/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
451,350 Subscribers
Tufted Titmouse?
Whose is this dude?
15:59 UTC
What are these 2 little birds? (Awful pics, sorry) - NY, USA
15:21 UTC
Grebe in south Germany
Is this a Black-necked Grebe or a Little Grebe? The photo is taken near the Alps in southern Germany.
15:12 UTC
What do I have here? Western Pennsylvania, USA
Several of these in my yard this morning. I'm familiar with lots of birds, but this one is confusing me. It looks like a starling. I thought European (or Common) Starling, but some of the coloration doesn't match what I normally see.
14:37 UTC
Juvenile Gallinule or American Coot?
In Florida. They were hanging out with both. I'm leaning toward gallinule.
14:31 UTC
Common raven vs. juvenile Egyptian vulture? [Menorca, Spain]
Trying to identify a bird I saw in flight in Menorca last week. I didn't get a picture, but I have a pretty clear mental image and could provide some Bird Art (tm) if needed, though I'm hoping I can get away with just a description.
I saw a large dark bird soaring on a thermal above a road. It appeared to be all black, but the light was behind it and cloudy so it was mostly just a silhouette. It was flying near a red kite and appeared to be larger than the kite, with a head a bit small for its body for a raven (though again, perspective might be skewed -- I saw it from the window of a car). It had a distinctly diamond-shaped tail, which is what was making me think Egyptian vulture, on top of seeing that they can be pretty dark as juveniles. But, would there be birds with juvenile plumage at this time of year? Or alternatively, do ravens maybe sometimes hold their tails like that? And does the fact that I couldn't see any white edges on the tail indicate against vulture, or could that just be silhouette-effects?
Thank you for your help!
13:15 UTC
Can anyone please tell me what bird this is?
The flair says North America, but the bird is in a mall so I’m pretty sure it’s not native to here.
12:38 UTC
White/gray ducks?
People tell me that these are ducks. Size wise they would correspond but color wise they don’t look like any kind ducks I have seen online. What do you think? I would like to find the subspecies name if possible.
Seen in Bordeaux, France.
12:27 UTC
Three little birds pitch by my doorstep-San Juan, Puerto Rico
Also, what are they doing to each other?
12:11 UTC
This feather
My sister found this feather Location:turkey
10:34 UTC
Heron type?
09:03 UTC
What's this bird living in the garage?
Location: Northern California
07:20 UTC
Seen at Walmart (possibly white trash)🤣
Pigeons? Johnsburg, Ill 11/2/24
03:49 UTC
My sister got this tattoo, is it a bird of artistic liberty or maybe a Sandhill Crane?
Did a little bit of digging around in some guides, but I wasn’t confident enough to call it a specific species! Y’all got any thoughts?
02:40 UTC
Small brown bird sleeping in gazebo netting for weeks now (NC, USA)
In suburbs of central North Carolina, USA
We have a tent gazebo on our back deck and for the past few weeks, every night without fail this little guy tucks himself into bed around 7 PM in our gazebo netting where it's bunched up. He stays there all night, never flying away when we walk by or our dogs are running and barking when they play. He'll occasionally look straight at us, like how dare we interrupt his sleep and night time routine. He seems healthy, just not good at making nests I guess lol
His face is more white, and I was thinking possibly a brown cow bird but honestly have no clue. Any suggestions?
02:23 UTC