About Feathered

Feathered is an independent field guide to the birds around you. Each entry describes one species — how to identify it, how it behaves, what it sounds like, and where to look for it. The guide is arranged in nine divisions: raptors, songbirds, waterfowl, seabirds, waders, woodpeckers, owls, hummingbirds, and pigeons and doves. The arrangement matters, because it lets a reader start from a shape seen at a window or over a marsh and move, step by step, to a name and a page.

The site is written for two readers at once. The first already owns binoculars and wants the field marks, measurements and calls gathered in one place. The second is a beginner who has just noticed that the bird on the fence is not a sparrow. Entries therefore avoid jargon where plain words will do, and every page states the plain facts first — length, wingspan, habitat, range, diet, voice — before the longer identification notes.

Editorial policy. Entries are compiled from standard ornithological references and checked against at least two sources before publication. Taxonomy follows the order and family names in common international use, and names are given in English and Chinese so that a species can be followed across both versions of the guide. We do not accept payment for a species entry, for a favourable description, or for a placement on the site.

Each page carries a publication date. Corrections are made in the open: where a range, a measurement, a plumage description or a call note is wrong, we say so and fix it rather than quietly deleting the page. If a species is added on the strength of a reader report, the report is checked against published sources first. Suggestions and corrections are welcome at the address on the contact page, and every message is read.