The Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) is a large cosmopolitan raptor in the family Falconidae. It is renowned for its speed during its characteristic hunting stoop (high-speed dive), making it the fastest bird in the world, as well as the fastest...
The Common raven (Corvus corax) is a large all-black passerine bird. Found across the Northern Hemisphere, it is the most widely distributed of all corvids. It is one of the two largest corvids, alongside the Thick-billed raven, and is possibly the...
The Snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) is a large, white owl of the true owl family. It has a number of unique adaptations to its habitat and lifestyle, which are quite distinct from other extant owls. Most owls sleep during the day and hunt at night, but...
The killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) is a large plover found in the Americas. It was described and given its current scientific name in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae. The common name of this species comes from its...
The White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla ) is one of the largest living birds of prey. It is sometimes considered the fourth largest eagle in the world and is on average the fourth heaviest eagle in the world. White-tailed eagles are considered...
The Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) is a common and widespread warbler that breeds in much of Europe, western Asia, and northwestern Africa. Its rich and varied song has led to the blackcap being described as the "mock nightingale" and it has...
The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a colorful seabird that belongs to the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean. Although it has a large population and a wide range, the species has declined rapidly, at least in...
The gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) is the largest of the falcon species. It is the official bird of Canada's Northwest Territories. For centuries, it has been valued as a hunting bird, and in the medieval era, the gyrfalcon was considered a royal bird.
The carrion crow (Corvus corone) is a passerine bird of the family Corvidae and the genus Corvus which is native to western Europe and the eastern Palearctic.
The Great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) is a widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds. Many fishermen see in the Great cormorant a competitor for fish. Because of this, it was hunted nearly to extinction in the past but luckily due to...
Little auks (Alle alle) are small seabirds that live on islands in the high Arctic. They can fly and are excellent swimmers (appearing to "fly") and divers, but their walking appears clumsy.
The Great black-backed gull (Larus marinus ) is the largest member of the gull family. Described by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as "the king of the Atlantic waterfront", it is a very aggressive hunter, pirate, and scavenger.
The fieldfare (Turdus pilaris ) is a member of the thrush family Turdidae. These birds often nest in small colonies, and during migration often form large flocks, often in the company of Redwings.
The Common eider is a large sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia.
The brant or brent goose (Branta bernicla) is a small migratory goose of the genus Branta. The Brant and the similar Barnacle goose were previously considered one species, formerly believed to be the same creature as the crustacean. That myth can be...
The Common murre (Uria aalge) is a large auk that has a circumpolar distribution. These birds are excellent swimmers and divers (appearing to "fly" in water), but clumsy on land. They are not very agile flyers but are more maneuverable underwater....
The razorbill (Alca torda) is a colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus Alca of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct Great auk. In 1918, the razorbill was protected in the United States by...
The Pine grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator) is one of the largest species in the true finch family. It is found in northern Eurasia and North America. The scientific name of this species roughly translates to "the bird that lives in the pines and shells...
The Great skua (Stercorarius skua) is a large seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It mainly eats fish caught at the sea surface or taken from other birds. The Great skua is sometimes known by the name bonxie in Britain.
The Greater white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons) is a species of goose named for the patch of white feathers bordering the base of its bill. In fact the word albifrons in its scientific name comes from the Latin albus "white" and frons "...
The redwing (Turdus iliacus ) is a bird in the thrush family, Turdidae, native to Europe and the Palearctic, slightly smaller than the related song thrush.
The Red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator) is a diving duck, one of the many bird species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name Mergus serrator. The...
Common redpolls (Acanthis flammea) are small birds in the finch family. They are remarkably resistant to cold temperatures and their winter movements are mainly connected with the availability of food.
The King eider (Somateria spectabilis) is a large sea duck that breeds along the Northern Hemisphere Arctic coasts of northeast Europe, North America, and Asia. It is adapted to a very cold climate and uses various foraging strategies to obtain its...
The snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis ) is a passerine bird in the family Calcariidae. It is an Arctic specialist, with a circumpolar Arctic breeding range throughout the northern hemisphere. There are small isolated populations on a few high...
The long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis ), formerly known as oldsquaw, is a medium-sized sea duck that breeds in the tundra and taiga regions of the arctic and winters along the northern coastlines of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is the only...
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 red-throated loon (North America) or red-throated diver (Britain and Ireland) (Gavia stellata ) is a migratory aquatic bird found in the northern hemisphere. The most widely distributed member of the loon or diver family, it breeds primarily in...
The meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis ) is a small passerine bird, which breeds in much of the Palearctic, from southeastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; an isolated...
The northern wheatear or wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe ) is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae. It is the most...
The dunlin (Calidris alpina ) is a small wader, formerly sometimes separated with the other "stints" in the genus Erolia. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from dun, "dull brown", with the...
The black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla ) is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Larus tridactylus. The English name is derived...
The northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), fulmar, or Arctic fulmar is a highly abundant seabird found primarily in subarctic regions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. There has been one confirmed sighting in the Southern Hemisphere,...
The lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus ) is a large gull that breeds on the Atlantic coasts of Europe. It is migratory, wintering from the British Isles south to West Africa. It has increased dramatically in North America, most common along the...
The parasitic jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus ), also known as the Arctic skua, Arctic jaeger or parasitic skua, is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. The word "jaeger" is derived from the German word Jäger, meaning "hunter". The English...
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 horned grebe or Slavonian grebe (Podiceps auritus ) is a relatively small waterbird in the family Podicipedidae. There are two known subspecies: P. a. auritus, which breeds in the Palearctic, and P. a. cornutus, which breeds in North America....
The European golden plover (Pluvialis apricaria ), also known as the European golden-plover, Eurasian golden plover, or just the golden plover within Europe, is a largish plover. This species is similar to two other golden plovers: the American...
The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot (Uria lomvia ) is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies Uria lomvia arra is also called...
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 black guillemot or tystie (Cepphus grylle ) is a medium-sized seabird of the alcid family, Alcidae, native throughout northern Atlantic coasts and eastern North American coasts. It is resident in much of its range, but large populations from the...
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...
