Species

HBW Alive provides full accounts for every bird species known to science up to June 2013, including distribution maps and color illustrations. Check out these recently updated species or search the species you want.

Swamp Francolin (Francolinus gularis)
1 day 11 hours ago
Painted Francolin (Francolinus pictus)
1 day 13 hours ago
Chinese Francolin (Francolinus pintadeanus)
1 day 17 hours ago
Golden-bellied Warbler (Myiothlypis chrysogaster)
1 week 1 day ago
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Explore the following sample species accounts to better understand the monumental work that lies behind these pages.

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Red-billed Hornbill (Tockus erythrorhynchus)

Taxonomy:

Buceros erythrorhynchus

 Temminck, 1823, Mora, Cameroon.

Closest to T. monteiri, but close also to T. flavirostris, T. leucomelas and T. deckeni (and presumably jacksoni...

Descriptive notes: 35 cm; male 124–185 g, female 90–151 g (nominate), male 182 g, female 148 g (race kempi), male 128 g, female 125 g (race ruahae). Small, black-and-white hornbill with spotted wing-coverts, white in outer tail, and long,...
figure, drawing, illustration of Red-billed Hornbill (Tockus erythrorhynchus)

Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus)

Taxonomy:

Falco rusticolus

 Linnaeus, 1758, Sweden.

Closest to F. cherrug; genetic data indicate that these two, along with F. biarmicus and F. jugger, form a group of closely...

Descriptive notes: 48–60 cm; male 769–1450 g, female 1130–2150 g; wingspan 105–135 cm. The largest Falco, with larger head, deeper chest, relatively short but broad outer wings and longer tail than other large falcons....
figure, drawing, illustration of Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus)

Temminck's Lark (Eremophila bilopha)

Taxonomy:

Alauda bilopha

 Temminck, 1823, deserts of Aqaba, north-west Arabia.

Formerly considered conspecific with E. alpestris, but differs in its smaller size (at least 1); much paler, pinker, less streaked upperparts (2);...

Descriptive notes: 13–15 cm; c. 38–39 g. Small, neat, uniform-looking lark with striking head pattern, rather thin bill, rather short and broad wings with short primary projection, narrow pointed outer primary reduced (9–13 mm short of...
figure, drawing, illustration of Temminck's Lark (Eremophila bilopha)

Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)

Taxonomy:

Tringa Glareola

 Linnaeus, 1758, Sweden.

Monotypic.

Descriptive notes: 19–23 cm; 34–98 g; wingspan 54–57 cm. Small, graceful sandpiper; head, neck and breast finely streaked grey-brown; supercilium and throat white; upperparts black-brown with white spots, underparts white. Similar to T....
figure, drawing, illustration of Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)

Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)

Taxonomy:

Trochilus rufus

 J. F. Gmelin, 1788, Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, Canada.

Closely related to S. sasin (which see). Monotypic.

Descriptive notes: c. 8·5 cm; 2·9–3·9 g. Male has medium-short, straight black bill; crown bronze or bronze-green, remaining upperparts rufous, occasionally with a few green feathers on the back; throat iridescent scarlet-bronze...
figure, drawing, illustration of Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)

Each bird species in HBW Alive has sections for Taxonomy, Subspecies, Distribution, Descriptive notes, Habitat, Food and Feeding, Breeding, Movements, Status and Conservation and Bibliography, as well as a distribution map and color illustrations.