I know I’ll continue my habit of writing lists on bits of paper, but I thought it’d be useful to maintain an online list of the birds I’ve seen in our neighborhood. I’ve limited this to visitors to our yards and the nearby park.
“Birders, are ye?” Well, I prefer the term bird watching, mainly because Simon and I are very amateurish about the whole avian sighting thing. We’ve gotten into the habit only about four or five years ago. Having a garden helps, I tell ya. Along with binoculars.
I highly recommend the Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America as a guidebook. Since I often hear the birds before I see them, having good audio guides also help, such as the Peterson Field Guides Western Birding by Ear (a good teaching and learning resource) and Western Bird Songs (more comprehensive).
I also link to the corresponding page at the awesome Cornell Lab of Ornithology for each species. Their videos require QuickTime (pretty, but limited), and their audio samples require RealPlayer (ugh, why not MP3?), although the latter comes in both Mac and Linux versions. On to the list!
Common visitors
These include our year round avian neighbors and reliable migratory visitors.
- American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
- Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)
- Nothern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
- Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
- Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
- Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens)
- Oak Titmouse (Baeolophus inornatus)
- Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)
- American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
- Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata)
- Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)
- California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis)
- White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
- Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)
- House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
- Lesser Goldfinch (Carduelis psaltria)
- Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
- European House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Occasional visitors
Sighted now and again, usually a few times annually.
- Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
- Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
- Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
- Nuttall’s Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii)
- Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)
- Hooded Oriole (Icterus cucullatus)
- Brewer’s Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus)
- Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)
- Townsend’s Warbler (Dendroica townsendi)
- American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
- Black-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)
- European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Rare visitors
Some birds we’ve seen only once or thrice.
- Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
- Great Egret (Ardea alba)
- Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
- Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)
- Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus)
- Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia)
- Black-throated Grey Warbler (Dendroica nigrescens)
- Orange-crowned Warbler (Vermivora celata)
- Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus)
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