/r/whatsthisbird
The place for your bird identification needs and challenges.
See something feathered but you just can't figure out what it is? Submit descriptions, audio, and/or visuals of unknown birds, eggs, feathers, or nests and we'll try to help! Be sure to include the location of the sighting when submitting.
Already know the ID of a tricky bird and want to see if others can guess it? Just include [CHALLENGE] in your submission's title.
Have you found a baby bird? PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE POSTING!
Have you found an injured bird? Use this link to find licensed wildlife rehabilitation near you.
Active nest guidelines: Keep your distance from a nest if a bird is currently on it. Keep your visit to a nest brief if eggs or hatchlings are inhabiting the nest.
Filter by UNSOLVED and help out some folks who still need IDs!
Want to find a bird conservation group in your country? Check out the list of international BirdLife partners.
RULES
1. Submit descriptions, audio, video and/or photos of unknown birds.
Unidentified eggs, feathers, nests, and bird artwork are all allowed here.
Media containing known species are better suited to r/birdpics, r/birding, r/ornithology, and others. Please respect each subreddit's rules when posting. Posts focusing on known birds will be removed at moderator discretion.
Know the ID of a tricky bird and want to see if others can guess it? That's allowed, too; just include [CHALLENGE] (with the brackets) in your post's title.
2. Include geographic location in ID requests.
The location of your sighting is extremely important when it comes to identifying the bird in question. Please include a reasonably precise geographic location to help us ID your bird.
3. No joke posts.
While we enjoy good humor, this is foremost an educational subreddit. Jokes in comments are acceptable, as long as they do not confound any legitimate IDs.
4. Tag images involving death or gore as NSFW.
Images containing death or gore (within reason; for example, stuffed specimens are exempt) must be tagged as NSFW.
A few handy ID guides to common North American birds:
American Crow vs Common Raven (and a couple other corvids)
Cooper's vs Sharp-shinned Hawk
Downy vs Hairy Woodpecker (plus bonus woodpeckers)
Juvenile Black-crowned vs Yellow-crowned Night-Herons
Which Dowitcher? Tips for distinguishing Short- vs Long-billed
Bird Doppelgängers series:
Bird Doppelgängers, Pt. 1 (Chickadees, white herons, and more)
Bird Doppelgängers, Pt. 2 (Haemorhous finches, Aythya ducks, gallinules and more)
Bird Doppelgängers, Pt. 3 (North American Sparrows)
Bird Doppelgängers ID Guides: Birds of Oceania (Australia, NZ, New Guinea, etc.)
Bird Doppelgängers: similar birds worldwide (Part 1) (Magpies, Small White Egrets and more)
Similar birds worldwide (Part 2) (Herons, tits, buteos, corvids, Passer sparrows)
Other bird-related subreddits:
r/ornithology - bird science
r/birding - bird watching
r/birdphotography - bird photos
More identification fun:
Many thanks to stabberthomas for the fantastic header.
/r/whatsthisbird
Sorry for the bad quality picture, i only had my phone and didn't want to get cliser and scare him away. It looks like an egret to me ("garzetta" in Italian, egretta garzetta) but for the missing feathers on the top of its head. Also, it seemed too big for an egret. Could it be a white heron? Also, I had never seen either egrets or herons feeding on a beach this far away from a delta or an estuary. The recent storms have eradicated a lot of marine plants, as they always do (a local marine plant called Posidonia) and the bird was hunting among the mass of washed up remains. Never seen anything like this before, and I have been walking this coastline path for more than 40 years. We have plenty of seagulls, cormorants, and rock doves on the sea and on the overlooking cliffs, but egrets?
What is thi
The bill seems too dainty for a glaucoma-winged gull, which were present too, but gulls are so hard! Thoughts?
It's a very difficult picture to work with but I was curious if this type of bird is protected or not in new york state
Sorry for the potato quality pic, my cat alerted me to this early morning backyard visitor. I had to zoom in with my phone so I wouldn't scare it away. Is it a Cooper's hawk? Thanks for any info!
[Edit - ID'd, thank you, u/TinyLongwing ]
Observed passing overhead today (10/21) in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. In the middle of a suburban(ish) small town, surrounded by rural farmland (mostly rye grass and recently cut corn) and scattered woodland (fir, oak, maple, cherry among others).
It was silhouetted, so could not distinguish color, though it appeared somewhat dark. Roughly the size of a northern flicker, but had a long neck(s-shaped like a heron, not outstretched like a goose or duck). Had a crested head like a woodpecker and a long bill that seemed a bit thick like a kingfisher. Made a few vocalizations that sound familiar within our area but I have yet been able to match with the actual birds yet.
Obviously given the lack of discernible details it will be difficult to say specifically, but if you can come up with some reasonable suggestions, I’d be very appreciative. Maybe I will be able to find some vocalization samples to help confirm. I did try Merlin step by step and myodfw.com references but weren’t very helpful.
Im in New York- my grandmother found this feather and gave it to me- I’m not sure if it’s a red tailed hawk feather or a turkey feather
Fiancee saw this bird of prey in Chicago hunting down some smaller birds and squirrels. She said she thinks it is about a foot tall
Sorry for the awful quality but the birds are perching in the electricity cables above. And there so many and they're so noisy.
Hjälstaviken, Sweden