Bird watching is a great way to get closer to nature. What better way than watching birds from the comfort of your backyard!
Nevada is home to a variety of bird species. A number of these birds live in Nevada 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 Nevada, read on to find out how to attract and identify these beautiful birds to your backyard.
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.
White-crowned Sparrow
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 5.9-6.3 in (15-16 cm)
Weight: 0.9-1.0 oz (25-28 g)
Wingspan: 8.3-9.4 in (21-24 cm)
The White-crowned Sparrow is a medium-sized bird that is a member of the new world sparrow family. It is a species of the passerine. The scientific name of this bird is the Zonotrichia leucophrys.
Description
This is a large sparrow that has a long tail and a small bill. The head can look smooth and flat, depending on the bird’s altitude. The first impression of this bird tends to be a plain, pale gray bird; next, your eye is drawn to the very bold black and white stripes on the head and pale pink or yellow bill.
Then you’d birds of this species have a brown marking on the head. The average weight of this bird is 25 to 28 grams with an average length of 15 to 16 cm. The wingspan ranges from 21 to 24 cm.
Habitat
The White-crowned Sparrows are mainly found in places where safe tangles of brush mix with the open or grassy ground for foraging.
Food
If you want to attract the White-crowned Sparrow, the ideal feeders include the platform and ground. Inside these feeders, you can put foods such as hulled sunflower seeds, cracked corn, millet, milo, and the black oil sunflower seeds.
These birds also feed on weeds, grasses, and insects such as beetles, wasp, caterpillars, and others.
Nesting
The White-crowned Sparrows lay a clutch of 3 to 7 eggs and incubate them for 10 to 14 days. The eggs are greenish, greenish-blue, or bluish spotted with reddish-brown. They experience one top three broods in a year. The hatched chicks are born with sparse down feathers with their eyes closed.
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.
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.
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.
Great-tailed Grackle
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 15.0-18.1 in (38-46 cm)
Weight: 3.7-6.7 oz (105-190 g)
Wingspan: 18.9-22.8 in (48-58 cm)
The Great-tailed Grackle, also known as the Mexican Grackle, is a medium-sized and highly social passerine that is common in the US. It is a member of the Icteridae family. The scientific name of this bird is the Quiscalus mexicanus.
Description
The male Great-tailed Grackles are usually long-legged, slender black birds with a flat-headed profile and stout, straight bill. The male tapered tail is nearly as long as its body, and it folds into a unique V or keel shape. The females are half the size of the males with long, slender tails.
The male Grackles are black with piercing yellow eyes and black bills and legs. The female is dark brown above, paler below with a buff-colored throat and stripe above the eye. The young chicks have dark brown plumage with streaked underparts and a dark eye.
The average weight is 105 to 190 grams with a length of 38 to 46 cm. The wingspan ranges from 48 to 58 cm.
Habitat
The Great-tailed Grackles are mainly found in rural and developed areas, foraging on agricultural fields and feedlots and in the suburbs, including the golf courses, cemeteries, parks, and neighborhood lawns. They roost in large trees, vegetation sedge marshes, lakes, and lagoons.
Food
If you want to attract Great-tailed Grackles, the ideal feeders are the large hopper, platform, and Ground. Inside these feeders, you can put foods such as millets, cracked corn, safflower, hulled sunflower seeds, and black oil sunflower seeds.
They also feed on small animals, and they include grasshoppers, spiders, wasps, worms, beetles, tadpoles, snails, frogs, and lizards.
Nesting
The Great-tailed Grackles lay a clutch of 1 to 5 eggs and incubate them for 13 to 14 days. The eggs are bright blue to pale bluish gray marked with a dark brown to black sirs and splotches. They experience one to two broods a year. The chicks are hatched blind and mostly naked with salmon-colored skin.
Song Sparrow
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.7-6.7 in (12-17 cm)
Weight: 0.4-1.9 oz (12-53 g)
Wingspan: 7.1-9.4 in (18-24 cm)
Song sparrows are medium-sized New World Sparrow. The name Song Sparrow is derived from its colorful collection of songs. The scientific name of Song Sparrow is Melospiza melodia.
Description
A song sparrow is a bulky, medium-sized sparrow with a long round tail. The birds have a heavily built bill that is considered short for a Sparrow and a round head. The birds have broad wings.
Song sparrows are brown and heavily streaked on their white chest and flanks. The birds have an attractive mix of warm red-brown and slaty gray on their head. The shade of the colors and the amount of streaking varies extensively across North America. The coarse streaks on the breast of the birds converge into a central spot. The birds have russet stripes on the crown and through their eyes and broad mustache stripe.
Song Sparrows weigh 12 to 53 grams and are 12 to 17 cm long. The wingspan of the birds is 18 to 24 cm.
Habitat
Song Sparrows occur in an enormous variety of open habitats like tidal marshes, desert scrub, pinyon pine, arctic grasslands, prairie shelterbelts, pacific rain forests, aspen parklands, chapparal, agricultural fields, overgrown pastures, forest edges, freshwater marsh, lake edges, and the suburbs. The birds can also be found in mixed woodlands of deciduous woodlands.
Food
Song Sparrows are attracted by ground and platform feeders. In these feeders, you can put foods such as milo, peanut hearts, cracked corn, millet, Nyjer, safflower, black oil sunflower seeds, or hulled sunflower seeds. The birds also feed on weevils, grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, spiders, snails, earthworms, and midges, among others.
Nesting
Song Sparrows lay 1 to 6 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 15 days. The eggs are blue, blue-green, or gray-green with brown, red-brown, or lilac speckles. The birds experience 1 to 7 broods in a year. The chicks are hatched blind, clumsy, and naked with sparse blackish down and are nestled for 9 to 12 days.
Verdin
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 3.5-4.3 in (9-11 cm)
Weight: 0.2-0.3 oz. (5-8 g)
The Verdin is a small bird of penduline tit species. It is the only species in the genus Auriparus. Its scientific name is the Auriparus flaviceps.
Description
The Verdin is a small chickadee-like songbird with a slight body, moderately long tail, small head, and a tiny pointed bill. The adult birds are greyish with yellow heads. They have a small chestnut patch at the bend o the wings. The young ones are similar, but they lack yellow and chestnut colors.
The average weight of these birds is 5 to 8 grams with an average length of 9 to 11 cm.
Habitat
The Verdin nests and forages in thorny deserts scrub with scattered trees. They are permanent residents in the arid areas in the US.
Food
If you want to attract a Verdin, the ideal feeder is the nectar feeder. Inside this feeder, you can put sugar water. These birds also feed on insects and spiders, fruits, and plant matters in small amounts.
To be able to capture the insects, they move fast and with agility through small branches, often hanging upside down or using their feet to survey the undersides of the leaves. Some of the insects they feed on include leafhoppers, aphids, beetles, caterpillars, wasps, and spiders.
Plants food include palm, agarita, hackberry, wolfberry, and mesquite. They also eat the seedpods from legumes such as paloverde, mesquite, and ironwood.
Nesting
These birds lay a clutch of 3 to 6 eggs. The eggs are usually light greenish with irregular dark reddish spots, especially at the larger end. The chicks are hatched naked and helpless.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
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.
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.
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.
Lesser Goldfinch
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 3.5-4.3 in (9-11 cm)
Weight: 0.3-0.4 oz (8-11.5 g)
Wingspan: 5.9-7.9 in (15-20 cm)
Lesser Goldfinch is small songbirds forming the American Goldfinches together with the American Goldfinch and Lawrence’s Goldfinch. The scientific name of Lesser Goldfinch is Spinus psaltria.
Description
Lesser Goldfinch is tiny and has stub-bills. The birds have long pointed wings and short tails with notches.
The male Lesser Goldfinch is bright yellow below with a glossy black cap and white patches in the wings. The backs of the birds can be glossy black or dull green. Males also have a black tail with large white corners. Female and immature Lesser Goldfinches have olive backs, dull yellow underparts, and black wings marked by two whitish wing bars.
Lesser Goldfinch has an average weight of 8 to 11.5 grams and are 9 to 11 cm long. The birds have a wingspan of 15 to 20 cm.
Habitat
Lesser Goldfinch mostly feeds in weedy fields, budding treetops, and brush of open areas and edges. They also live in mountain canyons, desert oases, and the suburbs. The common habitats include pinyon-juniper, cottonwood, cedar, pine woodlands, oak, chaparral, and willows.
Food
To attract Lesser Goldfinch, the ideal feeders to use are large tube feeders, small tube feeders, large and small hoppers, and platform feeders. In these feeders, you can put black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, and Nyjer. The birds occasionally supplement their diet with insects such as plant lice.
Nesting
Lesser Goldfinches lay 3 to 6 pale blue-white and unmarked eggs and incubate them for 12 to 13 days. The birds have only one brood in a year. The nestlings are hatched naked, blind, and totally dependent on their parents for food. The nesting period is 12 to 14 days.
Eurasian Collared-Dove
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 11.4-11.8 in (29-30 cm)
Weight: 4.9-6.3 oz (140-180 g)
Wingspan: 13.8 in (35 cm)
Description
The Eurasian Collared-Dove is a species of doves that are found in parts of the US. Its scientific name is the Streptopelia decaocto. It is not listed as an endangered species due to an increase in its population.
The Eurasian Collared-Doves have a plumb body, a small head, and a long tail. Compared to the Morning Doves, they are larger but slimmer and larger tailed than the rock pigeon. They have broad and slightly rounded. The tail is squared off the tip.
The birds are chalky light brown to gray buff birds with broad white patches at the tail. The collar of the bird is a narrow black crescent around the nape of the neck. Whenever the bird is perched, or it is on flight, the wingtip is darker than the rest of the wing.
The average weight of the bird is 140 to 180 grams with a length of 29 to 30 cm. The average wingspan is 35 cm.
Habitat
The Eurasian Collared Doves mainly live in the urban and suburban areas in many parts of the US. In the rural areas, you will easily find them on the farms and in livestock yards where grains are available. During the cold seasons, the flocks might roost together in large trees.
Food
If you want to attract these birds, the appropriate feeders are the platform, ground, and large hopper. Inside these feeders, you can put foods such as milo, millets, black oil sunflower seeds, cracked corns, peanut hearts, and hulled sunflower seeds.
They also eat some berries and green plants as well as small invertebrates.
Nesting
The Eurasian Collared Doves lay a clutch of 1 to 2 eggs and incubate them for 14 to 19 days. The eggs are smooth, white, and slightly glossy. They experience 3 to 6 broods in a year. The hatched chicks are covered in down.
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.
Bewick’s Wren
Say’s Phoebe
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 6.7 in (17 cm)
Weight: 0.7-0.8 oz (21-22 g)
The Say’s Phoebe is a passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family that is commonly found in the United States. The scientific name of the bird is Sayornis says.
Description
The Say’s Phoebe is a slender, long-tailed flycatcher that appears large-headed for a bird of its size. The head of this bird often looks flat at the top, but they sometimes raise their head feathers into a small peak at the back.
These birds are pale brownish-gray above with a cinnamon belly, a blackish tail, and a gray breast. The chicks look the same as the adults but browner, and they may have buffy wing bars.
The average weight of these birds is 21 to 22 grams, with an average length of 17 cm.
Habitat
The Say’s Phoebes prefer living in an open country, sage bush, foothills, dry barrens, badlands, canyons, and borders of the deserts. They avoid forests. They often gravitate to buildings that are not closely tied to watercourses like other phoebes.
Food
The diet of the Say’s Phoebes entirely consists of insects such as beetles, grasshoppers, bees, crickets, and flies. They sally from low perches to catch the insects, midair or pounce on them on the ground.
Nesting
The Say’s Phoebes lay a clutch of 3 to 6 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 18 days. The eggs are pure white and unmarked and may sometimes contain reddish spots. These birds experience one or two broods a year. The chicks are hatched with closed eyes and naked.
Dark-eyed Junco
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 5.5-6.3 in (14-16 cm)
Weight: 0.6-1.1 oz (18-30 g)
Wingspan: 7.1-9.8 in (18-25 cm)
Description
The Dark-eyed Junco is a species of the junco, a group of small, grayish new world sparrows. This bird is common in some parts of the United States. The scientific name of this bird is the Junco hyemalis.
The Dark-eyed Junco is a medium-sized sparrow that has a rounded head, a short, stout bill, and a fairly long tail. The Juncos vary according to regions, but in general, they are dark gray or brown birds with a pink bill and outer tail feathers that are white and periodically flash open, on flight.
The average weight of the bird is 18 to 30 grams with an average length of 14 to 16 cm. The wingspan ranges from 18 to 25 cm.
Habitat
The Dark-eyed Juncos bred in coniferous or mixed coniferous forests in Most parts of America. You can likely find these birds in woodlands, fields, parks, and roadsides.
Food
If you want to attract the Dark-eyed Junco, the ideal feeders are the Platform, ground, and the large hopper. Some of the foods you can put inside these feeders are milo, oats, millets, safflower, Nyjer, peanut hearts, hulled sunflower seeds, and black oil sunflower seeds.
During the breeding season, these also eat insects, including butterflies, beetles, caterpillars, ants, wasps, and flies.
Nesting
These birds lay a clutch of 3 to 6 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 13 days. The eggs are white, gray, pale bluish-white, or pale greenish-white with brown, gray, and green speckles. They experience 1 to 3 broods a year. The chicks are hatched naked except for the dark gray down on the back, and their eyes are closed.
Spotted Towhee
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 6.7-8.3 in (17-21 cm)
Weight: 1.2-1.7 oz (33-49 g)
Wingspan: 11.0 in (28 cm)
Spotted Towhee are large New World Sparrows in the Passerellidae family. The scientific name for Spotted Towhee is Pipilo maculatus.
Description
Spotted Towhees are large sparrows with heavily built bodies. The birds have thick pointed bills, short necks, and long rounded tails.
Male Spotted Towhees have jet-black on the head, upperparts, and throat with bright white spots on the wings and back. The birds have warm rufous flanks and a white belly. Female Spotted Towhees are grayish-brown on the head, throat, and upperparts with the same patterns as the male. White corners in their black tails are visible when the birds fly.
Spotted Towhees weigh 33 to 49 grams and are 17 to 21 cm long. The birds have a wingspan of 28 cm.
Habitat
Spotted Towhees occur in dry thickets, forest edges, old fields, brushy tangles, chappal, shrubby backyards, canyon bottoms, and coulees. The birds feel at home in areas with dense shrub cover and plenty of leaf litter where they can scratch around.
Food
To attract Spotted Towhees, the ideal feeders are ground and platform feeders. In these feeders, you can put foods such as milo, millet, peanut hearts, cracked corn, hulled sunflower seeds, and black oil sunflower seeds. The birds also feed on insects and leaf-litter arthropods like sowbugs, millipedes, and spiders.
Nesting
Spotted Towhees lay 2 to 6 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 13 days. The eggs are white, gray, green, or pinkish with reddish, brown, gray, or purple speckles. The birds experience 1 to 3 broods in a year. Chicks are hatched blind, clumsy, and naked except for the sparse tufts of grayish down and are nestled for 10 to 12 days.
Brewer’s Blackbird
Male measurements
Length: 8.3-9.8 in (21-25 cm)
Weight: 2.1-3.0 oz (60-86 g)
Wingspan: 14.6 in (37 cm)
Female measurements
Length: 7.9-8.7 in (20-22 cm)
Weight: 1.8-2.4 oz (50-67 g)
Wingspan: 14.6 in (37 cm)
Description
Brewer’s Blackbird is a small, long-legged songbird that looks like many blackbirds. The scientific name of this bird is Euphagus cyanocephalus. They have a long tail which is balanced by a full-body, round head, and long thick based beak. The tail of a male Brewer’s Blackbird, when it’s perched, appears widened and rounded toward the tip.
Male Brewer’s Blackbirds are black all over with a staring yellow eye and blue sheen on the head. The females are plain brown, have dark wings and tails, and have dark eyes. Immature Brewer’s Blackbirds look like washed-out light brown versions of the female Brewer’s Blackbirds.
Male Brewer’s Blackbirds weigh between 60 to 86 grams and are 21 to 25 cm long. They have a wingspan of 37cm. Female Brewer’s Blackbirds are 20 to 22 cm long and weigh 50 to 67 grams. The females have a wingspan averaging 37 cm. the birds are about the size of Red-winged Blackbirds.
Habitat
Brewer’s Blackbirds are common in towns and open habitats. The birds feed on open ground or underfoot in parks and busy streets. Their natural habitats include grasslands, meadows, woodlands, sagebrush, and marshes.
Food
The ideal feeder type to attract Brewer’s Blackbird is platform and ground feeders. In these feeders, you can put hulled sunflower seeds, cracked corn, and millet. Brewer’s Blackbirds also eat insects, small frogs, young voles, and some nesting birds like Brewer’s Sparrows.
Nesting
The Brewer’s Blackbird lay 3 to 7 eggs and have 1 to 2 brood in a year. The eggs are pale gray to greenish-white, clouded or spotted with brown, pink, violet, yellow and gray. The incubation period is 11 to 17 days. Nesting takes 12 to 16 days, after which the nestling fly out to forage by themselves.
Black-billed Magpie
Length: 17.7-23.6 in (45-60 cm)
Weight: 5.1-7.4 oz (145-210 g)
Wingspan: 22.1-24.0 in (56-61 cm)
Description
The Black-billed Magpie, also referred to as the American Magpie, is a bird from the family of Corvidae, and they are found in most parts of the US. The scientific name of the bird is Pica Hudsonia.
The Black-billed Magpies are slightly bigger than the jays. However, they have longer, diamond-shaped tails and a heavier bill. Their wings are too short of supporting their graceful flights.
These birds are black and white in general but with a blue-green flash on the wings and tail. The upper part of this bird is usually black, with a white patch in the outer wing and two white stripes on the back.
The bird weighs approximately 145 to 210 grams with a length of between 45 to 60 cm. The wingspan ranges between 56 to 61 cm.
Habitat
The Black-billed Magpie is mainly found in the urban areas, fields, and stream corridors of the west. They can also be found in flocks at the feeding lots and other places that it is easy to find food.
Food
In order to attract the Black-billed Magpie, you need the platform and ground feeders. You can put the millets, peanuts, milo, cracked corn, peanuts hearts, hulled sunflower seeds, suet, and black oil sunflower seeds. These birds have alternative diets, such as beetles and grasshoppers, as the foliage on the ground. They also depend on small mammals such as squirrels and voles. They at times steal meat from the foxes and coyotes. And can sometimes land on the top of large animals as they pick ticks off them.
Nesting
The birds have a clutch size of 1 to 9 eggs, and they take 16 to 19 days to incubate. The eggs are tan or olive-brown with a variable amount of dark brown speckles—they experience one broom per year. The chicks are hatched naked with pink skin and remain with closed eyes for seven 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.
Mountain Chickadee
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.3-5.5 in (11-14 cm)
Weight: 0.4 oz (11 g)
Wingspan: 7.5 in (19cm)
A Mountain Chickadee is a small songbird in the Paridae family. The scientific name for Mountain Chickadee is Poecile gambeli.
Description
Mountain Chickadees are tiny and have large heads. The birds have small bills, rounded wings, and long narrow tails.
Mountain Chickadees are grey with a striking black and white on the head. Mountain Chickadees have a distinct white stripe over their eye that separates them from other Chickadees.
Mountain Chickadees’ overall weight is 11grams, and the overall length is 11 to 14 cm. the wingspan of the bird is approximately 19 cm. They are relatively the same size as the Black-capped Chickadees.
Habitat
Mountain Chickadees are common in evergreen forests with pine, spruce-fir, pinyon-juniper, and mixed conifer. The birds inhabit the higher slopes conifers except when nesting when they seek out any available aspen trees for their soft and easily excavated wood.
Food
To attract Mountain Chickadees, the ideal feeders to use are large tube feeders, small tube feeders, large hopper, small hopper, platform feeder, and suet cage. In these feeders, you can put black oil sunflower, hulled sunflower seeds, safflower, peanuts, suet, peanut hearts, and mealworms. The birds also feed on protein-rich insects and spiders.
Nesting
Mountain Chickadees lay 5 to 9 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 15 days. The eggs are flat white, sometimes with red speckles. The birds have 1 or 2 broods in a year. The chicks are hatched naked, eyes closed, and with tufts down on the head and along the spine. The young Mountain Chickadees stay in the nest for 17 to 23 days while being fed by both parents.
Anna’s Hummingbird
Length: 3.9 in (10 cm)
Weight: 0.1-0.2 oz (3-6 g)
Wingspan: 4.7 in (12 cm)
Anna’s Hummingbird is a medium-sized bird from the Trochilidae family. This bird was named after French courtier Anna Massena. Its scientific name is the Calypte anna.
Description
This bird is among the tiniest Hummingbirds. It has a straight, shortish bill and a tail that is fairly broad, but whenever the bird is perched, the tail extends beyond the wingtips. Both the male and female Anna’s Hummingbirds have an average weight of between 3 to 6 grams and a length of 10 cm. The average wingspan is 12 cm.
Mostly, Anna’s Hummingbirds are green and gray in color. The males have their heads and throats covered in reddish-pink feathers. These feathers can look dull brown or gray without direct sunlight.
Habitat
If you want to observe these birds, you are likely to find them in yards, residential streets, riverside woods, coastal scrub, and savannas. These birds also move readily where there are Hummingbird feeders and flowering plants and also in cultivated species in gardens.
Foods
Whenever you want to attract Anna’s Hummingbirds, you can use the feeder nectar. They eat nectar from a variety of plants which includes the current, gooseberry, manzanita, and many introduced species such as the eucalyptus. They also feed on some insects from streambanks, taken from flowers, crevices, and some caught in spider webs. Mostly they target small insects such as leafhoppers, midgets, and whiteflies.
Nesting
The Anna’s Hummingbirds clutch has two eggs which it then incubates for a period of 16 days. The eggs are white in color, and they have an average length of 1.2 to1.4 cm and a width of 0.8 to 0.9 cm.
Northern Shoveler
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 17.3-20.1 in (44-51 cm)
Weight: 14.1-28.9 oz (400-820 g)
Wingspan: 27.2-33.1 in (69-84 cm)
The Northern Shoveler, commonly known as a Shoveler in Britain, is a common and widespread duck that breeds in the US. Its scientific name is the Spatula clypeata.
Description
The Northern Shoveler has a shovel-shaped bill that quickly separates it from the other dabbling ducks. The bird is medium-sized and tends to sit with its rear higher out of the water, almost as if its bill is pulling its front half down.
Breeding male Northern Shovelers are bold white, green blue and rust with a white chest and white lower sides. They have a green head, long oversized black bill and yellow eyes. The males flash blue on the upper wing and green on the speculum when flying. Female and immature Northern Shovelers are mottled in brown and have powdery-blue on the wings that is visible on perching birds. The birds have conspicuous large orange bills and orange legs.
Northern Shovelers weigh 400 to 820 grams and are 44 to 51 cm long. The birds have a wingspan of 69 to 84 cm.
Habitat
Northern Shovelers breed in shallow wetlands with submerged vegetation and nest in the neighboring grassy fields. The birds forage in lakes, wetlands, saltmarshes, wastewater ponds, estuaries, flooded fields, and agricultural ponds.
Food
To attract Northern Shovelers, consider putting up and putting aquatic invertebrates in the pond. Ground feeders are also ideal for attracting Northern Shovelers. Inside, you can put peanuts. The birds also feed on tiny crustaceans.
Nesting
Northern Shovelers lay 8 to 12 eggs and incubate them for 22 to 25 days. The eggs are pale greenish-grey or olive-buff. The birds have only one brood in a year. The hatched chicks are covered in down and are able to walk and swim.
Black Phoebe
Length: 6.3 in (16 cm)
Weight: 0.5-0.8 oz (15-22 g)
Wingspan: 27-28 cm
Description
The scientific name of Black Phoebe is Sayornis nigricans. Black Phoebe are small plump songbirds widely distributed in the Western United States.
They have a sooty black body, a darker black large head, and a crisp white belly. The wing feathers’ edges are pale gray. The birds have medium-long squared tails and straight thin bills. Black phoebes often show a slight peak at the rear of the crown.
The birds are known for their distinct tail pumping. The birds call out with a shrill scratchy chip.
The birds weigh between 15 to 22 grams and are averagely 16 centimeters long. Their wingspan ranges between 27 to 28 cm.
Habitat
Black Phoebes are mostly found near water sources ranging from small streams to suburbs and rocks and cliffs of oceans. They can also be found in ephemeral ponds, parks, backyards, and cattle tanks. The birds use mud to build cup-shaped nests against bridges, overhangs, culverts, and walls.
Food
To attract Black Phoebes, platform feeders are the ideal type of feeders. In them, you can keep small berries and fruits. You can also include insects like grasshoppers, moths, termites, wasps, dragonflies, beetles, and spiders. Black phoebes also feed on minnows and arthropods.
Nesting
Black Phoebe nests are usually 3 to 10 feet up over the water or ground. They lay 1 to 6 eggs and have 1 to 3 broods per year. Black Phoebe eggs are pure white and glossy, sometimes with light spots around the large end. Incubation takes 15 to 18 days and the nesting period is between 18 to 21 days.
California Scrub-Jay
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 11.0-11.8 in (28-30 cm)
Weight: 2.5-3.5 Oz (70-100 g)
Wingspan: 15.3 in (39 cm)
Description
The California Scrub-jay is a scrub jay species that originate from the US. The Scientific name of this bird is the Aphelocoma, California.
This is a fairly large songbird that has lanky dimensional. It has a long and floppy tail, and it often adopts a hunched-over posture. It has a straight and stout bill that has a hook at the tip.
The color of the California Scrub-jay is rich azure blue and grey above, pale on the underside broken up by a blue necklace. In birds, the color blue depends on the lighting, and this means this bird can at times look simply dark.
The average weight of the bird is between 70 to 1000 grams with a length of 28 to 30 cm. The wingspan average is 39 cm.
Habitat
If you want to find the California Scrub-jay, you can look for them in open areas, woodlands, and chaparral along the west coast and pastures, backyards, and orchards.
Food
If you want to attract the California Scrub-jay, the ideal feeder are the large tube feeder, platform, ground, suet cage, and large hopper. You can put food types such as the suet, cracked corn, peanuts, millet, milo, peanut hearts, hulled sunflower, and black oil sunflower seeds inside the feeders. During the summer, these birds also feed on insects and fruits. They also eat small animals such as lizards and nesting birds.
Nesting
The California Scrub-jay lays a clutch of between 1 to 5 eggs and takes 17 to 19 days to incubate them. The eggs are usually pale green blotched with olive or pale grey with some brown spots. The average length of the eggs’ is 2.4 to 3.4 cm and has a width of 1.9 to 2 cm. The hatched chick is usually helpless, naked, and eyes are closed.
Yellow Warbler
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.7-5.1 in (12-13 cm)
Weight: 0.3-0.4 oz (9-11 g)
Wingspan: 6.3-7.9 in (16-20 cm)
The Yellow Warblers is a new world warblers’ species mainly found in the US. The scientific name of this bird is the Setophaga petechia.
Description
The Yellow Warblers are small, evenly proportioned songbirds that have a medium-length tail and a rounded head. The straight, thin bi is relatively large for a warbler. These birds are uniformly yellow in color. The males are bright and egg York yellows with reddish streaks on the underparts. Both the male and female flash yellow patches in the tail. The face is unmarked, accentuating the large black eye.
The average weight of this bird is 9 to 11 grams with an average length of 12 to 13 cm. The wingspan ranges from 16 to 20 cm.
Habitat
The Yellow Warblers breed mainly in shrubby thickets and woods, particularly along the watercourses and in wetlands. During the winter, they can be found in mangrove forests.
Food
The Yellow Warblers mainly feed on insects that they pick from the foliage or capture on short flights or as they hover to reach leaves. Some of the insects they feed on include wasps, beetles, leafhoppers, caterpillars, bugs, and midges.
Nesting
These birds lay a clutch of 1 to 7 eggs and incubate them for 10 to 13 days. The eggs are grayish or greenish-white with dark spots. The average length of the eggs is 1.5 to 2.1 cm, with a width of 1.2 to 1.6 cm. The hatched chicks are usually helpless, with light gray down.
Western Kingbird
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 7.9-9.4 in (20-24 cm)
Weight: 1.3-1.6 oz (37-46 g)
Wingspan: 15.0-16.1 in (38-41 cm)
The Western Kingbird is a large tyrant flycatcher that is found in most parts of the US. Its scientific name is the Tyrannus verticalis.
Description
The Western Kingbirds are somehow large birds with broad shoulders and large heads. They have long wings, heavy and straight bills, and a medium-length, square-tipped tail. These birds have a gray head with a belly that is yellowish in color and a throat and chest that is somehow white. The tail is black with white outer tail feathers that are especially conspicuous in flight.
The average weight of the bird is 37 to 46 grams with an average length of 20 to 24 cm. The wingspan ranges from 38 to 41 cm.
Habitat
The Western Kingbirds live in open habitats where they perch on utility lines, fences, and trees. They prefer valleys and lowlands, including grasslands, deserts, sagebrush, agricultural fields, and open woodlands. Mainly they are found in areas of below 7000 feet in elevation.
Food
The Western Kingbirds are insectivores, just like other flycatchers. They hunt by sight during the day, and they perform some maneuvers as they catch the prey midair. They catch more than one insect before returning to the perch, and they hit them against the perch to subdue them. Some insects they feed on include wasps, bees, grasshoppers, spiders, caterpillars, moths, and butterflies.
Nesting
These birds lay a clutch of 2 to 7 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 19 days. The eggs are white, creamy, or pinkish with heavy blotches of black, brown, or lavender. They experience one or two broods in a year.
The hatched chicks are usually helpless and sparsely covered in a white down, and their eyes are closed.
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.
Pine Siskin
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.3-5.5 in (11-14 cm)
Weight: 0.4-0.6 oz (12-18 g)
Wingspan: 7.1-8.7 in (18-22 cm)
The Pine Siskin is a migratory bird found in the US and belongs to the family of finch. This bird has an extremely sporadic winter range. The scientific name of this bird is Spinus pinus.
Description
The Pine Siskins are tiny songbirds that have sharp, pointed bills and short notched tails. The uniquely shaped bill is slenderer than that of most finches. You can observe their pointed wingtips and their forked tails when they are on the flight.
The Pine Siskins are brown and very streaky birds with yellow edgings on the tails and wings. Flashes of yellow can erupt as they take flight, flutter at the branch’s tips, or display during mating. The average weight of this bird is 12 to 18 grams with a length of 11 to 14 cm. The wingspan ranges from 18 to 22 cm.
Habitat
Despite the fact that the Pine Siskin prefer evergreen or mixed evergreen and deciduous forests with open canopies, they are opportunist and adaptable in their search for seeds. They also feed in the weedy fields, scrubby thickets, or backyards and gardens. They also flock around the feeders, more so the thistle feeders in woodlands and suburbs.
Food
If you want to attract the Pine Siskin, the ideal feeders are the small hoppers, platform, round, and small and large tube feeders. Inside these feeders, you can put foods such as the hulled sunflower seeds, Nyjer, and black oil sunflower seeds. They also feed on insects such as the spiders and grubs from the leaves and branch tips, and they sometimes catch them midair. They also feed on the mineral deposits such as ashes, road salts, and fresh cement.
Nesting
The Pine Siskin lays a clutch of 3 to 5 eggs and incubates them for 13 days. The eggs are pale greenish-blue with brown or reddish-brown spotting. These birds experience one to two broods in a year. The hatched chicks are helpless with their eyes closed and with a dark gray down on head and back.
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Bell’s Vireo
Length: 4.5-4.9 in (11.5-12.5 cm)
Weight: 0.3-0.3 oz (7.4-9.8 g)
Wingspan: 6.7-7.5 in (17-19 cm)
Description
The scientific name of Bell’s Vireo is Vireo bellii. The Bell’s Vireo is a tiny songbird with a slim body and a long slender tail. It has a small, thick, and hooked bill. There are four subspecies of the Bell’s Vireo. The Western Bell’s Vireos, especially the Least Bell’s Vireo, are grayish on top and a whitish below. They have faint pale eyewear around the eyes and pale wing-bars. They have a heavier bill than a Warbler.
The Eastern Bell’s Vireo has a greenish tone above and a yellow wash on the sides. They have stronger wing bars than the western Bell’s Vireo. Their bills are larger than those of Warblers but a bit small for a Vireo.
Bell’s Vireo weighs between 7.4 to 9.8 grams and has a length of 11.5 to 12.5 centimeters. Their wingspan ranges between 17 to 19 centimeters.
Habitat
The Bell’s Vireos mostly stay hidden in dense vegetation and often emerge at the edges of the bushes. If you want to find the Bell’s Vireo, consider looking in shrubby places like mesquite woods, freshly planted forests, verdant arroyos, and stands of dense brush on the prairies.
Food
To attract Bell’s Vireos, let a corner of your yard be overgrown with brambles, hedgerows, or brush piles. The birds are more likely to appear in messy-looking spots. You can put insects and spiders in your messy yards, such as beetles, weevils, bees, wasps, flies, ants, grasshoppers, butterflies, and moths.
Nesting
The Bell’s Vireo clutch size is 2 to 4 eggs. The eggs are whitish in color with sparse spotting and measure between 1.6 to 1.8 cm in length and 1.2 to 1.4 cm in width. The incubation period is 14 to 15 days. The nesting period ranges between 10 to 12 days.
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.
Steller’s Jay
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 11.8-13.4 in (30-34 cm)
Weight: 3.5-4.9 oz (100-140 g)
Wingspan: 17.3 in (44 cm)
The Steller’s Jay is a North American bird closely related to the Blue Jay but with a black head and upper body. The bird is also referred to as the Long-crested Jay, Pine Jay, or the Mountain Jay. The scientific name for Steller’s Jay is Cyanocitta stelleri.
Description
Steller’s Jay is a large songbird with a chunky body and a large head. The birds have round wings and long full tails. Steller’s Jays have long, straight, slightly hooked, and powerful bills. The birds have a projecting triangular crest that stands nearly straight up from their head.
Steller’s Jays appear very dark from a distance and lack the white underparts of most species of Jays. The head of the bird is charcoal black, and the body is blue with almost sparkling light blue on the wings. The birds have conspicuous white markings above their eyes.
Steller’s Jay weighs 100 to 140 grams and is 30 to 34 cm long. The wingspan of the birds is approximately 44 cm. Steller’s Jays are about the size of the Western Scrub-Jay.
Habitat
Steller’s Jays are mostly found in coniferous and coniferous-deciduous forests. The birds are also found in arid pine-oak woodlands and lower evergreen forests and in deserts during winter. The birds are also a familiar sight in campgrounds, picnic areas, parks, and backyards.
Food
Steller’s Jays are attracted by feeders like the large tube feeder, large hopper, suet cage, platform, and ground feeders. In these feeders, you can put foods such as black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, cracked corn, peanuts, peanut hearts, milo, millet, or suet. The birds also feed on insects, small animals, eggs, and nestlings.
Nesting
Steller’s Jays lay 2 to 6 eggs and incubate them for 16 days. The eggs are bluish-green with dark brown, purplish, or olive spots. The birds experience only one brood in a year. Hatched chicks stay in the nest for 16 days while being fed by their parents.
Marsh Wren
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 3.9-5.5 in (10-14 cm)
Weight: 0.3-0.5 oz (9-14 g)
Wingspan: 5.9 in (15 cm)
The Marsh Wren, also known as the Long-billed Marsh Wren, is a small songbird in the Wren family widely distributed in North America. The scientific name for the Marsh Wren is Cistothorus palustris.
Description
The Marsh Wren is a small, plump Wren with a rounded body and a short tail. The bird often holds up its tail almost vertically above its back. Marsh Wrens have long, thin bills and short wings.
Marsh Wrens are rusty brown above with black and white streaks down its back. However, the underparts of Marsh Wrens are paler and lack black and white streaks. The birds also have pale white eyebrows and unstreaked shoulders.
Marsh Wrens weigh 9 to 14 grams and are 10 to 14 cm long. The wingspan of the birds is approximately 15 cm.
Habitat
Marsh Wrens are mostly found in wetlands filled with cattails, sedges, bulrushes, phragmites, and saltmarshes filled with cordgrass. During winter, the birds occupy brushy thickets near tidal saltmarshes, weedy agricultural canals, and wetlands.
Food
To attract Marsh Wrens, the ideal feeders to use our platform or tray feeders. In them, you can put peanut hearts, mealworms, peanut butter, and suet. Marsh wrens mostly forage close to the water and occasionally fly up to catch passing insects.
Nesting
Marsh Wrens lay 3 to 10 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 16 days. The eggs are brown with dark spots—Marsh Wrens experience 1 to 2 broods in a year. The chicks are hatched helpless with wisps of down.
Western Wood-Pewee
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 5.5-6.3 in (14-16 cm)
Weight: 0.4-0.5 oz (11-14 g)
Wingspan: 10.2 in (26 cm)
The Western Wood-Pewee is a small tyrant flycatcher that is found in most parts of the United States. The scientific name of the bird is Contopus sordidulus.
Description
These are medium-sized birds that have a peaked crown that makes their head look triangular. They perch upright in the canopy. They have long wings that help in separating them from similar-looking Empidonax flycatchers.
These birds are grayish-brown overall with two pale wing bars. The underparts are whitish, and they have smudgy gray on the sides and breasts. The face is dark grayish brown with little to no eye-ring. The bill is mostly dark, with yellow at the base of the lower mandible.
The average weight of this bird is 16 to 14 grams with an average length of 14 to 16 cm.
Habitat
These birds use open woodlands, forest edges, and forests near the streams with large trees, open understories, and standing dead trees. The common tree species include the pinyon pine, cottonwood, sycamore, ponderosa pine, aspen, and spruce. They avoid dense forests.
Food
The Western Wood-Pewee mainly feed on insects such as spiders, ants, bees, flies, wasps, beetles, crickets, dragonflies, and moths. They sit on a dead perch at the end of the branch for a long period waiting for the insect to fly by, and they catch them midair.
Nesting
The Western Wood-Pewee lay a clutch of 2 to 4 eggs and incubate them for 14 to 15 days. The eggs are creamy-white with brown blotches. The hatched chicks are usually naked with a small amount of whitish down.
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Black-throated Sparrow
Length: 4.7-5.5 in (12-14 cm)
Weight: 0.4-0.5 oz (11-15 g)
Wingspan: 7.7 in (19.5 cm)
Description
The Black-throated Sparrow is a small new world sparrow that is found in most parts of the US. The scientific name of this bird is the Amphispiza bilineata. This bird is the only member of the five-striped Sparrow.
This bird is medium-sized with a large round head, a conical bill for seed-eating, and a tail that is medium in length. The most striking characteristic is the face pattern. The face is neat gray bordered by two strong white stripes and a black triangular throat patch. The upperparts are grayish-brown, while the below body is a pale mix of cream and white. The tail is dark, with some white spots on the corners.
Both the chicks and the adults look the same, but the chicks lack the black throat patch, and they have faint streaks above and below.
The average length of this bird is 12 to 14 cm with a weight of 11 to 15 grams. The wingspan average is 19.5 grams.
Habitat
These birds are mainly found in scrubby areas, desert scrub. Canyons and washes.
Food
If you want to attract the Black-throated Sparrow, the ideal feeders are the ground and platform, and you can put some seeds such as the sunflower seeds and millets. However, these birds also feed on insects, especially during the breeding season. They feed on the seeds during the winter season.
Some of the insects include butterflies, robber flies, dragonflies, mantids, and moth flies.
Nesting
The Black-throated Sparrows lay a clutch of between 2 to 5 eggs and incubate them for a period of 11 to 13 days. The eggs are whitish to blue-white, and they have a length of between 1.5 to 2 cm and a width of 1.2 to 1.5 cm. They usually have 1 to 5 broods a year. The hatched chicks are naked with a sparse cover of down with the eyes closed.
Orange-crowned Warbler
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.3-5.5 in (11-14 cm)
Weight: 0.3-0.4 oz (7-11 g)
Wingspan: 7.5 in (19 cm)
The Orange-crowned Warbler is a small songbird that belongs to the family of new world warblers. The scientific name of this bird is the Leiothlypis celata.
Description
The Orange-crowned Warbler is a small songbird. They have noticeably thin, sharply pointed bills compared to other warblers. They have short wings and short square tails.
These birds are fairly yellowish or olive. They are more yellow on the pacific coast and greyer, particularly on the head farther east. They also have a thin white or yellow stripe over the eye and a pale partial eye-ring.
The average weight of the bird is 7 to 11 grams with a length of 11 to 14 cm. The average wingspan is 19 cm.
Habitat
The Orange-crowned Warblers mainly live in dense areas of deciduous scrubs, usually within or adjacent to the forest. They can also be seen from the low elevation oak scrub to stunted forest near timberline. During the migration, you may find them in nearly any habitat though they still prefer the dense, low vegetation.
Food
The Orange-crowned Warblers mainly feed on invertebrates which include ants, caterpillars, flies, and spiders. They supplement their insect diet with fruits, berries, seeds, and plant galls. They are also known to be regular visitors at the sap wells drilled by sapsuckers and some other woodpeckers. They also get nectar from the flowers.
If you want to attract these birds, you need to have a garden with fruits and berries or some vegetation that will attract the insects.
Nesting
The Orange-crowned Woodpeckers lay a clutch of 3 to 6 eggs. The eggs are usually white to cream, finely speckled with reddish-brown or chestnut. The hatched chicks have their eyes closed, skin covered in sparse, and have a dark grey down.
