Bird watching is a great way to get closer to nature. What better way than watching birds from the comfort of your backyard!
Mississippi is home to a variety of bird species. A number of these birds live in Mississippi year-round while others are migratory birds and thus, only appear during certain seasons.
So, if you are wondering, what birds are in my backyard in Mississippi, read on to find out how to attract and identify these beautiful birds to your backyard.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 9.4 in (24 cm)
Weight: 2.0-3.2 oz (56-91 g)
Wingspan: 13.0-16.5 in (33-42 cm)
Red-bellied Woodpeckers are medium-sized Woodpeckers in the Picidae family. The name of this bird is misleading as the prominent red part of its plumage is on the head and not the belly. The scientific name for Red-bellied Woodpecker is Melanerpes carolinus.
Description
Red-bellied Woodpeckers are shinny and round-headed. They are the same size as the Hairy Woodpecker but lacks blocky outlines. The birds have long chisel-shaped bills and central tail feathers.
Red-bellied Woodpeckers are pale with boldly black and white striped back, wings and tail, and a flashing red cap and nape. The belly of the birds is pale, and the bill is brownish and black in adults. The birds have white perches near the wingtip when in flight. Female Red-bellied Woodpeckers lack the red crown.
Red-bellied Woodpeckers weigh 56 to 91 grams and are approximately 24 cm long. The birds have a wingspan of 33 to 42 cm.
Habitat
Red-bellied Woodpeckers can be found in most forests, woodlands, and wooden suburbs, including oak-hickory forest, pine-hardwood forest, maple and tulip-poplar stands, and Pine Flatwoods. They also inhabit the river bottoms and wetlands.
Food
Feeders that attract Red-bellied Woodpeckers are large hopper, suet cage, platform, and nectar feeders. In these feeders, you can put foods such as black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, safflower, peanut, mealworms, peanut hearts, cracked corn, sugar water, suet, or fruits. The birds also feed on insects, spiders, and other arthropods.
Nesting
Red-bellied Woodpeckers lay 2 to 6 smooth white eggs and incubate them for 12 days. The birds experience 1 to 3 broods in a year. The chicks are hatched naked, helpless, and with their eyes closed. Nestling takes 24 to 27 days.
Carolina Chickadee
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 3.9-4.7 in (10-12 cm)
Weight: 0.3-0.4 oz (8-12 g)
Wingspan: 5.9-7.9 in (15-20 cm)
The Carolina Chickadee is a small Passerine bird that belongs to the family of tit Paridae. The scientific name is the Poecile carolinensis.
Description
The Carolina Chickadee is a small approachable bird that has a short neck and large head, and this gives it a unique spherical body shape. It has a fairly long tail, and the bill is thicker than that of warblers but thinner than that of a finch.
These birds have a black cap and a bib separated by a stark white cheek. The wings, back, and tail are soft gray in color. The average weight of this bird is 8 to 12 grama and has an average length of 10 to 12 cm. The wingspan ranges between 15 to 20 cm.
Habitat
The Carolina Chickadee mainly resides in the forested areas or in the urban and suburban yards, or in the parks with large trees.
Food
If you want to attract the Carolina Chickadees, the most appropriate feeders to use are the suet cage, platform, large and small tube feeders, and the large hopper. Inside these feeders, you can put foods such as the hulled sunflower seeds, suet, peanuts, black oil sunflower seeds, safflower, Nyjer, and peanut hearts.
In the winter season, the diet of these birds is half plants and half animals, while the rest of the year, they mainly feed on insects and spiders.
Nesting
The Carolina Chickadees lay a clutch of 3 to 10 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 15 days. The eggs are white with fine dots to small blotches of reddish-brown. The average length of the eggs is 1.5 c and a width of 1.1 cm. They experience one brood in a year. The hatched chicks are usually naked except for wisps down on the head, wings, and the rump.
Eastern Kingbird
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 7.5-9.1 in (19-23 cm)
Weight: 1.2-1.9 oz (33-55 g)
Wingspan: 13.0-15.0 in (33-38 cm)
Eastern Kingbird is a medium-sized songbird in the tyrant family. Its scientific name is Tyrannus tyrannus.
Description
The bird has a large head with an upright posture and a square-tipped black tail. Their bills are short and straight. Eastern Kingbirds are black on the top and white underparts. The head of the flycatcher has a darker shade than the wings and the back. The tail has a conspicuous white tip.
Eastern Kingbirds usually have concealed crowns of yellow, orange, or red feathers on their heads. The birds raise the bright crown patch and stretch its beak wide open, revealing a red gape when it spots a potential predator.
Eastern Kingbird weighs 33 to 55 grams and is 19 to 23 cm long. They have a wingspan ranging between 33 to 38 cm. the birds are the size of robins.
Habitat
Eastern Kingbirds can be found in open habitats such as yards, fields, pastures, grasslands, or wetlands habitats. They are often spotted sited on fence wires waiting to catch an insect. During winters, they mostly inhabit the forests and forage in flocks in the forest canopies.
Food
The ideal feeder to attract Eastern Kingbirds in the ground feeder. In the feeder, you can put fruits and berries like blackberries and cherries. Eastern Kingbirds may visit open yards with scattered vegetation, trees, and many insects. They feed on insects like locusts, bugs, flies, beetles, bees, grasshoppers, among others.
Nesting
Eastern Kingbirds lay 2 to 5 oval eggs and have only one brood in a year. The eggs are pale and smooth with a striking ring of irregular reddish spots. The eggs are 2.1 to 2.7 cm long and 1.6 to 2 cm wide. Incubation takes 14 to17 days, and nesting takes 16 to 17 days.
Tufted Titmouse
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 5.5-6.3 in (14-16 cm)
Weight: 0.6-0.9 Oz (18-26 g)
Wingspan: 7.9-10.2 in (20-26 cm)
The Tufted Titmouse is a small songbird that belongs to the chickadee family Paridae and is mainly found in the US. The scientific name of this bird is Baeolophus bicolor.
Description
The Tufted Titmouse look large among the small birds that come to the same feeders with them, an impression that comes from their large heads and eyes, thick necks, and full-bodied. The pointed crest and stout bill help identify them even in silhouette.
These birds are soft silver-grey above and white below with a rusty or peach-colored wash down the flanks. A black patch just above the bill makes the bird look snub-nosed.
The average weight of this bird is 18 to 26 grams with a length of 14 to 16 cm. The wingspan ranges from 20 to 26 cm.
Habitat
The Tufted Titmouse is mostly found in the woodlands below 2000 feet elevation, including the deciduous and evergreen forest. These birds are also common to visitors at the feeders and can be found in backyards, orchards, and parks.
Food
If you want to attract the Tufted Titmouse, the ideal feeders are large and small tube feeders, suet cage, and platform, large and small hopper. In these feeders, you can put food such as safflower, peanuts, suet, black oil sunflower seeds, peanut hearts, and hulled sunflower seeds.
They also feed on insects, especially during the summer. They include the caterpillars, bugs, treehoppers, wasp, and ants, among others. They also feed on berries to supplement their diet.
Nesting
The Tufted Titmouse lay a clutch of 3 to 9 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 14 days. The eggs are white to creamy white, spotted with chestnut red, brown, purple, or lilac. They experience one brood in a year. The chicks are hatched naked, pink, and with their eyes closed.
Red-winged Blackbird
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 6.7-9.1 in (17-23 cm)
Weight: 1.1-2.7 oz (32-77 g)
Wingspan: 12.2-15.8 in (31-40 cm)
Red-winged Blackbirds are passerine birds of the Icteridae family. The scientific name for Red-winged Blackbird is Agelaius phoeniceus.
Description
Red-winged Blackbirds have broad shoulders and slender conical bills. The birds have a medium-length tail. The birds usually show a hump-backed silhouette while perched. The male Blackbirds sit with their tail slightly flared.
Male species of this bird are glossy black with shoulder badges that are red and yellow in color. The females are crispy-streaked and dark brownish with paler breasts. The birds have a whitish eyebrow and a yellowish wash around the bill.
Red-winged Blackbirds weigh 32 to 77 grams and are 17 to 23 cm long. The wingspan of the birds is 31 to 40 cm.
Habitat
Red-winged Blackbirds usually breed in wet places like fresh or saltwater marshes and rice paddies. They also breed in dry places such as the sedge meadows, fallow fields, and alfalfa fields. The birds occasionally nest in wooded areas along waterways. During winter, the birds can be found in feedlots, pastures, grasslands, and agricultural fields.
Food
To attract red-winged Blackbirds, you can use large tube feeders, large hopper, platform, and ground feeders. In these feeders, you can put foods such as oats, millet, cracked corn, black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, peanut hearts, and milo. Red-winged Blackbirds also feed on insects.
Nesting
Red-winged Blackbirds lay 2 to 4 eggs and incubate them for 11 to 14 days. The eggs are pale blue-green to gray speckled with black or brown. The birds experience 1 or 2 broods in a year. The chicks are hatched blind, clumsy, and naked with scant buffy or grayish down. The nesting period is 11 to 14 days.
Eastern Bluebird
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 6.3-8.3 in (16-21 cm)
Weight: 1.0-1.1 oz (28-32 g)
Wingspan: 9.8-12.6 in (25-32 cm)
Description
The scientific name for this bird is Sialia sialis. The Eastern Bluebird is a small thrush with a big round head. The bird has large eyes, a plump body, and an alert posture. Eastern Bluebird’s bill is short and straight.
The male Eastern Bluebirds are deep blue on the top side and brick-red or rusty on both the breast and throat. They often look plain gray-brown from a distance. Female Eastern Bluebirds are greyish above and have bluish wings and tails. They have a subdued orange-brown breast.
The birds forage by fluttering to the ground and grabbing insects or catching them mid-air.
Eastern Bluebirds weigh 28 to 32 grams and are 16 to 21 centimeters long. The wingspan of the birds ranges between 25 to 32 cm.
Habitat
The Eastern Bluebirds are mostly found in meadows, open areas surrounded by trees, and areas with sparse ground cover. They are also common in golf courses, along roads, field edges, and other open areas like suburban parks and backyards.
Food
The ideal feeder type to attract Eastern Bluebird is Platform and ground feeders. In these feeders, you can put mealworms, fruits, peanut hearts, and suet. These birds also feed on insects like caterpillars, crickets, spiders, grasshoppers, and beetles.
Nesting
Eastern Bluebirds lay 2 to 7 eggs and have 1 to 3 broods in a year. The eggs are pale blue or rarely white. The eggs are 1.8 to 2.4 cm long and 1.5 to 1.9 cm wide. The incubation period is 11 to 19 days, and the nesting period is 17 to 21 days. The nestlings are hatched naked except for sparse tufts of dingy grey down and their eyes closed.
Eastern Towhee
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 6.8-8.2 in (17.3-20.8 cm)
Weight: 1.1-1.8 oz (32-52 g)
Wingspan: 7.9-11.0 in (20-28 cm)
Description
The Eastern Towhee is a large new wild sparrow. The scientific name is the Pipilo erythrophthalmus.
The Towhees are more of large sparrows. They have a thick, triangular, seed cracking bill as a tip-off; they are in the family of sparrows. They also have a chunky body and a long-rounded tail. The males are bold sooty black on the upper part and on the chest with warm rufous sides and whitish on the abdomen. Females have a similar pattern but are rich brown, whereas the males are black.
Habitat
The Eastern Towhees are mainly found in brush, tangles, thickets, and along forest edges where there is plenty of leaf litter for the birds to forage in.
Food
If you want to attract the Eastern Towhees, the ideal feeders are the platform and ground. Inside these feeders, you can put foods such as the millet, milo, cracked corn and peanuts hearts, black oils, sunflower seeds, and the hulled sunflower seeds.
Nesting
The birds lay a clutch of between 2 to 6 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 13 days. The eggs are usually creamy, grayish, pinkish, or greenish-white spotted and speckled down. They experience 1 to 3 broods in a year. The average length of the bird is 2 to 2.6 cm, with an average width of 1.7 to 1.9 cm. The chicks are born naked except for the sparse tufts of grayish down and with their eyes closed.
Northern Cardinal
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 8.3-9.1 in (21-23 cm)
Weight: 1.5-1.7 oz (42-48 g)
Wingspan: 9.8-12.2 in (25-31 cm)
The Northern Cardinal, also known as the Redbird, Red Cardinal, or the Common Cardinal. It is a medium-sized songbird in the genus Cardinalis. The scientific name for Northern Cardinal is Cardinalis cardinalis.
Description
The Northern Cardinal has a long tail, short thick bill, and a prominent crest. The birds usually sit with a hunched-over posture with the tail pointing straight down.
Northern Cardinals have a black face and red-orange bill. Male Northern Cardinals are brilliant red with a reddish bill, black throat, and a black face around the bill. Female cardinals are pale brown with warm reddish tinges in the tail, wings, and crest.
Northern Cardinals weigh 42 to 48 grams and are 21 to 23 cm long. The birds have a wingspan of 25 to 31 cm.
Habitat
Northern Cardinals are found in dense shrubby areas such as forest edges, overgrown fields, hedgerows, marshy thickets, regrowing forests, mesquite, backyards, and ornamental landscaping. The birds usually nest in dense foliage and look for conspicuous high perches for singing.
Food
The ideal feeders to attract Northern Cardinals are ground, platform, large hopper, and large tube feeders. In these feeders, you can put milo, black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, peanut hearts, millet, safflower, and cracked corn. Northern Cardinals also eat beetles, flies, centipedes, spiders, moths, butterflies, leafhoppers, cicadas, and crickets.
Nesting
Northern Cardinals lay 2 to 5 eggs and incubate them for 11 to 13 days. The eggs are greyish-white, buffy white, or greenish-white with pale grey to brown speckles. The birds have 1 to 2 broods in a year. The chicks are hatched clumsy, eyes closed and naked except for the sparse tufts of greyish down.
Blue Jay
Length: 9.8-11.8 in (25-30 cm)
Weight: 2.5-3.5 oz (70-100 g)
Wingspan: 13.4-16.9 in (34-43 cm)
The Blue Jay is a bird from the Cervidae family and lives in most parts of the US. Some of its population is migratory while other is not. Its scientific name is the Cyanocitta cristata.
Description
The Blue Jay is a large crested songbird with a broad, rounded tail. They are bigger than the robins but smaller than the crows. The color of this bird is white or light grey in the underparts, with some shades of blue, black, and white on the upper part. The crest is bluish too.
The average weight of the Blue Jay is between 70 to 100 grams with a length of between 25 to 30 cm. The average wingspan is 34 to 43 cm.
Habitat
The blue Jays are birds of forest edges. They mainly feed on acorns, and they are often found near oaks, forests, towns, woodlots, cities, and parks.
Food
If you want to attract the Blue Jays, the ideal feeders are the platform, ground, large and small tube feeders, and the suet cage. Inside these feeders, you can put seeds such as millet, cracked corn. Milo, peanuts, peanut hearts, suet, safflower, hulled sunflower seeds, and the black oil sunflower seeds. These birds also can feed on insects’ fruits and injured small vertebrates.
Nesting
The Blue Jays lay a clutch of between 2 to 7 eggs and incubate them for 17 to 18 days. The eggs are usually bluish or light brown with some brownish spots. They have one brood in a year. The hatched chicks are usually helpless, naked, and their eyes are closed with their mouth lining red.
Northern Mockingbird
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 8.3-10.2 in (21-26 cm)
Weight: 1.6-2.0 oz (45-58 g)
Wingspan: 12.2-13.8 in (31-35 cm)
The Northern Mockingbird is a Mockingbird in North America known for its mimicking ability. The scientific name of the Northern Mockingbird is Mimus polyglottos.
Description
Northern Mockingbirds are medium-sized mockingbirds, leaner than a thrush and with a long tail. The birds have small heads and long thin bills with hints of a downward curve. They have long legs and short, round and broad wings that make the tail appear long when they fly.
Northern Mockingbirds are grey-brown with paler breasts and bellies. The birds have two white wing bars on each wing. Perched birds have a visible white patch in each wing that becomes large white flashes when the birds fly. The white outer tail feathers of the mockingbirds are flashy when they are flying.
Northern Mockingbirds weigh 45 to 58 grams and are 21 to 26 cm long. The wingspan of the birds is 31 to 35 cm.
Habitat
Northern Mockingbirds are common in areas with open ground and shrubby vegetation like hedges, fruiting bushes, and thickets. The birds prefer grassy areas to bare spots when foraging on the ground. You can find the birds in parks, cultivated land, suburban areas and backyards.
Food
To attract Northern Mockingbirds, you can use platform or ground feeders. In these feeders, you can put peanut hearts, mealworms, fruits, hulled sunflower seeds, or suet. During summer, the birds mostly feed on insects such as beetles, moths, butterflies, earthworms, grasshoppers, and wasps.
Nesting
Northern Mockingbirds lay 2 to 6 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 13 days. The eggs are pale blue or greenish-white with red or brown spots. The birds experience 2 to 3 broods in a year. Chicks are hatched naked, blind, helpless, and with a light grey down.
Mourning Dove
MEASUREMENTS
Male
Length: 9.1-13.4 in (23-34 cm)
Weight: 3.4-6.0 oz (96-170 g)
Wingspan: 17.7 in (45 cm)
Female
Weight: 3.0-5.5 oz (86-156 g)
Wingspan: 17.7 in (45 cm)
Mourning Dove, also known as the American Mourning Dove or the Rain Dove, is a medium-sized member of the dove family, Columbidae. Other names used to refer to the Mourning Dove are the Turtle Dove, Carolina Pigeon, and Carolina Turtledove. The scientific name for the Mourning Dove is Zenaida macroura.
Description
Mourning Doves have plump bodies with short legs and small bills. The head of the bird appears small in comparison to the body. They have a long, pointed tail that is unique among other North American Doves.
Mourning Doves are grey to delicate brown above with large black spots on their wings and a black-bordered white tip to the tail feathers. They have a pale peach-colored below. The birds have a long thin tail and a thin black bill. The legs of the birds are pinkish. The eyes are dark, surrounded by light skin. Adult male Mourning Doves have a distinct bluish-grey color on their crowns. Females have more brown coloring and are a little smaller than males.
Male Mourning Doves weigh 96 to 170 grams and are 23 to 24 cm long. Their wingspan is approximately 45 cm. Females weigh 86 to 156 grams and have a wingspan of 45 cm.
Habitat
Mountain Doves live in the open country, scattered trees, and woodland edges. You will rarely find these birds in the deep woods. The birds feed on the ground in grasslands, agricultural fields, roadsides, and backyards.
Food
To attract Mourning Dove, you can use a large hopper, platform, and ground feeders. In these feeders, you can put milo, oats, Nyjer, cracked corn, millet, peanut hearts, black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, and safflower. The birds sometimes eat snails, weeds, herbs, and berries.
Nesting
Mourning Doves lay two white eggs and incubate them for 14 days. The birds have 1 to 6 broods in a year. The chicks are hatched with their eyes closed, helpless, sparsely covered in cream-colored down, and dependent on the adults for warmth. The young doves stay in the nest for 12 to 15 days.
Carolina Wren
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.7-5.5 in (12-14 cm)
Weight: 0.6-0.8 oz (18-22 g)
Wingspan: 11.4 in (29 cm)
The Carolina Wren is a popular species of the wren that resides in most parts of the Americas. The scientific name of this bird is the Thryothorus ludovicianus.
Description
The Carolina Wren is a small Chunky bird with a round body and a long tail that it cocks upwards so often. The head is large with a little neck, and the distinctive bill marks it as a wren; long, slender, and downcurved. The birds are bright unpatterned reddish-brown with a long white elbow stripe, dark bill, and white in and throat.
The average weight of the bird is 18 to 22 grams with a length of 12 to 14 cm. The wingspan average is 29 cm.
Habitat
If you want to see or listen to the Carolina Wrens as they sing and call, you should go to the dense vegetation in the wooded areas and more so in forest ravines and neighborhoods. They love to move low through tangled understory; they frequent backyard brush piles and areas chocked with vines and bushes.
Food
If you want to attract the Carolina Wrens, the ideal feeders are large and small hoppers, suet cage, large tube feeder, ground, and platform. Inside these feeders, you can put foods such as the suet, hulled sunflower seeds, and peanut hearts.
These birds also feed on insects and spiders. Insects include beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, cockroaches, and moths. They also feed on fruits and berries in small amounts.
Nesting
The Carolina Wrens lay a clutch of 3 to 7 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 16 days. The eggs are white, cream, or pinkish-white with fine rusty brown spots. They usually have one brood in a year. The hatched chicks have their eyes closed with a pale grayish down.
Downy Woodpecker
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 5.5-6.7 in (14-17 cm)
Weight: 0.7-1.0 oz (21-28 g)
Wingspan: 9.8-11.8 in (25-30 cm)
Description
The scientific name of Downy Woodpecker is Dryobates pubescens. They are small with a chisel-shaped straight bill, which appears too small for the bird’s size. The birds have blocky heads, wide shoulders, and straight-backed posture.
Downy Woodpeckers have a checkered black and white body. Their above is black checked with white on the wings, and the head is boldly striped. The back of a Downy Woodpecker has a broad white stripe down the center. The male Woodpeckers have a small red patch on the back of their heads, and the outer tail feathers are white with a few black spots.
Downy woodpeckers weigh 21 to 28 grams and are 14 to 17 cm long. The birds’ wingspan ranges between 25 to 30 cm.
Habitat
Downy Woodpeckers are often found in open woodlands, especially in the deciduous woods, brushy or weedy edges, and along the streams. They can also be found in orchards, city parks, backyards, and vacant lots.
Food
To attract Downy Woodpeckers, the ideal feeder types to use is platform feeder, large hopper, small hopper, or a suet cage. In the feeders, you can put peanut hearts, safflower, peanuts, mealworms, black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, and suet. The birds also feed on insects like beetle larvae, caterpillars, bark beetles, and apple borers.
Nesting
Downy Woodpeckers lay 3 to 8 white eggs and have one brood in a year. The eggs are 1.9 to 2 cm long and 1.4 to 1.5 cm wide. Incubation takes 12 days, and nesting takes 18 to 21 days. The nestlings are hatched naked with pink skin, eyes closed, and with a sharp egg tooth at the tip of the bill.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Brown Thrasher
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 9.1-11.8 in (23-30 cm)
Weight: 2.1-3.1 Oz (61-89 g)
Wingspan: 11.4-12.6 in (29-32 cm)
The Brown Thrasher is a bird that belongs to the family of Mimidae, which includes the mockingbirds and New World catbirds. The scientific name of this bird is the Toxostoma rufum.
Description
The Brown Thrasher is a fairly large, slender songbird that contains long, sturdy legs and a long and slightly down-curved bill. The tail is long as well and often cocked upwards like in the Wren.
The average weight of this bird is 61 to 89 grams with a length of 23 to 30 cm. The average wingspan of this bird is 29 to 32 cm.
Habitat
The Brown Thrashers live in the scrubby fields, dense regenerating woods, and the forest edges. They rarely move far from the thick undergrowth into which they can easily retreat.
Food
If you want to attract Brown Thrasher, the most appropriate feeders are ground and platform. You can put foods such as suet, cracked corn, peanut hearts, hulled sunflower seeds, and black oil sunflower seeds inside these feeders.
These birds also feed on insects, arthropods, along with fruits. They literally form on the ground by sweeping their bills through the leaf litter soil with quick, sideways motions. They feed on insects such as bees, wasps, leafhoppers, treehoppers, grasshoppers, etc. The berries include blueberry, hackberries, currant, grapes, cherry, and strawberry.
Nesting
These birds lay a clutch of 2 to 6 eggs, and they incubate for 10 to 14 days. The eggs are glossy pale blue, pale greenish-blue, with many red-brown speckles. The length of the eggs is 2.6 to 2.7 cm, with a width of 1.9 to 2 cm. The chicks are hatched with closed eyes, pink skin with scattered tufts of grey-white down. They usually have 1 to 2 broods a year.
American Robin
Length: 7.9-11.0 in (20-28 cm)
Weight: 2.7-3.0 oz (77-85 g)
Wingspan: 12.2-15.8 in (31-40 cm)
Description
The American Robin is a migratory songbird named after the European Robin because of its reddish-orange breast. The scientific name of the American Robin is Turdus migratorius. The bird is largely distributed in the north.
There are seven subspecies of the American Robin, namely, the eastern Robin, the Newfoundland Robin, the Southern Robin, the Western Robin, the Northwestern Robin, the Mexican Robin, and the San Lucas Robin.
The American Robins are large songbirds with a round body, long legs, and a long tail. They are the largest North American thrushes. They are gray-brown in color with warm orange underparts. A white patch on the lower belly and under the tail is conspicuous when they are flying. They have pointed, thin beaks. Female American Robins have paler heads than the male.
The birds weigh between 72 to 94 grams for the male and females 59 to 91 grams. They are 20 to 28 centimeters long and have a wingspan ranging from 31 to 40 cm.
Feeding
American Robins are attracted by platform and ground feeders. They love feeding on peanut hearts, suet, sunflower seeds that have been hulled, fruits, and mealworms. The Robins feed mainly on fruit during the fall and winter. They sometimes become intoxicated when they feed exclusively on berries such as the honeysuckle.
Habitat
The birds usually breed in woodlands, open farmlands, and urban areas. The birds prefer large shade trees on lawns. During winter, they inhabit more open areas.
Nesting
American Robins construct their nests 1.5 to 4.5 meters above the ground in the dense bush. The female Robin lays a clutch of 3 to 5 light blue eggs and incubates them for 14 days.
European Starling
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 7.9-9.1 in (20-23 cm)
Weight: 2.1-3.4 oz (60-96 g)
Wingspan: 12.2-15.8 in (31-40 cm)
Description
The Common Starling, also known as the European Starling, is a medium-sized bird that belongs to the family of Sturnidae. In Great Britain, it is simply known as the Starling. Its scientific name is the Sturnus vulgaris.
The Starlings are chunky and blackbird-sized but with short tails and long slender beaks. During the flights, their wings are short and pointed, which makes them look like small, four-pointed stars.
The Starlings look black when viewed from a distance. They are purplish-green during the summer with yellow beaks. While In winter, they are brown covered in brilliant white spots. The average weight of these birds is 60 to 96 grams and an average length of 10 to 23 cm. The wingspan ranges from 31 to 40 cm.
Habitat
The Starlings are mainly found in the urban areas, suburbs, and countryside near human settlements. They feed on the ground on lawns, fields, sidewalks, and parking lots. They perch and roost high on wires, trees, and buildings.
Food
If you want to attract the Starlings, the ideal feeders include the large hopper, suet cage, platform, ground, and large tube feeder. Inside these feeders, you can put foods such as oats, milo, peanuts, cracked corn, suet, millet, black oil sunflower seeds, and hulled sunflower seeds.
The Starlings eat almost everything, but mainly they eat the insects, invertebrates when they are available. The common preys include grasshoppers, flies, spiders, millipedes, snails, earthworms, and beetles. They also feed on fruits and wild berries.
Nesting
The Starlings lay a clutch of 3 to 6 eggs and incubate them for 12 days. The eggs are bluish or greenish-white. They experience 1 to 2 broods a year. The hatched chicks are usually helpless with sparse grayish down.
House Finch
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 5.1-5.5 in (13-14 cm)
Weight: 0.6-0.9 oz (16-27 g)
Wingspan: 7.9-9.8 in (20-25 cm)
The House Finch is a small bird in the finch family, which is common in the US. The scientific name of the bird is the Haemorhous mexicanus.
Description
These birds are small in body size, and they too have a fairly large beak and a long flat head. The wings are short, making their tail seem long by comparison. The majority of the finches have uniquely notched tails, but the house finch has a relatively shallow notch in its tail.
On the face side and upper breasts, the male Finches are rosy with streaky brown back, belly, and tail. During the flight, the red rump is conspicuous. The adult females are not red, and they are grayish-brown with thick, blurry streaks and an indistinctly marked face.
The average weight of the bird is 16 to 27 grams and has a length of 3 to 14 cm. Its wingspan ranges from 20 to 25 cm.
Habitat
The House Finches are mainly found in the city parks, backyards, urban centers, farms, and forest edges across the US. They are also found in their native habitats of deserts, grasslands, chaparral, and open woods.
Food
If you want to attract the House Finches, the ideal feeders to use are the small and large hoppers, large and smaller tube feeders, and the platform. The ideal food to put inside these feeders includes the black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, Nyjer, and safflower.
They also feed in insects, buds, and fruits. Some of the wild foods they feed on are mulberry, cherries, peaches, pears, blackberries, plums, strawberries, and figs.
Nesting
The House Finches lay a clutch of 2 to 6 eggs and incubate them for 13 to 14 days. The eggs are pale blue to white, speckled with fine, black, and pale purple. Within a year, they experience 1 to 6 broods. The chicks are hatched naked except for the sparse white down along feather tracts with the eyes closed.
Pine Warbler
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 5.1-5.5 in (13-14 cm)
Weight: 0.3-0.5 oz (9-15 g)
Wingspan: 7.5-9.1 in (19-23 cm)
The Pine Warbler is a small songbird of the new world warbler family. The scientific name of this bird is the Setophaga pinus.
Description
The Pine Warblers are hefty long-tailed warblers that have a stout bill. The tail tip usually appears to have a central notch. These are yellowish birds with olive backs, whitish berries, and two popular white wing bars on gray wings. The males are the brightest, and the females or the young ones are more subdued and can even appear gray-brown.
The average weight of this bird is 9 to 15 grams, with an average wingspan of 19 to 23 cm.
Habitat
The Pine Warblers spend most of their time in pine trees. They can be in a pine forest or a deciduous tree. They are found in the same habitats in winter, but they also visit backyards and come to bird feeders to eat seeds and suet.
Food
If you want to attract the Pine Warbler, the ideal feeders include the suet cage, platform, small hopper, large and small tube feeder. Inside those feeders, you can keep foods such as the suet, hulled sunflower seeds, and peanuts.
These birds mainly feed on caterpillars, spiders, and other arthropods. They also take some fruits as seeds, especially during the colder months. During the migration, they at times feed on the deciduous trees.
Nesting
The Pine Warbler lays a clutch of 3 to 5 eggs and proceeds to incubate them for ten to13 days. The eggs are whitish, grayish, or greenish-white with brown speckles. They experience 1 to 2 broods in a year.
White-throated Sparrow
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 6.3-7.1 in (16-18 cm)
Weight: 0.8-1.1 oz (22-32 g)
Wingspan: 7.9-9.1 in (20-23 cm)
The White-throated Sparrow is a bird of the new world sparrow family passerellidae. The scientific name of the bird is Zonotrichia albicollis.
Description
The White-throated Sparrow is a large, full-bodied sparrow with a prominent bill, long legs, rounded head, and narrow bill. This bird is brown above and gray below with a similar pattern on the head. The head is striped with black and augmented by a yellow between the eye and the bill and bright white throat.
You will also see a less boldly marked form with a buff on brown face pattern instead of white and black. The average weight of the bird is 22 to 32 grams with a length of 16 to 18 cm. The wingspan ranges from 20 to 23 cm.
Habitat
The ideal places to find the White-throated Sparrows are in woods, at forest edges, in the regrowth that follows logging or forest fires, at pond and bog edges, and in corpses near the tree line. During the winter season, you will find them in thickets, overgrown fields, suburbs, parks, and woodsy. They sometimes come into the backyard for birdseed.
Food
If you want to attract the White-throated Sparrow, the ideal feeders include the platform and ground. Inside these feeders, you can put food such as milo, cracked corn, millet, black oil sunflower seeds, and hulled sunflower seeds.
These birds also feed on the weeds and grasses, including buckwheat, ragweed. They also eat fruits such as the grape, sumac, rose, blueberry, cranberry, mountain ash, and dogwood. They sometimes eat some insects such as beetles, flies, caterpillars, spiders, beetles, and dragonflies.
Nesting
These birds lay a clutch of one to six eggs and incubate them for 11 to 14 days. The eggs are very pale blue or greenish-blue speckled with purplish, chestnut, and lilac. They experience one to two broods in a year. The hatched chicks are usually naked except for sparse patches of brown down on the head, back and wings with closed eyes.
Eastern Phoebe
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 5.5-6.7 in (14-17 cm)
Weight: 0.6-0.7 oz (16-21 g)
Wingspan: 10.2-11.0 in (26-28 cm)
Description
The Eastern Phoebe is a small passerine bird. The scientific name of this bird is the Sayornis phoebe.
The Eastern Phoebe is a plumb songbird with a medium-length tail. It appears big-headed for a bird of its size. The head appears flat at the top, but phoebe sometimes raises the feather up into a peak. They have a short, thin bill used for catching insects.
These birds are brownish-gray above and off-white below with a dusky wash to the sides of the breast. The head is the darkest part among the upper parts. Birds in the fresh fall plumage show whitish edging on the folded wing feathers and faint yellow on the belly.
The average weight of the bird is 16 to 21 grams with a length of 14 to 17 cm. The wingspan ranges from 26 to 28 cm.
Habitat
The Eastern Phoebe prefers open woods such as yards, parks, woodlands, and woodland edges. They usually breed around the buildings and bridges on which they construct their nests under the protection of the eave or ledge.
Food
The Eastern Phoebes mainly feed on flying insects. The common preys include wasps, beetles, dragonflies, butterflies, midges, flies, moths, and cicadas. They also eat spiders, ticks, millipedes, and sometimes small fruits.
To attract the birds, you need to ensure the environment attracts the insects, which are the primary food. You can keep the bushes and shrubs.
Nesting
The Eastern Phoebe lays a clutch of between 2 to 6 eggs, and they incubate them for 15 to 16 days. The eggs are white, sometimes speckled with reddish-brown. They experience one to two broods a year. The hatched chicks are usually helpless with their eyes closed and with a sparse gray down.
White-eyed Vireo
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.3-5.1 in (11-13 cm)
Weight: 0.3-0.5 oz (10-14 g)
Wingspan: 6.7 in (17 cm)
The White-eyed Vireo is a small songbird that breeds in the United States. The scientific name of this bird is the Vireo griseus.
Description
The White-eyed Vireo is a small songbird that has a thick, straight, and slightly hooked bill. It has a rather compact body and a thick neck. These birds wear a yellow spectacle surrounding their white eyes, and yellow washed sides, a gray head, a white chest and throat, and two white wing bars. The chicks have a dark eye that turns white in their first winter or spring.
The average weight of the bird is 10 to 14 grams with an average length of 11 to 13 cm. The wingspan average is 17 cm
Habitat
The White-eyed Vireos are found mainly in deciduous scrub, overgrown pastures, forested edges, old fields, second-growth forests, and streamside thickets. In some areas, they also inhabit mangroves.
Food
The White-eyed Vireos mainly feed on caterpillars, beetles, leafhoppers, moths, lacewings, and spiders. They swallow small items on the spot, but for the large ones, they pin them down using their feet before eating them.
During the non-breeding season, they also feed on fruits such as poison ivy, dogwood, pokeweed, sumac, as well as tropical fruits.
Nesting
These birds lay a clutch of 3 to 5 eggs and incubate them for 13 to 15 days. The laid eggs are white in color and with sparse spotting. They experience one or two broods in a year. The hatched chicks are naked and with closed eyes.
Common Grackle
Length: 11.0-13.4 in (28-34 cm)
MEASUREMENTS
Weight: 2.6-5.0 oz (74-142 g)
Wingspan: 14.2-18.1 in (36-46 cm)
Description
The Common Grackle is a large icterid that is mostly found in the US. The scientific name of this bird is the Quiscalus quiscula.
The Common Grackles are large, blackbirds that have long legs and long tails. It also has a flat head and a bill that is longer than most of the blackbirds, with the hint of a downward curve. Whenever they are in flight, the wings appear shoer as compared to the tail. The males are a bit larger than the females.
They appear black from a distance but up close, their glossy purple heads contras with bronzy iridescent bodies. The females are less glossy compared to males. The chicks are dark brown with dark eyes.
The average weight is 74 to 142 grams with an average length of 28 to 34 cm. The wingspan ranges between 36 to 46 cm.
Habitat
The Common Grackles mainly live in agricultural fields, feedlots, parks, and suburban lawns. They are also popular around open habitats, including the woodland, forest edges, meadows, and marshes.
Food
If you are interested in attracting the Common Grackles, the ideal feeders are the Platform, ground, and the large hopper. Inside these feeders, you can put foods such as the milo, millets, peanut hearts, peanut, cracked corn, safflower, suet, hulled sunflower seeds, and black oil sunflower seeds.
These birds also feed on fruits and small animals such as fish, frogs, caterpillars, spiders, grasshoppers’ mice and other birds.
Nesting
The Common Grackles lay a clutch of 1 to 7 eggs and incubate them for a period of 11 to 15 days. The eggs are light blue, pearl grey, white, or dark brown, usually spotted with brown. They experience 1 to 2 broods a year. The chicks are hatched blind and naked.
Brown-headed Cowbird
Male
Length: 7.5-8.7 in (19-22 cm)
Weight: 1.5-1.8 oz. (42-50 g)
Wingspan: 14.2 in (36 cm)
Female
Length: 6.3-7.9 in (16-20 cm)
Weight: 1.3-1.6 Oz (38-45 g)
Wingspan: 12.6-15.0 in (32-38 cm)
The brown-headed Cowbird is a small parasitic bird that originates from the US. Its scientific name is the Molothrus later.
Description
The Brown-headed Cowbird is a small blackbird that has a shorter tail and a thicker head than most blackbirds. The bill has a unique shape, and it is much shorter and thicker as compared to other blackbirds, almost finch-like at first sight. In-flight, look for a shorter tail.
The male birds have black plumage and a thick brown head that sometimes look dark when there is not enough lighting or in a distance. The females are plain brown birds, lightest on the head and underparts, with the fine streaking on the belly and a dark eye.
The average weight of a male Cowbird is 42 to 50 grams, while the female is 38 to 45 grams. The average length is 16 to 20 cm for a female, while the male is 19 to 22 cm. The wingspan average is 36 cm.
Habitat
They mostly live in open areas such as the fields, pastures, meadows, forest edges, and lawns.
Food
If you want to attract the Brown-headed Cowbirds, the ideal feeders are platform, ground, and large hopper. Inside these feeders, you can put food such as cracked corn, milo, millet, oats, hulled sunflower seeds, peanut hearts, and black oil sunflower seeds.
These birds also feed on grasses and weeds. They also eat insects such as grasshoppers and beetles.
Nesting
These birds lay a clutch of 1 to 7 eggs and incubate them for 10 to 12 days. The eggs are white to grayish-white with brown or gray spots. The chicks are hatched naked with eyes closed.
Red-headed Woodpecker
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 7.5-9.1 in (19-23 cm)
Weight: 2.0-3.2 oz (56-91 g)
Wingspan: 16.5 in (42 cm)
Red-headed Woodpeckers are small or medium-sized Woodpeckers in North America. The scientific name for Red-headed Woodpecker is Melanerpes erythrocephalus.
Description
Red-headed Woodpeckers are fairly large with round heads and short, stiff tails. The birds have powerful spike-like bills. The birds are about the size of a Hairy Woodpecker.
Adult Red-headed Woodpeckers have bright red heads, white underparts, and black backs. The birds have large white patches in the wings that make their lower back appear all white when perched. Immature Red-headed Woodpeckers have gray-brown heads and rows of black spots near the trailing edge of the white wings.
Red-headed Woodpeckers weigh 56 to 91 grams and are 19 to 23 cm long. The wingspan of the bird is approximately 42 cm.
Habitat
Red-headed Woodpeckers can be found in deciduous woodlands with beech or oak, river bottoms, burned areas, orchards, beaver swamps, grasslands with scattered trees, farmlands, parks, roadsides, and forest edges. During the breeding season, the birds inhabit the dead or partially dead trees. In winter, the birds live in mature stands of forest, especially oak, maple, ash, beech, and oak-hickory.
Food
To attract red-headed Woodpeckers, the ideal feeder to use is the suet cage. In the feeder, you can put black oil sunflower seeds, corn, and suet. The bird’s insect diet consists of honeybees, grasshoppers, midges, beetles, and cicadas.
Nesting
Red-headed Woodpeckers lay 3 to 10 white eggs and incubate them for 12 to 14 days. The birds experience one or two broods in a year. The chicks are hatched naked and with their eyes closed. The nestlings spend 24 to 31 days in the nest being fed by their parents.
Indigo Bunting
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.7-5.1 in (12-13 cm)
Weight: 0.4-0.6 oz (12-18 g)
Wingspan: 7.5-8.7 in (19-22 cm)
The Indigo Banting is a small seed-eating bird that belongs to the cardinal family, Cardinalidae. It is migratory. The scientific name of this bird is the Passerina cyanea.
Description
The Indigo Buntings are small, stocky birds with short tails and short thick conical bills. Whenever they are on the flight, they appear plumb with short, rounded tails.
A breeding male species of this bird is usually blue almost everywhere, with slight rich blue on the head and a small silver-gray bill. The females are usually brown with a faith streaking on the breast, a whitish throat, and sometimes a touch of blue on the wings, tail, or rump. The young males are patchy blue and brown.
The average weight of this bird is 12 to 18 grams with a length of 12 to 13 cm. The wingspan ranges from 19 to 22 cm.
Habitat
These birds are commonly found in weedy and bush areas, especially where the field meets the forest. They love edges, hedgerows, overgrown patches, and brushy roadsides. When they are not singing from the tallest perches in the area, they can be seen foraging among the seed laded shrubs and grasses.
Food
The Indigo Buntings feed on small seeds, berries, buds, and insects. Some of the seeds they feed on include thistles, goldenrods, dandelions, and grains such as oats. Some of the berries include blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, serviceberries, and elderberries. They feed on insects such s caterpillars.
Nesting
The Indigo Bunting lay a clutch of 3 to 4 eggs and incubate them for 11 to 14 days. The eggs are usually unmarked white, and some have brownish spots. They experience 1 to 3 broods in a year. The chicks are hatched naked, helpless, and with closed eyes.
American Goldfinch
Length: 4.3-5.1 in (11-14 cm)
Weight: 0.4-0.7 oz (11-20 g)
Wingspan: 7.5-8.7 in (19-22 cm)
The American Goldfinch is a migratory bird widely distributed in North America. The scientific name of the American Goldfinch is Spinus tristis. There are four subspecies of the American Goldfinch, namely, the Eastern Goldfinch, the Pale Goldfinch, the NorthWestern Goldfinch, and the Willow Goldfinch.
The American Goldfinch is the only Finch in its subfamily that undergoes complete sloughing twice a year. The bird sheds all its feathers apart from the wing and the tail feathers in the autumn and spring seasons of the year.
Description
The adult male American Goldfinch is vibrant yellow with a black forehead and black wings with white marks in summer and olive in color during the winter season. The female American Goldfinch is dull yellow with two distinct wing bars in the summer and buffy brown during winter.
The birds have a short conical bill, long wings, a small head, and a small tail with notches.
The American Goldfinch weighs between 11 to 20 grams and has a length of between 11 to 14 centimeters. The birds have a wingspan of 19 to 22 centimeters.
Habitat
The birds are mostly found in weedy fields, cultivated areas, roadsides, backyards, floodplains, gardens, and orchards where thistles and asters are common.
Feeding
American Goldfinches are attracted by almost all bird feeders, including tube, platform, hanging, ground, and hopper feeders. To be able to attract these birds, feed them on sunflower seeds that have bee hulled, Nyjer, and black oil sunflower seeds. American Goldfinches are strict vegetarians and feed on a vegetable diet only, and swallow insects occasionally only by accident.
Nesting
The birds build their nests on branches of trees or shrubs at a height of up to 10 meters. The female American Goldfinch lays 4 to 6 bluish-white peanut size oval eggs. Incubation takes 12 to 14 days.
Chipping Sparrow
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.7-5.9 in (12-15 cm)
Weight: 0.4-0.6 oz (11-16 g)
Wingspan: 8.3 in (21 cm)
Description
The scientific name of Chipping Sparrow is Spizella passerine. The chipping sparrow is a slender, long-tailed sparrow. The bird has a medium-sized bill which is a little bit small for a sparrow. Chipping sparrows are clean and crisp, have frosty underparts, and have a pale face. They have a black line through the eye and a bright rusty crown.
During winters, the birds are subdued, buff-brown, and have darkly streaked upper parts. The black line through their eye is still visible in winter, and the cap is still warm but more subdued reddish brown. Non-breeding birds are paler than breeding birds.
Chipping Sparrows weigh between 11 to 16 grams and are 12 to 15 centimeters long. The wingspan of the bird is 21 centimeters.
Habitat
The Chipping Sparrow is mostly found in open woodlands and forests with grassy clearings. They can also be found in parks, along roadsides, and residential areas, especially in shrubby and tree-lined backyards. The birds mostly inhabit trees like birch, oak, eucalyptus, aspen, and pecan tree.
Food
To attract Chipping Sparrows, you can use a large hopper, small hopper, platform, or ground feeders. In the feeders, you can put hulled sunflower seeds, Nyjer, cracked corn, millet, and milo. Chipping Sparrows also feed on protein-rich insects and small fruits like cherries.
Nesting
Chipping Sparrows lay 2 to 7 eggs and have 1 to 3 broods per year. The eggs are pale blue to white, lightly streaked or spotted with black, brown, or purplish in color. The incubation period is 0 to 15 days, while nesting takes 9 to 12 days. Hatched nestlings are naked, helpless, eyes closed with a few feathers on the head and body.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Length: 3.9-4.3 in (10-11 cm)
Weight: 0.2-0.3 oz (4.8-8.9 g)
Wingspan: 6.3 in (16 cm)
Description
This Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is a tiny songbird that is mainly found in parts of the US. Its scientific name is the Polioptila caerulea.
This bird is generally small in size, slim, and with long legs. This bird has a long tail with a thin, straight bill. The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is a pale bluebird with grayish-white underparts, and the tail is usually black with white edges. The below area is mainly white, while the face is highlighted by a thin eye-ring. These birds have a dark V on their foreheads extending above their eyes.
The average weight of the birds is between 4.8 to 8.9 grams, with a length of between 10 to 11 cm. The average wingspan of this bird is 16 cm.
Habitat
The Gnatcatchers can inhabit the deciduous forest and near edges, often in moister areas. They can also be found in woodlands, the shrublands, which include the oak woodlands.
Food
Mainly the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers feed on insects, spiders, and other invertebrates. In order to attract them, you can plant shrubs and other areas where the insects will be attracted, and this will consequently attract the birds. They feed on prey such as the leafhoppers, plant bugs, leaf beetles, grasshoppers, froghoppers, and weevils. TheThe young chicks are also fed with these same foods by their parents.
Nesting
The Blue-gray Gnatcatchers lay a clutch of about 3 to 5 eggs which are incubated for a period of 11 to 15 days. The eggs are pale blue with some reddish to dark brown spots. They usually have 1 to 2 broods in a year. The hatched chicks are hatched helpless and naked with their eyes closed and can have little movements.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 2.8-3.5 in (7-9 cm)
Weight: 0.1-0.2 oz (2-6 g)
Wingspan: 3.1-4.3 in (8-11 cm)
The Rudy-throated Hummingbird is a small bird that is a species of hummingbirds, and it breeds in the US. It is also migratory. Its scientific name is the Archilochus colubris.
Description
The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is a small hummingbird that has a slender, slightly downcurved bill and short wings that do not reach all the way to the tail whenever the bird is sitting.
On the back and crown, these birds are bright or golden-green, with gray-white underparts. Male species of this bird have a brilliant red throat that seems dark when it is not exposed to good light. The average weight of this bird is 2 to 6 grams with a length of 7 to 9 cm. The wingspan ranges from 8 to 11 cm.
Habitat
The Ruby-throated Hummingbird lives in open woodlands, meadows, forest edges, and in parks, backyards, and gardens.
Food
If you want to attract the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, the ideal feeder is the nectar feeder, and inside this feeder, you can put sugar water. These birds mainly feed on nectar from plant flowers such as trumpet creeper, cardinal flower, jewelweed, honeysuckle, red buckeye, and the red morning glory.
These Hummingbirds can also catch small insects’ midair and pull them out of spider webs. Some of these insects include small bees, flies, mosquitoes, gnats, among others. They also can pick small caterpillars from the plant leaves.
Nesting
These Hummingbirds lay a clutch of 1 to 3 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 14 days. The eggs are very tiny, white, weighing probably half a gram. They experience one to two broods in a year. The hatched chicks are usually naked apart from two tracks of gray down along the back, and the eyes are closed.
Common Yellowthroat
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.3-5.1 in (11-13 cm)
Weight: 0.3-0.3 oz (9-10 g)
Wingspan: 5.9-7.5 in (15-19 cm)
Description
The Common Yellowthroat is a new world warbler. In the US, it is commonly known as the Yellow Bandit. Its scientific name is the Geothlypis trichas.
The Common Yellowthroat is a small songbird that has a chunky, rounded head and medium length, slightly rounded tails. The adult males are bright yellow below with a sharp black face mask and olive underparts. A thin whitish line sets of the black mask from the head and neck.
The young males show traces of the full mask of the adult males. The females are plain olive-brown with a yellow brightening the throat and the undertail. They have no black masks.
The average weight of this bird is 9 to 10 grams with a length of 11 to 13 cm. The wingspan ranges from 15 to 19 cm.
Habitat
The Yellowthroats live in open areas with thick, low vegetation ranging from marsh to grassland to open pine forest. They use even a wider suite of habitats during the migration.
Food
The Yellowthroats mainly eat from the ground, eating spiders, insects from the leaves, barks, branches, flowers, or fruits. Some of these insects include grasshoppers, bees, wasps, beetles, flies, and bugs. If you want to attract these birds, the ideal thing is to ensure there are shrubs and some ground vegetation on the compound, and they will come hunting for food.
Nesting
The Common Yellowthroats lay a clutch of between 1 to 6 eggs, and they incubate them for 12 days. The eggs are white with markings of grey, lilac, reddish-brown or black. They experience one or two broods a year. The hatched chicks are usually helpless with dark orange skin and a wisp of greyish down.
Gray Catbird
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 8.3-9.4 in (21-24 cm)
Weight: 0.8-2.0 oz (23.2-56.5 g)
Wingspan: 8.7-11.8 in (22-30 cm)
Description
Gray Catbirds are medium-sized North and Central American perching birds belonging to the mimid family. The scientific name of the Gray Catbird is Dumetella carolinensis.
These slender, medium-sized songbirds with long, round, and black tails. The birds have a narrow straight bill and long legs. Their wings are broad and round.
Gray Catbirds are salty gray with a black cap, black tail, and a rich rufous-brown patch under the tail. The bird often perches, holding its tail down giving it a hunchbacked look. Gray Catbirds mimics the songs of other birds and usually sing at all hours of the day.
Gray Catbirds’ average weight is 23.2 to 56.5 grams, and their average length is 21 to 24 cm. the birds have a wingspan ranging from 22 to 30 cm.
Habitat
Gray Catbirds can be found in dense tangles of shrubs, small trees, vines, along forest edges, streamside thickets, and old fields. Due to human disturbance, the birds also inhabit the roadsides, abandoned farmland, residential areas, and fencerows.
Food
To attract Gray Catbird, you can use a fruit feeder and putting grape jelly, halved oranges, apples, and mealworms in them. You can also plant shrubs consisting of plants like wild blackberry and wild grapevines in your backyard. The birds also eat insects and garden pests.
Nesting
Gray Catbirds lay1 to 6 eggs and have 2 to 3 broods in a year. The eggs are turquoise green and sometimes with small red spots. The incubation period is 12 to 15 days. The chicks hatched are naked, helpless, eyes closed, and partially covered with dark brown or gray down.
Great Crested Flycatcher
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 6.7-8.3 in (17-21 cm)
Weight: 0.9-1.4 oz (27-40 g)
Wingspan: 13.4 in (34 cm)
Great Crested Flycatcher is a large insect-eating bird in the genus Myiarchus. It is the widest spread bird in this genus. The scientific name of the Great Created Flycatcher is Myiarchus crinitus.
Description
Great Crested Flycatchers are large with a long and slender body. The birds have broad shoulders and large heads. The bird’s crest is not very prominent despite its name. Great Crested Flycatchers have a wide at the base and a straight bill. The tail of the bird is fairly long.
Great Crested Flycatchers are reddish-brown on the upper body with a brownish-gray head, gray throat and breast, and bright lemon-yellow belly. The upperparts are brown, highlighted by rufous-orange flashes in the tail and primary feathers. The birds have a black bill that shows a bit of pale color at the base.
Great Crested Flycatchers weigh 27 to 40 grams and are 17 to 21 cm long. The wingspan of the bird is, on average, 34 cm.
Habitat
Great Crested Flycatchers are mostly found in woodlots and open woodland, especially among the deciduous trees. During winter, the birds inhabit semi-open habitats, and during migration, they live in wooded and shrubby habitats. The birds exploit a niche higher in the canopy than other birds to avoid direct competition for food.
Food
To attract Great Crested Flycatchers, you can plant whole foods such as berries and fruits in your backyard. The birds swallow the fruits whole and regurgitate the pits several at a time. The birds also feed on insects like beetles, moths, butterflies, grasshoppers, and crickets.
Nesting
Great Crested Flycatchers lay 4 to 8 eggs and incubate them for 13 to 15 days. The eggs are creamy-white to pinkish buff with brown, purple, or lavender smears. The chicks are hatched helpless, eyes closed and naked with a grayish down.
Summer Tanager
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 6.7 in (17 cm)
Weight: 1.1 oz. (30 g)
Wingspan: 28-30 cm
Summer Tanagers are medium-sized American songbirds in the Cardinal family. The scientific name of Summer Tanager is Piranga rubra.
Description
Summer Tanagers are heavily built songbirds with big bodies and large heads. The birds have large and thick bills that have blunt tips. The tails of Summer Tanagers are long, longer than that of Scarlet Tanagers.
Adult male Summer Tanagers are bright red all over. Female and immature Summer Tanagers are bright yellow-green and pale bills. The underparts and the head are yellower than the rest of the body, while the back and wings are slightly greener. Immature male Tanagers can be patchy yellow and red when shedding feathers. The females have pinkish or horn-colored bills.
Summer Tanagers weigh approximately 30 grams and are approximately 17 cm long. The wingspan of the birds is 28 to 30 cm.
Habitat
Summer Tanagers, mainly bronze, live in gaps and edges of open deciduous pine forests, willows, cottonwood woodlands, mesquite, and salt cedar stands. During migration, the birds can also be found in parks, gardens, and beach ridges. The birds spend their winters in open and second-growth habitats.
Food
Summer Tanagers are attracted by berry bushes and fruit trees that are near their forest habitats. The birds mostly feed on bees and wasps, aerial and terrestrial invertebrates such as spiders, cicadas, beetles, ants, termites, grasshoppers and bugs, and fruits like blackberries, pokeweed, citrus, and bananas.
Nesting
Summer Tanagers lay 3 to 4 eggs and incubate them for 11 to 12 days. The eggs are pale blue to pale green with brown speckles. The birds experience one or two broods in a year. The chicks are hatched with eyes closed, helpless, and covered with yellowish-grey down feathers.
Purple Martin
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 7.5-7.9 in (19-20 cm)
Weight: 1.6-2.1 oz (45-60 g)
Wingspan: 15.3-16.1 in (39-41 cm)
The Purple Martin is the largest Swallow in North America. The birds belong in the genus Progne, and their scientific name is Progne subis.
Description
Purple Martins are very large and have broad chests. The bids have bold, slightly hooked bills and shot forked tails. The wings of the birds are long and tapered.
Purple Martins are not truly purple despite their name. Adult male Purple Martins are shiny, dark blue-purple with brown-black wings and tails. Female and immature Purple Martins are duller with variable amounts of gray on their head and chest. The birds have a whitish lower belly and a gray collar around the neck.
Purple Martins weigh 45 to 60 grams and are 19 to 20 cm long. The birds have a wingspan of 39 to 41 cm.
Habitat
Purple Martins breed along forest edges, rivers, and urban areas. The birds forage over towns, parks, cities, dunes, open fields, wet meadows, beaver ponds, streams, and other open areas. During winter, the birds live in savannas and agricultural fields.
Food
To attract Purple Martins, you can put out crushed eggshells to give the birds a source of grit for digesting insect exoskeletons. Purple Martins’s diet includes beetles, flies, grasshoppers, crickets, butterflies, wasps, moths, bees, spiders, cicadas, termites, and mayflies.
Nesting
Purple Martins lay 3 to 6 eggs and incubate them for 15 to 18 days. The eggs are pure white and smooth. The birds experience 1 to 2 broods in a year. Hatched chicks are weak with bare pink skin and are nestled for 27 to 36 days.
Belted Kingfisher
Length: 11.0-13.8 in (28-35 cm)
Weight: 4.9-6.0 oz (140-170 g)
Wingspan: 18.9-22.8 in (48-58 cm)
Description
The scientific name of Belted Kingfisher is Megaceryle alcyon. The Belted Kingfishers are broad, large-headed birds with a shaggy crest on the top and back of their heads. They have a thick, straight, and pointed bill. The birds have short legs and medium-length square-tipped tails.
Belted Kingfishers are blue-gray in color with white spotting on the tail and wings. They have a white below with a broad blue breast band. Immature Kingfishers have irregular rusty spotting in their breast band.
The Belted Kingfisher weighs between 140 to 170 grams and has a length ranging between 28 to 35 centimeters. The wingspan of the birds ranges between 48 to 58 centimeters.
Habitat
Belted Kingfishers live near streams, ponds, lakes, rivers, and estuaries. They can also be found in road buildings, gravel pits as a result of the numerous human activities.
The birds hunt either by falling steeply and directly to their prey or by hovering over water with their straight bills downward before diving after a fish they spotted.
Food
To attract the Belted Kingfisher, it is most advisable that you construct a pond or a pool in your backyard. In the pool put Goldfish, arthropods, and small fish like mummichogs, trout, and stone rollers. They also feed on insects, mollusks, young birds, small mammals, and berries as well.
Nesting
These birds nest in burrows that they dig into soft earthen banks. They nest adjacent to or directly over the water. They lay 5 to 8 white eggs and incubate them for 22 to 24 days. The birds have 1 to 2 broods in a year.
House Sparrow
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 5.9-6.7 in (15-17 cm)
Weight: 0.9-1.1 oz (27-30 g)
Wingspan: 7.5-9.8 in (19-25 cm)
The House Sparrow is a small bird from the sparrow family Passalidae, and it is widespread through most parts of the world. The scientific name of the bird is Passer domesticus.
Description
The House Sparrows are chunkier compared to the North American Sparrows and fuller in the chest with a larger rounded head, shorter tail, and stouter bill than most American Sparrows.
The male Sparrows are bright-colored birds with gray heads, white cheeks, a black bib, and ferrous neck, although, in the urban areas, you may see some that are dull and grubby. The females are plain buffy-brown overall with dingy gray-brown underparts. Their backs are noticeably striped with buff, black and brown.
The average weight of this bird is 27 to 30 grams with a length of 15 to 17 cm. The wingspan ranges from 19 to 25 cm.
Habitat
The House Sparrows are known to love living around people. They are mainly found in the city streets, taking handouts in parks and zoos, or cheeping from a perch on your roof or trees in your yard. They are also in the countryside around the farmsteads.
Food
If you want to attract the House Sparrows, the ideal feeders are the platform, ground, large hoppers, and large tube feeders. In these feeders, you can put foods such as millet, milo, cracked corn, hulled sunflower seeds, peanut hearts, and the black oil sunflower seeds.
During the summer, they also feed on insects and also feed them to their chicks.
Nesting
These birds lay a clutch of v1 to 8 eggs and incubate them for 10 to 14 days. The eggs are light white to grayish-white or bluish-white with some gray or brown spots. They experience 1 to 4 broods a year. The hatched chicks are usually naked with bright pink skin and closed eyes.
Northern Flicker
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 11.0-12.2 in (28-31 cm)
Weight: 3.9-5.6 oz (110-160 g)
Wingspan: 16.5-20.1 in (42-51 cm)
The Northern Flicker, also known as the Common Flicker, is a medium-sized bird in the Woodpecker family. It is one of the few migratory Woodpeckers. The scientific name for Northern Flicker is Colaptes auratus.
Description
Northern Flickers are slim, fairly large Woodpeckers with rounded heads and slightly downcurved bills. They have a long-flared tail that tapers to a point.
Northern Flickers appear brownish with a white rump patch which is conspicuous when the birds are flying and also visible when perched. The birds have a black bib and a spotted berry. The undersides of the tail feathers and wings are usually bright yellow or red for the eastern birds and western birds, respectively. The plumage is usually brown and patterned with some black spots, bars, and crescents. Female yellow-shafted Northern Flickers lack the black mustache found in the male Flickers.
Northern Flickers weigh 110 to 160 grams and are 28 to 31 cm long. The birds have a wingspan of 42 to 51 cm.
Habitat
Northern Flickers have habitats in woodlands, forest edges, open fields with scattered trees, city parks, and the suburbs. The birds can also be found in wet areas such as streamside woods, flooded swamps, and marsh edges.
Food
Ideal feeders to attract Northern Flickers are a large hopper, platform feeder, or a suet cage. In these feeders, you can put black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, cracked corn, millet, peanut hearts, safflower, peanuts, or suet. Northern Flickers also eat insects, especially ants and beetles.
Nesting
Northern Flickers lay 5 to 8 white eggs and incubate them for 11 to 13 days. The birds experience only one brood in a year. The chicks are hatched naked, pink in color, eyes closed, with clumsy movements, and with a sharp egg tooth at the tip of their bills. Nestling takes 24 to 27 days.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 3.5-4.3 in (9-11 cm)
Weight: 0.2-0.3 oz (5-10 g)
Wingspan: 6.3-7.1 in (16-18 cm)
The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is a tiny passerine bird that is spread in most parts of the US. It belongs to the family of a kinglet. The scientific name of this bird is the Corthylio calendula.
Description
The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is a small songbird with a relatively large head, almost no neck, and thin tails. They have a bill that is very small, thin, and straight. These birds are olive green with an outstanding white eye-ring and white wing bars.
The average weight of this bird is 5 to 10 grams with an average length of 9 to 11 cm. The wingspan ranges from 16 to 18 cm.
Habitat
The Ruby-crowned Kinglets mainly inhabit tall, dense conifers forests such as spruce, fir, and tamarack. You can also easily find them in shrubby places, deciduous forests, suburbs, and parks.
Food
To attract t the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, the ideal feeders include the suet cage and platform. Inside these feeders, you can put foods such as hulled sunflower seeds, peanut hearts, and suet.
These birds also feed on spiders. Pseudoscorpions and other types of insects such as wasps, aphids, ants, and bark beetles. They also feed on fruits and berries such as the poison-oak berries and the dogwood berries.
Nesting
The Ruby-crowned Kinglets lay a clutch of 5 to 12 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 14 days. The eggs are drab white spotted with red-brown. These birds experience one brood a year. The egg usually has a length of 1.3 to 1.5 cm and a width of 1 to 1.2 cm. The hatched chicks are usually helpless and completely naked without any down.
Pileated Woodpecker
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 15.8-19.3 in (40-49 cm)
Weight: 8.8-12.3 oz (250-350 g)
Wingspan: 26.0-29.5 in (66-75 cm)
Pileated Woodpecker is the second largest, Woodpecker widely distributed in North America. The scientific name of Pileated Woodpecker is Dryocopus pileatus.
Description
Pileated Woodpeckers are very large, with long necks and a crest that is triangular shaped and sweeps off the back of the head. The birds have a long chisel-shaped bill about the same size as their head. The wings are broad when on flight.
Pileated Woodpeckers are mostly black and have white stripes on the face and the neck. The birds have a flaming-red crest. Male Pileated Woodpeckers have a red stripe on the cheek. The bird reveals large white underwings and small white crescents on the upper side and at the base of the speculum when flying.
Pileated Woodpeckers have a weight of 250 to 350 grams and a length of 40 to 49 cm. the wingspan of the birds is 66 to 75 cm.
Habitat
Pileated Woodpeckers are mostly found in mature deciduous or mixed deciduous-coniferous woodlands. The birds also occur in younger forests that have scattered, large, dead trees or downed woods. The birds have started inhabiting suburban areas with large trees and patches of woodland.
Food
The ideal feeder to attract Pileated Woodpeckers is the suet cage. In the cage, you can put foods such as mealworms, peanut hearts, peanuts, black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds or suet. The birds also feed on wild fruits and nuts, and carpenter ants, woodboring beetle larvae, termites, caterpillars, and grasshoppers.
Nesting
Pileated Woodpeckers lay 3 to 5 white eggs and incubate them for 15 to 18 days. The birds have only one brood in a year. Nesting takes 24 to 31 days. The chicks are hatched naked and helpless.
