With heart-shaped face, buff back and wings and pure white underparts, the barn owl is a distinctive and much-loved countryside bird. Widely distributed across the UK, and indeed the world, this bird has suffered declines through the 20th century and is thought to have been adversely affected by organochlorine pesticides such as DDT in the 1950s and ’60s. [read more at the RSPB website]

The males live up to their name but, confusingly, females are brown often with spots and streaks on their breasts. The bright orange-yellow beak and eye-ring make adult male blackbirds one of the most striking garden birds. One of the commonest UK birds, its mellow song is also a favourite [read more at the RSPB website].

A colourful mix of blue, yellow, white and green make the blue tit one of our most attractive and most recognisable garden visitors. In winter, family flocks join up with other tits as they search for food – flitting onto bird feeders, or feeding on seeds and scraps left on bird tables and on the ground. Almost any garden with a feeder will attract them and they readily breed in nestboxes [read more at the RSPB website].

The budgerigar, also known as common pet parakeet or shell parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot. Naturally green and yellow with black, scalloped markings on the nape, back, and wings. Breeders have created a rainbow of blues, whites, and yellows, greys, and even forms with small crests [read more at Wikipedia].

The budgerigar, also known as common pet parakeet or shell parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot. Naturally green and yellow with black, scalloped markings on the nape, back, and wings. Breeders have created a rainbow of blues, whites, and yellows, greys, and even forms with small crests [read more at Wikipedia].

The male is unmistakable with his bright pinkish-red breast and cheeks, grey back, black cap and tail, and bright white rump. The flash of the rump in flight and the sad call note are usually the first signs of bullfinches being present. They feed voraciously on the buds of various trees in spring and were once a ‘pest’ of fruit crops [read more at the RSPB website].

A highly coloured finch with a bright red face and yellow wing patch. sociable, often breeding in loose colonies, they have a delightful liquid twittering song and call. their long fine beaks allow them to extract otherwise inaccessible seeds from thistles and teasels. increasingly they are visiting birdtables and feeders. In winter many UK goldfinches migrate as far south as Spain [read more at the RSPB website].

Kingfishers are small unmistakable bright blue and orange birds of slow moving or still water. They fly rapidly, low over water, and hunt fish from riverside perches, occasionally hovering above the water’s surface. they are vulnerable to hard winters and habitat degradation through pollution or unsympathetic management of watercourses [read more at the RSPB website].

Magpies seem to be jacks of all trades – scavengers, predators and pest-destroyers. Their challenging, almost arrogant attitude has won them few friends. With its noisy chattering, black-and-white plumage and long tail, there is nothing else quite like the magpie in the UK [read more at the RSPB website].

Peacocks are the extravagant and showy national birds of India. The males are adorned with the most spectacular, fan-like spread of rear feathers. Although they’re not really tail feathers, they make up an elaborate train which they use to attract females. [read more at the BBC’s website].

The palm cockatoo, also known as the goliath cockatoo or great black cockatoo, is a large smoky-grey or black parrot of the cockatoo family native to New Guinea and far north Queensland, Australia. It has a very large black beak and prominent red cheek patches….[read more on Wikipedia]

The emperor penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is endemic to antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching 122 cm in height and weighing anywhere from 22 to 45 kg. The dorsal side and head are black and sharply delineated from the white belly, pale-yellow breast and bright-yellow ear patches [read more at Wikipedia].

Feral pigeons come in all shades, some bluer, others blacker – some are pale grey with darker chequered markings, others an unusual shade of dull brick-red or cinnamon-brown, and still others can be or less white while others look exactly like wild rock doves. In urban areas where the numbers are allowed to increase they can become pests [read more at the RSPB website].

An unmistakable bird with its black back and white underparts, and distinctive black head with large pale cheeks and a tall, flattened, brightly-coloured bill. Its comical appearance is heightened by its red and black eye-markings and bright orange legs. Used as a symbol for books and other items, this clown among seabirds is one of the world’s favourite birds [read more at the RSPB website].

The European Robin, most commonly known simply as the Robin, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family. The male and female are similar in colouration, with an orange breast and face lined with grey, brown upperparts and a whitish belly [read more at Wikipedia].

The mute swan is a very large white waterbird. It has a long S-shaped neck, and an orange bill with black at the base of it. Flies with its neck extended and regular slow wingbeats. Some birds stay in their territories all year, while others move short distances and form winter flocks. In cold weather, some birds arrive from Europe into eastern England [read more at the RSPB website].

Toucans are members of the family Ramphastidae of near passerine birds from the Neotropics. The Ramphastidae family is most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five genera and about forty different species [read more at Wikipedia].

The vermilion flycatcher is a small passerine bird in the Tyrannidae, or tyrant flycatcher family. Most flycatchers are rather drab, but the vermilion flycatcher is a striking exception. It is a favorite with birders, but is not generally kept in aviculture, as the males tend to lose their vermilion coloration when in captivity..[read more on Wikipedia].

The black-and-white warbler is a species of New World warbler, the only member of its genus. It breeds in northern and eastern North America from the Northwest Territory and Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada to Florida.[read more on Wikipedia].