Bird watching is a great way to get closer to nature. What better way than watching birds from the comfort of your backyard!
Washington State is home to a variety of bird species. A number of these birds live in Washington State 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 Washington State, read on to find out how to attract and identify these beautiful birds to your backyard.
Pacific Wren
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 3.1-4.7 in (8-12 cm)
Weight: 0.3-0.4 oz (8-12 g)
Wingspan: 4.7-6.3 in (12-16 cm)
The Pacific Wren is a tiny songbird that is mainly found in the United States, and it belongs to the family of new world wren, Troglodytidae. The scientific name of the bird is Troglodytes pacificus.
Description
The Pacific Wren is among the smallest wrens in the US, and it has a short stubby tail which it usually holds upright. They have a small and short tail that gives them a round appearance. They have short wings and a thin bill.
This bird is brown all over its body with darker brownish-black barring on the wings, tail, and belly. The face is brown with a slight pale mark over the eyebrow. The average weight of this bird is 8 to 12 grams with an average length of 8 to 12 cm. The wingspan rages from 12 to 16 cm.
Habitat
The Pacific Wren is commonly found in old-growth evergreen forests. They also breed in deciduous forests, tree islands, and mixed-species forests near the streams. They forage and build nests near the fallen logs, dead trees, upturned tree toots, understory cover of mosses and ferns often near water.
Whenever the breeding season is over, they can also be found inhabiting places like parks and gardens.
Food
The Pacific Wrens are insectivores. They feed on insects such as caterpillars, beetles, ticks, bees, millipedes, flies, and spiders. They move slowly on the ground or above the ground inspecting the vegetation or the decaying woods for food. Whenever the breeding season is over, these birds may sometimes feed on juniper berries to supplement the diet.
Nesting The Pacific Wrens lay a clutch of 1 to 9 eggs and incubate them for 14 to 17 days. The eggs are white with small pale to reddish-brown spots. These birds experience one to two broods a year. The hatched chicks are usually naked with only a few straggly down feathers.
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.
Bewick’s Wren
Length: 5.1 in (13 cm)
Weight: 0.3-0.4 oz (8-12 g)
Wingspan: 18 cm
Description
The Berwick’s Wren, whose scientific name is a noisy, hyperactive medium-sized bird widely distributed in Western North America. The bird has white eyebrows and a striking long tail barred and tipped with white spots. They have long, slender, and slightly downcurved bills.
The male and female Berwick’s Wren birds look the same. They are brown and gray in color with a plain brown back and wings. The underparts are gray-white.
Berwick’s Wren has an average length of 13 centimeters, and their weight ranges between 8 to 12 grams. Their wingspan is approximately 18 centimeters.
Habitat
Berwick’s Wrens are mostly found in dry brushy areas, scrubs, chaparral, thickets in open areas, and open woodlands near streams and rivers. They are also found in gardens, residential areas, and parks in cities and the suburbs.
Food
To attract the Berwick’s Wren, the ideal feeder types are large tubes, suet cage, large and small hopper, platform, and ground feeders. You can put hulled sunflower seeds, suet, peanut hearts, and mealworms in the feeders. Berwick’s Wren also eats the eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults of insects like wasps, butterflies, and grasshoppers.
Nesting
Berwick’s Wren usually has 1 to 3 broods in a year. They lay 3 to 8 white with reddish-brown or purplish spots eggs. Incubation takes 14 to 16 days. The eggs are approximately 1.5 to 1.9 cm in length and 1.2 to 1.4 cm wide.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Purple Finch
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.7-6.3 in (12-16 cm)
Weight: 0.6-1.1 oz (18-32 g)
Wingspan: 8.7-10.2 in (22-26 cm)
The Purple Finch is a small bird from the finch family Fringillidae. The scientific name of this bird is the Haemorhous purpureus.
Description
The Purple Finch is larger and chunky compared to other small forest birds such as the chickadees and the kinglets. They have a powerful and conical beak larger than any sparrow. The tail is short and notched at the tip.
The male species of this bird are pink-red on the breast and the head, mixing with the cloudy white on the belly and brown on the back. The females have no red. They are coarsely streaked with strong facial marking, including a whitish eyestripe and a dark line down the side of the throat.
The average weight of this bird is 18 to 32 cm with a length of 12 to 16 cm. The wingspan ranges from 22 to 26 cm.
Habitat
These birds mainly breed in the coniferous forest or mixed deciduous and coniferous woods. They can be found in a wider variety of habitats during the winter, and they include the old fields, forest edges, shrublands, and backyards.
Food
If you want to attract a Purple Finch, the ideal feeders are the large and small tube feeders, large and small hoppers, and the platform. Inside the feeders, you can put food such as the millet, black oil sunflower seeds, Nyjer, and the hulled sunflower seeds.
They also feed on the nectar fruit and berries, and soft buds.
Nesting
The Purple Finches lay a clutch of 2 to 7 eggs and proceed to incubate them for 12 to 13 days. The eggs are pale greenish-blue marked with brown and black. They experience one or two broods a year. The hatched chicks are usually naked and helpless.
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.
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.
Bushtit
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 2.8-3.1 in (7-8 cm)
Weight: 0.1-0.2 Oz (4-6 g)
Description
The Bushtit, also known as the American Bushtit, is the only species in the Aegithalidae family found in the new world. The scientific name of this bird is the Psaltriparus minimus.
The Bushtits are tiny, kinglet-size birds. They are plumb and longheaded with long tails and a short, stubby bill. This bird is a fairly plain brown and gray bird. The upper part is slightly darker than the underpart. The head is brown-gray, gray wings, and a tan-gray underpart.
The average weight of these birds is 4 to 6 grams with a length of 7 to 8 cm.
Habitat
The Bushtits are mainly found in the oak forest, evergreen woodlands, dry scrublands, streamsides, and suburbs. You can easily find them at an elevation of over 10000 feet.
Food
If you want to attract the Bushtit, the ideal feeders are the platform, suet cage, large and small hoppers, and small and large tube feeders. Inside these feeders, you can put foods such as peanuts, suet, peanut hearts, black oil sunflower seeds, and hulled sunflower seeds.
The bird can also feed on spiders and insects, including the very tiny ones that appear on the leaves and twigs. They eat insects such as beetles, wasps, ants, and caterpillars.
Nesting
The Bushtits lay a clutch of 4 to 8 eggs and take 12 to 13 days to incubate. The eggs are white and smooth. The average length of the eggs is 1.3 to 1.4 cm, with a width of 1 cm. They usually have one to two broods a year. The hatched chicks are usually naked and helpless.
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.
Rufous Hummingbird
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 2.8-3.5 in (7-9 cm)
Weight: 0.1-0.2 oz (2-5 g)
Wingspan: 4.3 in (11 cm)
The Rufous Hummingbirds is a small hummingbird that is known for its extraordinary fighting skills. Its scientific name is the Selasphorus Rufus.
Description
The Rufous Hummingbird is a fairly small Hummingbird that has a slender, nearly straight bill, a tail that tapers to a point when folded, and fairly short wings that do not reach the end of the tail when the bird is perched.
Whenever it is in good light, the male Rufous glows like coal; on the back, the color is bright orange while the belly with a vivid iridescent red throat. On the other hand, the females are green above with rufous washed flanks, rufous patches in the green tail, and often a spot of orange in the throat.
The average weight of this bird is 2 to 5 grams with a length of 7 to 9 cm. The wingspan average is 11 cm.
Habitat
The Rufous Hummingbirds breed in open areas, parks, yards, and forests up to treelines. During the migration, they pass through the mountain meadows as high as 12 600 feet, where the nectar-rich tubular flowers are blooming. During the winter, they inhabit places like shrubby openings and oak-pine forests in the middle of high elevation.
Food
If you want to attract the Rufous Hummingbirds, the ideal feeder is the nectar feeder, and inside this feeder, you can put sugar water. These birds primarily feed on nectar from flowers such as the fireweed, lilies, mints columbine, among others.
They also supplement t6heir diet by getting proteins and fats from insects such as flies, midges, and gnats. They catch some like aphids from plants and others midair.
Nesting The Rufous Hummingbirds lay a clutch of 2 to 3 eggs and incubate them for 15 to 17 days. The eggs are tiny and white in color. They experience one brood in a year. The chicks have their eyes closed and naked when they are hatched.
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.
Tree Swallow
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.7-5.9 in (12-15 cm)
Weight: 0.6-0.9 Oz (16-25 g)
Wingspan: 11.8-13.8 in (30-35 cm)
The Tree Swallow is a migratory bird that belongs to the family of Hurundinidae. The scientific name of this bird is the Tachycineta bicolor.
Description
The Tree Swallows are tiny songbirds that are usually streamlined and have both a squared or notched tail and long, pointed wings. They have very short and flat bills.
The adult male species of this bird are blue-green above and white below with blackish flight feathers and a thin black eye mask. The females are duller with more brown in their upper parts, while the young ones are completely brown above. The young ones and some females can show a weak, blurry grey-brown breast band.
Habitat
The Tree Swallows breed in open habitats such as the wetlands, usually adjacent to the water. They nest in artificial nest boxes as well as in tree cavities. Foraging flocks can be seen frequently over wetlands, water, and agricultural fields.
Food
The Tree Swallows live on a diet of insects, but they occasionally catch other small animals and may also eat plant food during the bad weather when the preys are scarce. In the east, all kinds of insects, including sawflies, bees, ants, wasps, beetles, stoneflies, mayflies, and more.
During the breeding season, they eat high calcium items such as fish bones, clamshells, and others.
Nesting
The Tree Swallows lay a clutch of 4 to 7 eggs and incubate them for 11 to 20 days. The eggs are pale pink, turning to pure white within four days. They experience one or two broods every year. The hatched chicks are helpless, with closed eyes and pink skin sparsely covered with down.
Savannah Sparrow
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.3-5.9 in (11-15 cm)
Weight: 0.5-1.0 oz (15-28 g)
Wingspan: 7.9-8.7 in (20-22 cm)
The Savanna Sparrow is a small new world sparrow. The scientific name of this bird is the Passerculus sandwichensis.
Description
The Savanna Sparrow is a medium-sized sparrow with short notched tails. The head appears small for the plumb body, and the crown feathers often flare up to give the bird’s head a small peak. This bird has a thick-based bill for eating seeds, and it is small for a sparrow.
These birds are brown above and white below with crisp streaks throughout. Their upper parts are brown with black streaks, and the underparts are white with thin brown or black streaks on the breasts and flanks. It also has a small patch on the face above the eye.
The average weight of this bird is 15 to 28 grams with an average length of 11 to 15 cm. The wingspan ranges from 20 to 22 cm.
Habitat
The Savanna Sparrows breed in open areas with low vegetation from tundra to grassland, marsh, and farmlands. Even during the winter, you will still find Savanna Sparrows on the ground or in low vegetation areas; You can also look for them along the edges of roads adjacent to farms.
Food
To attract the Savanna Sparrows, you can use feeders such as the hoppers and platform, and inside the feeders, you can put food such as the sunflower seeds.
However, during the breeding season, these birds feed on insects and spiders. Some include grasshoppers, beetles, and bugs. Whenever they are in coastal areas, they can also feed on small crustaceans.
Nesting
These birds lay a clutch of 2 to 6 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 13 days. The eggs are pale greenish, bluish, tan, or white with speckles and streaks. They experience 1 to 4 broods in a year. The hatched chicks are usually naked with yellow-orange skin, and the eyes open in 4 to 5 days.
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.
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.
Cedar Waxwing
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 5.5-6.7 in (14-17 cm)
Weight: 1.1 oz (32 g)
Wingspan: 8.7-11.8 in (22-30 cm)
Description
The scientific name of Cedar Waxwing is Bombycilla cedrorum. It is a medium-sized sleek bird with a large head. The birds have short necks and short wide bills. The crest on their head often lies flat and droops over the back of the head. The birds have broad wings that are pointed like those of Starling’s and short square-tipped tails.
Cedar Waxwings are pale brown on the head and chest and light gray on their wings. The underpart is pale yellow, and the tail is gray with a bright yellow tip. The face of a Cedar Waxwing has a narrow black mask outlined in white. Their wing feathers have red waxy tips that are not much conspicuous.
The birds fly in big unruly flocks that grow, shrink, divide and rejoin like starling flocks. Cedar Waxwing weighs approximately 32 grams and is 14 to 17 cm long. The wingspan of the birds ranges from 22 to 30 cm.
Habitat
Cedar Waxwing can be found low in berry bushes, high in evergreens, or along rivers and over ponds. They inhabit deciduous, coniferous, and mixed woodlands, especially areas along streams, sagebrush, and desert washes. Cedar Waxwing, during winters, is found in open woodlands, parks, gardens, forest edges, and second-growth forests.
Food
To attract Cedar Waxwing birds, the ideal feeder type is a platform feeder. In the feeder, you can put fruit such as berries for the bird to feed on. They also feed on protein-rich insects like mayflies, dragonflies, stoneflies, and leaf beetles.
Nesting
Cedar Waxwing lay two to 6 eggs and have 1 to 2 broods in a year. The eggs are pale blue or blue-gray, sometimes with black or gray spots, and are 1.6 to 2.9 cm long and 1.4 to 1.8 cm wide. Incubation takes 11 to 13 days, while nesting takes 14 to 18 days.
Yellow-rumped Warbler – TO DO
Red-breasted Nuthatch
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 4.3 in (11 cm)
Weight: 0.3-0.5 oz (8-13 g)
Wingspan: 7.1-7.9 in (18-20 cm)
Red-breasted Nuthatch is a small active songbird in North America. The scientific name of Red-breasted Nuthatch is Sitta canadensis.
Description
Red-breasted Nuthatches are compact birds with a sharp appearance and a prominent long pointed bill. The birds have very short tails and very short necks. The body of red-breasted Nuthatches is plump or barrel-chested, and their wings are short and very broad.
Red-breasted Nuthatches are blue-gray with greatly patterned heads. The birds have a black cap and stripe through their eyes, broken up by a white stripe over the eye. The birds have black eyebrows and white eyebrows. The underparts of the bird are rich rusty cinnamon and paler in female Nuthatches.
Red-breasted Nuthatches weigh eight to13 grams and are approximately 11 cm long. The birds have a wingspan of 18 to 20 cm.
Habitat
Red-breasted Nuthatches mainly occur in coniferous forests of spruce, pine, fir, larch, hemlock, and western red cedar. During winter, the birds inhabit the orchards, scrubs, parks, shade trees, and plantations.
Food
Red-breasted Nuthatches are attracted by large tube feeders, small tube feeders, large hopper, small hopper, suet cage, and platform feeders. In these feeders, you can put foods such as black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, peanuts, mealworms, peanut hearts, and suet. The birds also feed on insects and other arthropods such as beetles, caterpillars, ants, spiders, and earwigs.
Nesting
Red-breasted Nuthatches lay 2 to 8 eggs and incubate them for 12 to 13 days. The eggs are white, creamy, or pinkish-white with reddish-brown speckles. The birds experience only one brood in a year. The chicks hatched are naked and helpless and are nestled for 18 to 21 days.
Black-capped Chickadee
Length: 4.7-5.9 in (12-15 cm)
Weight: 0.3-0.5 oz (9-14 g)
Wingspan: 6.3-8.3 in (16-21 cm)
Description
The Black-capped Chickadee is a small songbird that lives in deciduous and mixed forests. It belongs to the Paridae family. Its scientific name is the Poecile atricapillus. It is famous for its ability to lower its body temperature during cold winter nights and a good memory to remember where it stores food.
This small bird has a large head with a short neck, and this gives it a unique, rather spherical shape. Its tail is long and narrow with a short bill that is a little thicker than warbler’s but thinner than a finch. The cap and the bill are black with white cheeks, soft gray back, and the wing feathers are gray-edged with white. The lower/ under part is soft buffy on the sides, grading to white beneath. It is difficult to see its small eyes because the cap extends down just beyond the black eyes.
The average weight of this bird is 9 to 14 grams with a length of between 12 to 15 cm. The wingspan ranges from between 16 to 21 cm.
Habitat
The Chickadees can mainly be found in places that contain trees or woody shrubs, from the forest and woodlot to the residential areas and parks. They can also be found in the weedy fields and marshes sometimes.
Food
If you want to attract the Black-capped Chickadees, the ideal feeders are the suet cage, large and small hopper, platform, large and small tube feeder. In these feeders, you can put food like the Nyjer, safflower, black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, suet, peanuts, and peanut hearts.
During the winter, they feed on seeds and berries, and insects in small quantities, but during the summer, these insects and spiders make 80 percent of their diet.
Nesting
The Black-capped Chickadees lay a clutch of between up to 13 eggs, and they incubate these eggs for 12 to 13 days. The eggs are whitish with fine reddish-brown dots. They experience one brood per year.
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.
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.
Golden-crowned Kinglet
MEASUREMENTS
Length: 3.1-4.3 in (8-11 cm)
Weight: 0.1-0.3 oz (4-8 g)
Wingspan: 5.5-7.1 in (14-18 cm)
Gold-crowned Kinglets are small songbirds widely spread in North America. They belong in the family Regulidae. The scientific name of the Gold-crowned Kinglet is Regulus satrapa.
Description
Gold-crowned Kinglets have a rounded body with short wings and a skinny tail. The head of the bird is relatively large, and its bill is thin and short. These bills make it easier for the birds to glean small insects. The birds are smaller than Chickadees but larger than Hummingbirds.
Gold-crowned Kinglets have pale olive upperparts and gray underparts. The birds have a black and white striped face and a bright yellow-orange crown patch. Gold-crowned Kinglets have a thin white wing bar and yellow edges to their black feathers. The crest of these birds is flashy lemon-yellow.
Golden-crowned Kinglets have an average weight of 4 to 8 grams and are 8 to 11 cm long. The birds have a wingspan of 14 to 18 cm.
Habitat
Gold-crowned Kinglet’s main habitat is in coniferous forests and breeds in boreal or montane forests and conifer plantations. The birds, during winter, can be found in deciduous forests, suburbs, swamps, bottomlands, and scrubby habitats.
Food
The ideal feeder to attract old-crowned Kinglets is platform feeders. In the feeder, you can put foods such as mealworms, black oil sunflower seeds, peanut hearts, and hulled sunflower seeds. Gold-crowned Kinglets mainly feed on insects and small soft-bodied arthropods and their eggs.
Nesting
Gold-crowned Kinglets lay a clutch of 3 to 11 eggs and have 1 to 2 broods in a year. The eggs are white or creamy with pale brown and lilac spots. Incubation takes 15 days, while nesting takes 16 to 19 days. Hatched nestlings are helpless and naked except for tufts down on the top of the head.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
