/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
461,973 Subscribers
Fraser Hill, Malaysia.
10:52 UTC
Colourful flightless bird that goes "kappi"
Hello! Hope this is the correct subreddit for this sort of request. On Tablet VI of the Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh berates Ishtar for her capricious treatment of her past lovers. One of them goes as follows:
48 allala bitruma tarāmīma
49 tamḫaṣīšūma kappašu taltebrī
50 izzaz ina qišātimma išassi kappī
Translated:
48 You loved the many-coloured (or: speckled) allalu bird:
49 (but) you smote him and broke his wings:
50 now it stands in the forests and cries out "my wing!"
On the assumption that this is an etiology explaining a specific bird, does anything come to mind? We're looking for a bird current in the Ancient Near East (roughly, modern Iraq, Syria, Anatolia, and western Iran) that is many-coloured or speckled, flightless, and has a call that sounds something like "kappi". Any ideas?
10:39 UTC
Bird ID
Anybody know this guy? Northern CA
07:17 UTC
Complete Stranger in Van, BC
Not a super clear photo, but it’s definitely not a typical crow, pigeon, raven or seagull I’d see in Vancouver
06:54 UTC
I know it's a bad picture so maybe hard to tell but I kind of thing the bird in the tree is a Belted Kingfisher with a fish in her mouth.
04:03 UTC
Who is this? Eastern MA, USA
03:56 UTC
What birds am I hearing in this potato video from Stonehenge in 2009?
03:50 UTC
Is this a Bald Eagle
This is such bad video😬 but I was at Walmart today and I looked up and think I see bald eagle, it was very high in the air so I couldn’t really get a good look! It was also flying extremely fast when it flew away…
02:33 UTC
Seen in Arequipa, Perú
Google lens says Black-chested buzzard-eagle, but I'm not sure.
00:49 UTC
What is it?
Rio Grande do Sul. Me chamou atenção o canto do pássaro, apesar do cachorro latindo no fundo, da para perceber que é como um "chamado" curto e "metálico".
00:28 UTC
Feathered Strangers
23:23 UTC
Does this look like a lesser or American goldfinch? Seen in Bay Area, CA
22:33 UTC
Long Island, NY
I’m sorry I’m still having a hard time identifying feathers even years later.
22:28 UTC
What bird is this? South Australia
These birds tend to chirp in continuous high pitched chirps throughout the day.
22:28 UTC
Heron or egret? One legged bird
In north central Florida (swampy area) The other birds with it are like all grey and only this one was white and almost a little pinkish looking. And it def only has one leg. So I feel kind of bad for it like it seems like the others leave this one out. I saw the birds yesterday and gave them some cat food I had in my bag and then today when I walked past the area they came flying down again. Sorry I didn’t get a pic of the other birds w it! It may not be a heron or an egret I really don’t know birds well at all. Thanks!
22:09 UTC
Feather ID
Can anyone tell me if this is a mourning dove / pigeon feather? Yonkers NY
21:59 UTC
Do I have a ring-billed gull, or something else?
LA California area, late Nov 2024.
Sorry for the quality. I came across some forgotten video I took with my phone of a soaring gull and took the best frames. I'm 80% sure it's a ring-billed, and Merlin agrees, but I'm no gull expert. The white body & tail, wings with gray on top, white underneath, and black tips all seem to match; and the bill appears to have black on the tip (appears solid black in some photos but I'm sure that's just a limitation of my processing).
21:53 UTC
Sparrow id. White crowned or possible Swamp?
21:42 UTC