The striking contrast of black and white plumage makes these birds easily noticeable against the varied greens and browns of their habitats. This monochromatic coloration is common across many avian families, from small songbirds to large seabirds. The bold patterning serves several biological purposes, including camouflage in dappled light or against tree bark, and signaling to potential mates or rivals. Identifying these birds depends on observing the specific distribution of the two colors, which can vary from crisp borders to intricate, checkered patterns.
Visual Clues for Identification
A successful identification relies on moving beyond simple color to analyze the pattern, shape, and size of the bird. The distribution of black and white is rarely uniform, often presenting as distinct field marks. These patterns can include solid black caps or hoods, clean white cheeks or bibs, and prominent white wing bars or tail patches.
Plumage patterns can be categorized into three main types: block patterns, barred or striped patterns, and countershading. Block patterns feature large areas of solid color, such as a black head sharply delineated from a white chest. Barred or striped plumage, like the fine streaking on some warblers, helps the bird blend with the texture of tree bark.
Countershading, where the back is dark and the belly is light, is common in many species, particularly seabirds. This provides effective camouflage against both the sky and the dark water below. Size and body shape, such as a large head relative to body size or a long, slender bill, offer secondary clues that help distinguish between similarly colored species.
Common Backyard and Forest Birds
Many black and white birds are year-round residents of backyards, parks, and forests, making them familiar visitors to feeders.
Downy Woodpecker
The Downy Woodpecker is the smallest woodpecker in North America, presenting a checkered black-and-white appearance with a broad white stripe running down its back. Males possess a small red patch on the back of the head. They typically forage on smaller branches and weed stems, using their short, stout bills to extract insects.
Hairy Woodpecker
The Hairy Woodpecker shares a nearly identical black and white pattern with the Downy Woodpecker, featuring a black head with white stripes and a solid white back. However, the Hairy Woodpecker is significantly larger and has a proportionately longer, more substantial bill. Unlike the Downy, its outer tail feathers are completely white, lacking the black spots found on its smaller relative.
Black-capped Chickadee
The Black-capped Chickadee is a tiny songbird with a round body and a large head. Its black cap and bib are sharply contrasted by clean white cheeks, with the rest of its body being a soft gray with buffy flanks. These acrobatic birds are highly social and often seen hanging upside down on feeders or twigs while foraging for seeds and insects.
Dark-eyed Junco
The Dark-eyed Junco, particularly the “slate-colored” form, appears as a sparrow with a dark slate-gray head, chest, and back set off from a pure white belly. When taking flight, the junco reveals its most recognizable feature: bright white outer tail feathers that flash conspicuously. These birds are primarily ground feeders, hopping beneath shrubs and feeders to scratch for seeds and small invertebrates.
Coastal and Waterfowl Examples
In aquatic environments, black and white plumage aids in hunting and camouflage against the open water.
Bufflehead
The male Bufflehead is a small diving duck with a white body and a black back. Its oversized head is black with an iridescent sheen, defined by a large, wedge-shaped white patch that wraps from the eye to the back of the crown. Buffleheads are active divers, using their powerful feet to propel themselves underwater to pursue aquatic invertebrates, crustaceans, and mollusks. They are often seen bobbing in sheltered coastal coves, estuaries, and large inland lakes during the winter months. This countershading helps them blend into the water’s surface, making them less visible to both predators and prey.
Razorbill
The Razorbill is a robust black and white seabird found in the North Atlantic that spends most of its life at sea. In breeding plumage, the Razorbill is jet black on the head, neck, and upperparts, with a stark white underside. A thin white line runs from the eye to the base of its unique, thick, laterally compressed black bill. Razorbills breed in dense colonies along rocky cliffs and islands, laying a single egg on a cliff ledge or in a crevice. These birds are exceptional divers, using their wings to “fly” underwater to hunt fish like sand eels and herring.