Tips for using Browse:

Browsing is a valuable way to learn about birds, however it is a brute force approach and not designed for identification. A more sophisticated approach to finding a bird with specific field marks is to use the Step by Step Search. You can also try the Wizard to find a bird, which uses a question and answer approach, but again it does not give you the flexibility of the Step by Step Search.

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Red Knot
Red Knot: Medium-sized sandpiper with black, brown and gray scaled upperparts, red-brown face, neck, breast and sides, and white lower belly. Wings show white bars in flight. Bill is black and slightly curved. Eats insects, larvae, mollusks and crabs. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Ruddy Turnstone
Ruddy Turnstone: Medium sandpiper, red-brown upperparts, white rump and underparts. Face and breast are black-marked. Bill is short, dark, and slightly upturned. Wings have a unique brown, black, and white pattern visible in flight. Tail is white with black terminal band. Legs and feet are orange.
Ruff
Ruff: Large sandpiper with variably-colored frilly tufts on the neck that ranges from black to rufous to white to speckled and bared. Female lacks ruff. Head is orange-brown and the belly is white. Bill is orange with dark, drooped tip. Orange-yellow legs. Low, direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Red-necked Phalarope
Red-necked Phalarope: Medium sandpiper with brown-striped dark gray back, mottled gray breast, and white throat and belly. Head, nape, and flanks are gray. Neck and upper breast are rust-brown. Bill is thin and black. Flight is swift and swallowlike with rapid wing beats, quick movements, and turns.
Royal Tern
Royal Tern: Large tern, pale gray upperparts; white face, neck, and underparts. Head has spiky, black crest and cap, and heavy, bright orange bill. Wings are black-tipped above and black-edged below; tail is deeply forked. Legs and feet are black. Hovers before plunge diving for prey.
Red Crossbill
Red Crossbill: Medium finch with red-orange body, brighter red rump, and dark brown wings. Bill is dark and crossed at tip. The tail is notched. Legs and feet are gray-black. Eats seeds, insects and caterpillars. Swift bounding flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled briefly to sides.
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch: Medium nuthatch with blue-gray upperparts and pale rust-brown underparts. Head has a black cap, white eyebrow, black eyestripe; throat is white. Bill is slightly upturned. Legs and feet are black. Weak fluttering flight, alternates rapid wing beats with wings drawn to sides.
Redhead
Redhead: Medium diving duck, gray back and sides, black upper back, breast, rump, and tail, and white belly. Head and neck are rufous-brown, and blue-gray bill is black-tipped; eyes are yellow. Feeds mostly on aquatic vegetation. Rapid direct flight with strong wing beats, flies in V formation.
Red-throated Loon
Red-throated Loon: Small loon with scaled gray back and white underparts. Head and sides of neck are gray, throat is dark red, nape is black-and-white striped. Eyes are red. Feeds on fish, dives to 90 feet for them. Direct flight, rapid wing beats. Only loon to leap into flight from water or land.
Rusty Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird: Medium blackbird, black overall with a dull, blue-green sheen, yellow eyes. Forages on ground of wet woodlands and fields, wades in marshes or small pools of water. Feeds on insects, caterpillars, snails, crustaceans, small fish, salamanders, fruits, grains and seeds.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker: Medium woodpecker, black-and-white barred upperparts, pale gray-brown underparts with indistinct red wash on belly. Head has bright red crown and nape, pale brown face. White rump, white wing patches, and white-barred central tail feathers are visible in flight.
Red-cockaded Woodpecker
Red-cockaded Woodpecker: Medium woodpecker, black-and-white barred back, black cap, nape, white face, throat, breast, black-spotted sides, flanks, belly. Dark eye-line ends in red cockade at rear of cap. Black wings have white bars. Black tail has black-spotted white outer feathers.
Red-eyed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo: Medium vireo with olive-brown upperparts and white underparts. Head has a gray cap, white eyebrow, black eyestripe, and red eyes. Blue-gray legs and feet. Alternates short glides with series of rapid wingbeats. May hover briefly to pick berries or insects from foliage.
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-headed Woodpecker: Medium-sized woodpecker with black upperparts and tail, and white underparts and rump. The head, throat, and upper breast are dark red. Wings are black with large white patches. Bill, legs and feet are black. This is the only woodpecker in the east with a completely red head.
Ring-necked Duck
Ring-necked Duck: Medium-sized diving duck. Black upperparts, weakly tufted, purple-black head. Neck, upper breast, tail are black, lower breast and belly are white, sides are pale gray. Cinnamon collar is hard to see in the field. Dark wings have black-tipped gray flight feathers visible in flight. Blue-gray bill, white ring, black tip.
Ring-billed Gull
Ring-billed Gull: Medium gull with gray upperparts and white underparts. Head is white and bill is yellow with black ring near tip. Wings are gray above, tipped black with white spots, and white below. Yellow legs and feet. Strong direct flight on deep wing beats, soars on thermals.
Red-winged Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird: Small blackbird with jet-black body and bright red shoulder patches edged with yellow on bottom. Runs or hops while foraging on the ground. Eats seeds, grains, berries, fruits, insects, caterpillars, spiders, snails, grubs and mollusks. Strong direct flight on rapid wing beats.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: Medium kinglet, olive-green upperparts and gray-washed, pale yellow underparts. Head has inconspicuous tuft of red crown feathers, white spectacles. Wings are dark with two white bars. Tail is slightly notched and has white edges. Weak fluttering flight on shallow wing beats.
Red-breasted Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser: Medium-sized diving duck with black upperparts, gray sides, rust-brown breast, and white belly. Head, double crests, and neck are green and the neck ring is white. Bill is long, thin, and bright orange. Feet and legs are orange. Feeds mostly on fish, which it finds by diving.
Ruddy Duck
Ruddy Duck: Small duck, bright red-brown body; black cap extends below the eyes and onto the nape, contrasting sharply with white face; heavy bill is blue. Tail is black, often held erect when swimming. Some males show all black head, lacking white cheek patches. Direct flight on rapid wing beats.
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk: Large hawk with brown upperparts and head. Underparts are white with rust-red barring. The wings are finely barred above with red-brown shoulders and pale below with red-brown wash and dark tips. Tail is dark with thick white bands.
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk: Large, highly variable hawk with brown upperparts, head and throat. The underparts are pale with brown streaks. Wings are pale below with dark bar at leading edge and dark tips. The tail is red-brown with dark terminal band. Legs and feet are yellow. Soars on thermals and updrafts.
Reddish Egret
Reddish Egret: Medium egret with blue-gray body and shaggy, pale rufous head and neck. Bill is pink with dark tip. Legs are blue-gray. White morph has all-white plumage, black-tipped pink bill, and blue-gray legs. Feeds on fish, frogs and crustaceans. Direct flight with bouyant steady wing beats.
Ruffed Grouse
Ruffed Grouse: Medium-sized grouse with crested head and scaled brown upperparts. White underparts have pale brown bars on breast and dark brown bars on belly and flanks. Sides of neck have black ruff. The tail is brown with fine, white bars and white-edged dark band at tip. Northern form is grayer.
Rock Pigeon
Rock Pigeon: Large, highly variably colored dove; wild form has gray body, dark blue-gray head, neck, breast, and white rump. Wings are gray with two black bars. Tail is gray and rounded with dark terminal band. Forages on ground, eats grass, seeds, grains, clover and berries. Swift direct flight.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Ruby-throated Hummingbird: Medium hummingbird, iridescent green upperparts, head, flanks. Underparts are pale gray, paler breast, green wash on sides, belly; throat is bright red with black chin. Tail is dark, forked. Feeds primarily on nectar. Direct and hovering flight with very rapid wing beats.
Rufous Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird: Medium hummingbird, bright rufous-brown overall with white breast and ear patch, red-orange throat, and green shoulders. Rounded tail is rufous with black edges. Some males show green on back and head. Feeds on insects and nectar. Direct and hovering flight with rapid wing beats.
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Rose-breasted Grosbeak: Large finch, black head, back, bright red breast, and white rump, sides, belly. The wings are black with white patches above and red, white, black below. Long, slightly notched black tail with white patches. Eats seeds, caterpillars, insects, tree flowers, fruits and berries.