Glossary

Birding words used on this site, in plain language. On species pages they have a dotted underline: hover or tap one to see what it means.

"Armpits": The patch where the underside of the wing meets the body (birders' slang for the axillaries).
Accipiter: Forest hawks with short, rounded wings and long tails, built for chasing birds through trees, like Cooper's Hawk.
Bars: Marks that run crosswise, side to side. Compare streaks, which run lengthwise.
Bib: A patch of color on the throat and upper chest.
Breeding plumage: The (often brighter) feathers a bird wears for courtship and nesting, usually spring and summer.
Buff: A pale, warm yellowish-tan, like a manila folder.
Buteo: Big, broad-winged, broad-tailed hawks that soar, like the Red-tailed Hawk.
Cap: A patch of color covering the top of the head, like a skullcap.
Checklist: In eBird, a list of every bird you saw or heard on one outing, with the place, time and counts.
Cold front: A mass of cooler air moving in, often with north winds and rain. In migration it can stall birds or bring a wave of them.
Collar: A band of color around the neck.
Conical bill: A short, thick, cone-shaped bill built for cracking seeds, as on sparrows and finches.
Crest: Longer feathers on top of the head that stick up into a point or tuft.
Crown: The top of the head.
Crown stripe: A stripe running front to back down the middle of the top of the head.
Dabbling duck: Ducks that feed by tipping tail-up in shallow water instead of diving, like Mallards and teal.
Diving duck: Ducks that dive underwater for food, like scaup and Ring-necked Ducks.
Ear patch: The patch on the side of the face behind the eye, where a bird's ear is hidden under the feathers.
Eclipse plumage: A dull, female-like coat that male ducks wear for a few months after breeding, while they regrow their flight feathers.
Empid: Short for Empidonax: a group of small, plain flycatchers that look nearly alike and are best told apart by voice.
Endemic: Found naturally in only one place or region.
Eye-crescents: Pale arcs above and below the eye, like a broken eye-ring.
Eye-ring: A thin ring of pale (sometimes colored) feathers circling the eye.
Eyebrow: A pale stripe running above the eye, from the bill toward the back of the head.
Eyeline: A dark line running through the eye, usually from the bill toward the back of the head.
Fingers: The separated tips of the outer flight feathers on big soaring birds, spread like fingers.
Flanks: The sides of the body, below the folded wing.
Flush: To fly up suddenly when startled.
Flyway: A broad route that migrating birds follow between north and south. Travis County sits on the Central Flyway.
Frontal shield: A hard, bare plate running from the bill up onto the forehead, as on coots and gallinules.
Gape: The corner of the mouth, where the upper and lower halves of the bill meet.
Genus: A group of closely related species; the first word of a scientific name.
Gloss: A sheen that changes color with the light (green, blue or purple) on dark feathers. In shade it can look plain black.
Gorget: A hummingbird's throat patch, made of feathers that flash color only when the light hits them right.
Hood: Color covering the whole head and often the throat, like a hood pulled up.
Hotspot: A public birding spot in eBird that everyone's sightings are pooled under, like a park or a lake.
Hybrid: The offspring of two different species. Hybrids can show a mix of both parents' marks.
Immature: A bird that isn't in adult plumage yet. Small birds usually look adult after a year; big gulls and eagles take several.
Juvenile: A young bird in its first set of real feathers, worn for a few weeks to months after leaving the nest.
Kettle: A flock of hawks or vultures circling together on rising warm air, often during migration.
Leading edge: The front edge of the wing in flight.
Lores: The small patch between the eye and the base of the bill.
Mandible: One half of the bill. The lower mandible is the bottom half.
Mask: A dark patch across the eyes, like a bandit's mask.
Migrant: Here, a bird that passes through on its way somewhere else, usually in spring and fall.
Migration: The yearly trip between summer breeding grounds and winter homes. Here it peaks in April–May and September–October.
Molt: Replacing old feathers with new ones. Molting birds can look patchy and confusing.
Morph: A color form within one species that has nothing to do with age, sex or season, like the dark "Blue Goose" Snow Goose.
Mottled: Covered in irregular blotches of different shades.
Nape: The back of the neck.
Necklace: A narrow band of marks across the upper chest.
Passerine: Perching birds, the huge group that includes songbirds like sparrows, warblers and thrushes.
Peep: Birders' name for the smallest sandpipers, which look alike and often feed together.
Plumage: A bird's set of feathers at a given time. Many birds look different by season, sex and age.
Raptor: A bird that hunts with its feet and hooked bill: hawks, eagles, falcons and owls.
Roost: Where birds gather to sleep or rest, often in big numbers at dusk.
Rufous: Reddish-brown, like rust or a fox's coat.
Rump: The lower back, just above the tail. Often shows best when a bird flies away.
Scaly: Feathers with pale or dark edges, so the bird looks covered in neat scales.
Sexually dimorphic: Males and females look different.
Shorebird: Sandpipers, plovers and their relatives: wading birds of mudflats and shorelines.
Skulker: A bird that stays low in thick cover and is hard to see.
Soar: To glide in circles on rising air without flapping.
Songbird: The small perching birds with complex songs: sparrows, warblers, thrushes, finches and their relatives.
Spectacles: An eye-ring joined to a pale stripe running to the bill, so it looks like the bird is wearing glasses.
Speculum: A shiny, colored patch on the back edge of a duck's wing, often bordered in white. Shows best in flight or when the duck stretches.
Spotting scope: A single-eyepiece telescope on a tripod, for distant birds like ducks and shorebirds.
Streaks: Marks that run lengthwise, head to tail. Compare bars, which run side to side.
Subspecies: A regional form of a species that looks a bit different but can interbreed freely with other forms.
Tail spots: Pale patches on the outer tail feathers, usually seen when the tail spreads.
Tertials: The long inner wing feathers that lie on top of the folded wingtips, near the bird's back.
Trailing edge: The back edge of the wing in flight.
Undertail: The feathers under the base of the tail, between the legs and the tail.
Underwing: The underside of the wing, seen when a bird flies overhead.
Waterfowl: Ducks, geese and swans.
Whisker stripe: A stripe running down from the base of the bill along the side of the throat.
Wing linings: The feathers covering the front half of the underside of the wing, seen when a bird flies overhead.
Wing-bar: A pale stripe across the folded wing, made by the pale tips of a row of feathers. Many birds have two.
Wingtips: The longest flight feathers. How far they reach past the rest of the folded wing, or past the tail, is a useful clue.
Wrist: The forward-pointing bend in the middle of the front edge of the wing.