How were these 55 species chosen?

The list focuses on birds that are common, ecologically important, or frequently asked about across the atlas's core regions — from garden and farmland species like the house sparrow and common kestrel to wetland and forest specialists like the grey heron and black woodpecker. It is not an exhaustive checklist of every bird on Earth, but a curated starting set that the identifier and migration tools are built around.

What is the difference between a species page and a family page?

A species page (like the common kestrel) covers one specific bird: its appearance, range, behavior, and breeding. A family page (like Falconidae, the falcons) groups several related species that share a common ancestor and similar traits, and links out to each species page within it.

I don't know what species I saw — where do I start?

Use the bird identifier, which narrows down candidates by plumage color, size, beak shape, habitat, and season rather than requiring you to already know the name.

Bird Atlas

Bird Species

pages

An illustrated catalogue of 55 bird species covered by Bird Atlas, from garden regulars like the great tit to raptors such as the white-tailed eagle.

What you'll find in this section

This section is the core of Bird Atlas: a growing catalogue of bird species, each with its own page covering appearance, range and habitat, behavior, breeding, and a handful of facts worth knowing before you head outside with binoculars. Every species entry includes the Latin name, a photograph, a short description of its diet, and — where relevant — its current conservation status, from Least Concern to more urgent categories.

The catalogue currently tracks 55 species, chosen to represent the birds most likely to be seen across gardens, farmland, forests, wetlands, and coastlines rather than an exhaustive world list. Each species is also grouped into its taxonomic family — falcons, hawks, owls, crows, finches, tits, and more — so you can explore related birds once you've found the one you were looking for.

How the species are organized

Individual species pages live in the species catalogue, where you can browse the full list sorted alphabetically, each linking to a detailed profile. Species that share a family — for example, the common buzzard and the northern goshawk, both members of the Accipitridae — cross-link to each other and to their shared family page, which explains what unites them and how to tell family members apart.

If you already have a name or a Latin binomial in mind, the fastest way in is the species catalogue itself. If you only have an observation — a flash of color, a silhouette, a call — the bird identifier is built for exactly that: it narrows the possibilities down step by step using traits you can actually see in the field, rather than requiring prior knowledge of bird names.

Getting the most out of a species page

Every profile follows the same structure so that comparing two species is straightforward: a description of plumage and size, where and when the bird occurs (including whether it is migratory, resident, or only a passage visitor), how it behaves and what it eats, how it breeds, and a short list of facts that go beyond field-guide basics. Wingspan, clutch size, and migration timing are given as concrete figures rather than vague ranges wherever the data supports it, and every scientific name is written in full at first mention so you can cross-reference it elsewhere.

As the catalogue grows, this page will continue to list newly added species and link to broader overview articles — on songbirds, birds of prey, waterfowl, and rare or declining species — that pull together species from across multiple families around a shared theme.