**Feather Identification Chart — Match by Size, Pattern and Shape**

> Free feather identification key for 26 common North American birds. Filter by size, pattern and shape — plus the law on keeping what you found.

Source: https://orvik.app/tools/feather-identifier/ · updated: 2026-09-04

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# Which bird did this feather come from?

Feather identification runs on three things: **length, pattern, and which part of the bird it came from**. A wing feather is stiff and asymmetric, a tail feather is stiff and symmetric, and a body feather is soft and fluffy at the base. Get the type right first — half the failed identifications are a body feather being matched against pictures of wing feathers.

Entries **26** Filters **5** Updated **2026-09-04** Cost **Free, no account**

**In the United States it is illegal to possess the feathers of almost any native bird.** The Migratory Bird Treaty Act covers over 1,000 species and applies to feathers found on the ground, moulted feathers, and feathers picked up by children. There is no permit for casual collecting. Photograph it, measure it against a coin, and leave it where it is. Eagle feathers carry additional federal protection and severe penalties.

Narrow it down

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Search birds by name

What kind of feather

Look at the shaft position and the base.

Wing flight feather — stiff, vane wider on one side Tail feather — stiff, vane even on both sides Body feather — soft, fluffy at the base Down — no shaft to speak of

Length

Under 5 cm 5–10 cm 10–20 cm 20–35 cm Over 35 cm

Pattern

One colour Barred across A band or spot at the tip Streaked along the shaft Iridescent or metallic Mottled or vermiculated

Main colour

Brown Grey Black White Blue Red, orange or yellow

Where you found it

Garden or park Woodland By water Field or roadside A pile of feathers — a kill site

Showing all 26 birds

1. ### Wild turkey Big, stiff and boldly barred black and white on the wing; tail feathers are broad, brown, finely barred, with a buff or chestnut band across the tip. Body feathers have a bronze-green iridescent sheen and a black rim. Size Wing 25–40 cm; tail 30–40 cm Where Woodland and field edge across North America.
2. ### Canada goose Plain grey-brown flight feathers with a paler edge and a slightly waxy feel, and a great deal of grey down. By far the most commonly found large feather in a city park. Size Wing 20–30 cm Where Ponds, parks and playing fields across North America and Europe.
3. ### Mallard The give-away is the speculum feather: a patch of iridescent blue-purple bordered with a crisp white bar at both ends. No other common bird produces that combination. Size Wing 10–20 cm Where Ponds and rivers across the northern hemisphere.
4. ### Mourning dove Soft grey-brown, with the outer tail feathers showing a black bar and a broad white tip. The feathers detach at the slightest pull, which is a defence — a predator ends up with a mouthful of feathers and no bird. Size Wing 10–15 cm Where Across North America. Confused with A scatter of dove feathers with clean-cut shafts is a hawk kill; chewed and broken shafts mean a mammal.
5. ### Rock pigeon Grey with a broad dark bar near the tip on many wing feathers, and neck feathers with a green and magenta iridescence. Enormously variable because of domestic breeding — white, chequered and rust forms are all common. Size Wing 12–20 cm Where Cities worldwide.
6. ### American crow Uniformly black with a faint purple gloss in sunlight, and a fanned tip on the outer flight feathers where the vane narrows abruptly. Common raven feathers are the same but noticeably longer, over 30 cm. Size Wing 20–30 cm Where Across North America.
7. ### Blue jay Bright blue barred with black and tipped white — one of the most recognisable feathers in North America. The blue is structural, not pigment: hold it up with light coming through from behind and it goes brown. Size 10–15 cm Where Eastern and central North America.
8. ### Northern cardinal Solid deep red on males, dull olive-brown with red edges on females. The red is carotenoid pigment from the bird's diet, so unlike jay blue it stays red in any light. Size 7–12 cm Where Eastern and central North America.
9. ### Red-tailed hawk Handle with care Tail feathers are brick-red above, often with a single dark band near the tip; wing feathers are broad, brown, and barred dark on a pale ground with a distinctly notched outer web near the tip. Size Wing 25–40 cm; tail 20–25 cm Where Across North America. Risk Raptor feathers are heavily protected. Photograph and leave — possession of hawk, owl and eagle feathers carries the strictest penalties under the MBTA and, for eagles, additional federal law.
10. ### Great horned owl Handle with care Softly mottled grey-brown with fine barring, and — the diagnostic feature — a comb of stiff serrations along the leading edge of the outer wing feathers, which breaks up the airflow and makes the flight silent. Size Wing 25–40 cm Where Across the Americas. Confused with Nothing. The serrated leading edge is unique to owls and can be felt with a fingertip.
11. ### Northern flicker Brown barred black with the shaft and the underside of the vane a bright lemon yellow in the east or salmon red in the west. The coloured shaft is what identifies it. Size 10–16 cm Where Across North America.
12. ### Pileated woodpecker Sooty black with a clean white base to the inner web, and very stiff pointed tail feathers with a sharply worn tip — the tail props the bird against a trunk and takes real wear. Size 15–25 cm Where Mature forest across eastern North America and the Pacific Northwest.
13. ### European starling Glossy black with green and purple iridescence and small buff-white spots at the tips in winter plumage. Body feathers are short, broad and blunt. Size 4–10 cm Where Introduced across North America; native to Eurasia. Risk One of the few species not protected under the MBTA, along with house sparrow and rock pigeon.
14. ### Red-winged blackbird Matt black flight feathers; the shoulder patch feathers are scarlet with a yellow band at the base, and those are unmistakable when you find one. Size 8–13 cm Where Marshes and wet fields across North America.
15. ### American robin Slate-grey wing and tail feathers, often with a small white spot at the tip of the outer tail feathers, and warm brick-orange body feathers from the breast. Size 7–13 cm Where Across North America.
16. ### Ring-necked pheasant Extremely long, narrow, pointed tail feathers, warm buff-brown with strong regularly spaced black bars. Body feathers are coppery with a black crescent and a metallic sheen. Size Tail 25–60 cm Where Introduced across North America and Europe.
17. ### Great blue heron Handle with care Long, broad, plain blue-grey flight feathers, and distinctive powder-down body feathers that disintegrate into a fine waxy dust when rubbed — the bird uses it to clean fish slime off its plumage. Size Wing 25–40 cm Where Wetlands across North America.
18. ### Ring-billed and herring gull Clean white with a pale grey outer vane and, on the outer primaries, a black tip with a small white mirror spot. Juvenile feathers are heavily mottled brown. Size 15–30 cm Where Coasts, lakes and car parks across North America and Europe.
19. ### Wood duck The flank feathers are the famous ones: buff with fine black barring and a bold black-and-white crescent at the tip, used in fly tying for over a century. The speculum is deep iridescent blue. Size 8–15 cm Where Wooded swamps and rivers across North America.
20. ### Barred owl Handle with care Boldly barred brown and white with the same soft velvety texture and serrated leading edge as other owls. Softer and less sharply patterned than a hawk feather of the same size. Size 18–30 cm Where Eastern North America and, as an invader, the Pacific Northwest.
21. ### Common grackle Black with a strong bronze, purple or blue-green iridescence depending on the angle. Tail feathers are long and keeled, so the bird can fold the tail into a V in flight. Size 10–18 cm Where Eastern and central North America.
22. ### Peafowl The eyed train feather needs no key. The eye is structural colour from photonic crystals in the barbules, not pigment, which is why it shifts as you move it. Size Train feathers 100–150 cm Where Farms, parks and estates worldwide as an introduced bird. Risk Not a native species, so not covered by the MBTA. Legal to keep in the US.
23. ### Cedar waxwing Soft silky fawn-grey with a bright yellow band across the tail tip and, on some feathers, a red waxy tip like a drop of sealing wax — an actual pigment deposit, unique among North American birds. Size 5–9 cm Where Across North America.
24. ### Downy and hairy woodpecker Crisp black and white — flight feathers spotted or checked white on black, and stiff pointed black tail feathers with white outer ones. Hairy woodpecker feathers are the same pattern at half again the size. Size 5–12 cm Where Across North America.
25. ### Sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawk Handle with care Slate-grey or brown above with three to five bold dark bands across a paler underside. Very often found as a scattered pile of songbird feathers with these among them, at a plucking post near a feeder. Size 12–25 cm Where Across North America; regular garden visitors at bird feeders.
26. ### Song sparrow, house finch and other small songbirds Small, brown, streaked and, in practice, not identifiable to species from a single feather. Most small brown feathers found in gardens fall into this group and no honest key takes them further. Size 3–8 cm Where Everywhere. Confused with This is the most common outcome of feather identification and it is worth stating plainly rather than forcing a match.

Nothing in this key matches every filter at once. That usually means one observation is
off — a colour read in shade, or a size guessed rather than measured. Clear the filter you
are least sure about and look again.

## Work out which feather you have before anything else

A bird carries several thousand feathers in at least four structurally different kinds, and matching a body feather against a chart of wing feathers produces nonsense. Sorting them takes one look.

- **Wing flight feather (remex).** Stiff, with the shaft distinctly off-centre so one side of the vane is much narrower than the other. That asymmetry is what generates lift, and it is the fastest way to recognise a wing feather. The outermost ones are often notched or emarginated near the tip.
- **Tail feather (rectrix).** Also stiff, but with the shaft centred and the vane roughly equal on both sides — except the outermost pair, which are slightly asymmetric. Tail feathers are usually broader and more evenly patterned.
- **Body or contour feather.** Smooth and shaped at the tip, fluffy and disorganised at the base, and much softer overall. These carry most of a bird's visible colour and are the hardest to identify.
- **Down.** No real shaft, just a tuft of fluff. Almost never identifiable to species.

Say which one you have when you ask anyone for help, and photograph both sides — the pattern on the underside is often different and is frequently what settles it.

## The law, which is stricter than most people believe

In the United States the **Migratory Bird Treaty Act** makes it illegal to possess the feathers of over 1,000 native species without a federal permit. It applies to feathers found on the ground, moulted feathers and feathers picked up by children on a walk. There is no exception for casual collecting, and none for feathers you did not take from a bird.

The unprotected species are the introduced ones: house sparrow, European starling, rock pigeon, and non-native game birds like pheasant and peafowl regulated under state law instead. Everything else — hawks, owls, jays, cardinals, herons, gulls, songbirds — is covered.

**Eagle feathers carry additional protection** under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, with penalties up to $100,000 and a year in prison for a first offence. Enrolled members of federally recognised tribes may apply to the National Eagle Repository for feathers for religious use; nobody else may possess them under any circumstances.

In the United Kingdom, the Wildlife and Countryside Act protects wild birds and their parts, and in the EU the Birds Directive is equivalent. In practice everywhere: **photograph it, measure it against a coin, and put it back.** A photograph is also a better record than the feather, because it keeps the location and the date.

## A pile of feathers is a story

Scattered feathers on the ground are one of the commonest reasons people start identifying feathers, and the pattern of the scatter says who was responsible.

*Reading a kill site from the feathers left behind.*

| What you see | Likely predator |
| --- | --- |
| Feathers plucked cleanly, shafts intact and undamaged, in a tight pile on a stump, post or low branch | Hawk. Raptors pluck with the beak and use a regular plucking perch |
| Shafts bitten through, feathers sheared off, saliva-matted clumps | Cat, fox or other mammal. Mammals chew rather than pluck |
| Feathers widely scattered over several metres with no concentration | Window strike, or a kill taken in flight and carried |
| A neat ring of small feathers with nothing else, often overnight | Owl. Owls also leave pellets nearby containing bones and fur |
| A pile beside a bird feeder | Sharp-shinned or Cooper's hawk, which specialise in hunting at feeders |

If a hawk is killing at your feeder, the choices are to take the feeder down for a week or two — which usually moves the hawk on — or to accept it. Hawks at feeders are the ecosystem working, and the hawk is protected regardless of how you feel about it.

## How feathers get their colour, and why it matters for identification

Bird colour comes from two mechanisms, and knowing which one you are looking at is a genuine identification clue.

**Pigments** — melanins for black, grey and brown; carotenoids from the diet for red, orange and yellow. Pigment colour is in the feather and looks the same from every angle. A cardinal feather is red in any light. Carotenoid colours are diet-dependent, which is why a poorly fed male cardinal is a duller red and why flamingos fade in captivity without supplements.

**Structural colour** — produced by microscopic architecture in the feather barbs scattering specific wavelengths. All blue in birds is structural; there is no blue pigment in any bird feather. This gives a clean test: **hold a blue feather up with light coming through it from behind.** A blue jay feather goes brown, because the structure only works with light reflecting off the front. A red cardinal feather stays red.

Iridescence — the shifting greens and purples on a grackle, a starling or a hummingbird — is structural too, produced by thin-film interference in layered melanin granules, which is why the colour changes as you move the feather.

Melanin also does structural work: melanin-rich feathers are physically tougher and more resistant to abrasion and bacterial degradation. That is why so many pale birds have black wingtips, from gulls to gannets to pelicans. Those are the parts that wear.

## What a single feather can and cannot tell you

The honest limit: many feathers are not identifiable to species by anyone. Small brown streaked feathers from sparrows, wrens, finches and warblers overlap so heavily that professional feather identification laboratories work from microscopic barbule structure and DNA rather than from appearance.

The Smithsonian Feather Identification Lab exists precisely because of this. It identifies bird remains from aircraft strikes for the FAA and the US Air Force, and it does the work with a reference collection of hundreds of thousands of specimens plus DNA barcoding — because a smear of feather material from a jet engine cannot be matched by eye.

What a single feather does reliably give you is a size class, a group and often a family. Barred and brown at 25 cm with a serrated leading edge is an owl. Bright blue barred with black and tipped white is a jay. Iridescent blue with white bars at both ends is a mallard speculum. Those are real identifications, and they are as far as most feathers go.

26 entries here, covering the birds whose feathers people actually find in North American gardens, woods and shorelines. For anything further, the US Fish and Wildlife Service Feather Atlas is the reference — it has high-resolution scans of the flight feathers of hundreds of North American species and a search tool that filters by size, pattern and colour.

## Questions people ask about this

Is it illegal to keep a feather I found?

In the United States, yes for almost any native bird. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act covers over 1,000 species and applies to feathers found on the ground and moulted feathers, with no exception for casual collecting. The unprotected species are house sparrow, European starling, rock pigeon and non-native game birds. Eagle feathers carry additional federal protection with penalties up to $100,000. Photograph it and leave it.

How do I tell a wing feather from a tail feather?

Look at where the shaft runs. On a wing flight feather the shaft is well off-centre, so one side of the vane is much narrower than the other — that asymmetry is what makes lift. On a tail feather the shaft is centred and the vane is roughly equal on both sides. Body feathers are soft with a fluffy disorganised base and no stiffness.

What bird has a blue feather with black bars and a white tip?

A blue jay, in eastern and central North America. It is one of the most recognisable feathers on the continent. A useful check: hold it up with light coming through from behind and it turns brown, because blue in birds is structural colour produced by the feather's microscopic architecture rather than by any pigment.

I found a pile of feathers in my garden. What happened?

Look at the shafts. Cleanly plucked feathers with intact undamaged shafts, concentrated in a tight pile on a stump or post, means a hawk — raptors pluck with the beak at a regular perch. Shafts bitten through with sheared, saliva-matted clumps means a cat, fox or other mammal. A pile beside a bird feeder is almost always a sharp-shinned or Cooper's hawk.

Why does an owl feather feel different?

Owls have a comb of stiff serrations along the leading edge of the outer wing feathers and a velvety pile over the surface, which together break up the turbulence that makes flight audible. You can feel the serrations with a fingertip. It is unique to owls among North American birds and is diagnostic on its own.

Can I identify a small brown feather?

Usually not, and that is the honest answer rather than a failure. Feathers from sparrows, wrens, finches and warblers overlap so heavily that professional laboratories use microscopic barbule structure and DNA rather than appearance. What you can reliably get from a single feather is a size class and often a family — which for many purposes is the useful part anyway.

Are feathers safe to handle?

Wild feathers can carry mites, lice and bacteria, and in areas with avian influenza outbreaks the current public health advice is not to handle wild bird feathers or carcasses at all. Since possession is illegal for most species anyway, the photograph-and-leave rule covers both problems. If you do handle one, wash your hands.

## Still not sure? Point a camera at it

A filter narrows birds down to a shortlist. Orvik reads the photo itself and names the species, with the look-alikes ranked underneath so you can check the call yourself.

- [Get Orvik free](https://orvik.app/app/)

## Keep reading on Orvik

- [Feather identification](https://orvik.app/birds/feather-identification/)

- [What bird is this?](https://orvik.app/birds/what-bird-is-this/)

- [Identify this bird](https://orvik.app/birds/identify-this-bird/)

- [Bird recognition apps](https://orvik.app/birds/bird-recognition-app/)

- [Apps to identify birds](https://orvik.app/birds/app-to-identify-birds/)

- [Owl call identification](https://orvik.app/birds/owl-calls-identification/)

- [Animal track identification](https://orvik.app/animals/animal-track-identification/)

- [Bird call identification](https://orvik.app/birds/bird-call-identification/)

## Other free Orvik tools

- [Whose egg is this?](https://orvik.app/tools/bird-egg-identifier/)
- [Which mineral is this?](https://orvik.app/tools/mineral-identifier/)
- [What gemstone is this?](https://orvik.app/tools/gemstone-identifier/)
- [What fossil is this?](https://orvik.app/tools/fossil-identifier/)
- [What berry is this, and can you eat it?](https://orvik.app/tools/wild-berry-identifier/)
- [What mushroom is this?](https://orvik.app/tools/mushroom-identifier/)
- [What cloud is that?](https://orvik.app/tools/cloud-identifier/)
- [What shell did I find on the beach?](https://orvik.app/tools/seashell-identifier/)

## Where the data comes from

- [US Fish and Wildlife Service — The Feather Atlas](https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/)
- [USFWS — Migratory Bird Treaty Act protected species](https://www.fws.gov/law/migratory-bird-treaty-act-1918)
- [Smithsonian Feather Identification Lab](https://www.si.edu/spotlight/feather-forensics)
- [Cornell Lab of Ornithology — All About Birds](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/)

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