose is primarily herbivorous and normally migratory; often found on or close to fresh water. These...
The Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. In fact, it has the largest natural distribution of any of the world's passerines, ranging over 251 million square kilometers globally. In Anglophone Europe...
The Rock dove (Columba livia) is a member of the bird family Columbidae (doves and pigeons). It is often simply referred to as the "pigeon". The domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica, which includes about 1,000 different breeds) descended from...
The Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) is a cosmopolitan species of heron named for its association with cattle. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Bubulcus, although some authorities regard its two subspecies as full species, the Western cattle...
The Snow goose (Anser caerulescens) is a North American species of goose whose name derives from the typically white plumage. These are birds of cold timberline that migrate more than 3,000 mi (4,800 km) from traditional wintering areas to the...
The Short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) is one of the world's most widely distributed owls. Eared owls have tufts of feathers resembling mammalian ears. These "ear" tufts may or may not be visible. The Short-eared owl will display its tufts when in a...
The Northern pintail (Anas acuta) is a duck species that has a wide geographic distribution. Unusually for a bird with such a large range, it has no geographical subspecies if the possibly conspecific duck Eaton's pintail is considered to be a...
The Brown booby (Sula leucogaster) is a large seabird. It is perhaps the most common and widespread species of the booby family Sulidae. They are gregarious birds that only nest on the ground and roost on solid objects rather than the water surface.
The Northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata) is a widespread species of duck unmistakable in the northern hemisphere due to its large spatulate bill. In Britain, it is known simply as the shoveler. One part of its scientific name Spatula is the Latin...
The Red-footed booby (Sula sula) is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. It is the smallest member of the booby and gannet family.
The Bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica) is a large wader. The migration of its subspecies Limosa lapponica baueri across the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to New Zealand is the longest known non-stop flight of any bird, and also the longest journey...
The Common tern (Sterna hirundo) is a seabird that has a circumpolar distribution. it has four subspecies breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. Its large population and huge breeding range mean that this...
The Tufted duck (Aythya fuligula) is a small diving duck found in northern Eurasia. Its scientific name comes from Ancient Greek word aithuia, an unidentified seabird mentioned by authors including Hesychius and Aristotle, and Latin words fuligo...
The White-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) is a beautiful pelagic tropicbird. It is the smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and the smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. In Bermuda, it is locally called a...
The Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis ) is a large seabird that ranges across the North Pacific. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are home to 99.7% of the population. This small (for its family) gull-like albatross is the second-most common...
The sanderling (Calidris alba ) is a small wading bird. The name derives from Old English sand-yrðling, "sand-ploughman". The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds....
The black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa ) is a large, long-legged, long-billed shorebird first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It is a member of the godwit genus, Limosa. There are four subspecies, all with orange head, neck and chest in breeding...
The masked booby (Sula dactylatra ), also called the masked gannet or the blue-faced booby, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. First described by the French naturalist René-Primevère Lesson in 1831, the masked booby is one...
The sooty tern (Onychoprion fuscatus ) is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone.
The ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres ) is a small wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus Arenaria.It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was formerly sometimes placed in the plover family Charadriidae. It...
The great frigatebird (Fregata minor ) is a large seabird in the frigatebird family. There are major nesting populations in the tropical Pacific (including the Galapagos Islands) and Indian Oceans, as well as a tiny population in the South...
The laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla ) is a medium-sized gull of North and South America. Named for its laugh-like call, it is an opportunistic omnivore and scavenger. It breeds in large colonies mostly along the Atlantic coast of North America,...
The pomarine jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus ), also spelled Pomarine yeager in some translations, pomarine skua, or pomatorhine skua, is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It is a migrant, wintering at sea in the tropical oceans.
The Pacific black duck (Anas superciliosa ), commonly known as the PBD, is a dabbling duck found in much of Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the Caroline Islands in the north...
The white tern or common white tern (Gygis alba ) is a small seabird found across the tropical oceans of the world. It is sometimes known as the fairy tern although this name is potentially confusing as it is also the common name of Sternula nereis....
The Pacific golden plover (Pluvialis fulva ) is a migratory shorebird that breeds during Alaska and Siberia summers. During nonbreeding season, this medium-sized plover migrates widely across the Pacific.
The sooty shearwater (Ardenna grisea ) is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. In New Zealand, it is also known by its Māori name tītī, and as muttonbird, like its relatives the wedge-tailed shearwater (A. pacificus ) and...
The red-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda ) is a seabird native to tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. One of three closely related species of tropicbird (Phaethontidae), it was described by Pieter Boddaert in 1783. Superficially...
The short-tailed shearwater or slender-billed shearwater (Ardenna tenuirostris ; formerly Puffinus tenuirostris ), also called yolla or moonbird, and commonly known as the muttonbird in Australia, is the most abundant seabird species in Australian...
The Eurasian whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus ) is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic Asia and Europe as far south as Scotland. This species and the Hudsonian...
The spotted sandpiper (Actitis macularius ) is a small shorebird. Together with its sister species the common sandpiper (A. hypoleucos ), it makes up the genus Actitis. They replace each other geographically; stray birds may settle down with...
The ruff (Calidris pugnax ) is a medium-sized wading bird that breeds in marshes and wet meadows across northern Eurasia. This highly gregarious sandpiper is migratory and sometimes forms huge flocks in its winter grounds, which include southern and...
The semipalmated plover (Charadrius semipalmatus ) is a small plover. The geshenandoah national parknus name Charadrius is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from Ancient Greek kharadrios a...
The wood sandpiper (Tringa glareola ) is a small wader. This Eurasian species is the smallest of the shanks, which are mid-sized long-legged waders of the family Scolopacidae. The genus name Tringa is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper...
The black-footed albatross (Phoebastria nigripes ) is a large seabird of the albatross family Diomedeidae from the North Pacific. All but 2.5% of the population is found among the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It is one of three species of...
The brown noddy or common noddy (Anous stolidus ) is a seabird in the family Laridae. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related black noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The brown...
The grey plover or black-bellied plover (Pluvialis squatarola ) is a medium-sized plover breeding in Arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding.
The little tern (Sternula albifrons ) is a seabird of the family Laridae. It was formerly placed into the genus Sterna, which now is restricted to the large white terns. The genus name is a diminutive of Sterna, "tern". The specific albifrons is...
The Pacific swift (Apus pacificus) is a species of bird that is part of the Swift family. It breeds in eastern Asia. It is found in a wide range of climatic zones and habitats. It breeds in sheltered locations and builds a nest that is gathered in...
The black noddy or white-capped noddy (Anous minutus ) is a seabird from the family Laridae. It is a medium-sized species of tern with black plumage and a white cap. It closely resembles the lesser noddy (Anous tenuirostris ) with which it was at...
Wilson's storm petrel (Oceanites oceanicus ), also known as Wilson's petrel, is a small seabird of the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is one of the most abundant bird species in the world and has a circumpolar distribution mainly in the...
