Random Sightings
From Our Gallery
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Bluebird
Posted by Tylor Birmingham, May 26, 2020.
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Blue December
Posted by Jessica Price, Dec 03, 2019.
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Immature Red Headed Woodpecker
Posted by Sharon Stangle, Apr 19, 2018.
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Female Red Bellied Woodpecker
Posted by Sharon Stangle, Apr 19, 2018.
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What am I?
Posted by Bret Goddard, Dec 07, 2016.
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Male Downy Woodpecker
Posted by Bret Goddard, Nov 28, 2016.
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Coopers Hawk
Posted by Bret Goddard, Nov 28, 2016.
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Yellow-rumped warbler
Posted by Amy Kane, Oct 08, 2016.
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Great Crested Cormorant
Posted by Laurel Butkins, Sep 23, 2016.
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Griffon Vulture
Posted by Laurel Butkins, Sep 23, 2016.
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Scrub Jay
Posted by Ethan Winning, May 08, 2016.
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If I keep on pulling just a bit more
Posted by Bret Goddard, Mar 23, 2016.
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Little Goldfinch fluff
Posted by Bret Goddard, Mar 23, 2016.
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White-crowned Sparrow
Posted by Sharon Anderson, Oct 07, 2015.
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Black and White Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH
Posted by Peter R. Casey III, Jun 26, 2015.
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Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Magee Marsh, OH
Posted by Peter R. Casey III, Jun 26, 2015.
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Bay-breasted Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH
Posted by Peter R. Casey III, Jun 26, 2015.
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Blackburnian Warbler, Magee Marsh, OH
Posted by Peter R. Casey III, Jun 26, 2015.
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Philadelphia Vireo, Magee Marsh, OH
Posted by Peter R. Casey III, Jun 25, 2015.
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Scarlet Tanager, female, Magee Marsh, OH
Posted by Peter R. Casey III, Jun 25, 2015.
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Website Features
Posted on Oct 28, 2020 Comments »
Except for northern Canada and inland Alaska, song sparrows can be found throughout North America during some part of the year, and they are common denizens of backyards—especially under bird feeders. In the Northeast and most of the West, song sparrow is a year-round resident, but across southern Canada and the north-central states, the species is a summer breeder that heads south for the colder months.
Posted on Oct 14, 2020 Comments »
Nuthatches are some of the most adorable birds in North America! Want the lowdown on these birds—including what species to expect in your area, and how to attract them to your yard? We have the facts!
Written by Eirik A.T. Blom, May 27, 2020 Comments »
I could be forgiven, being a lifelong Baltimorian and a serious baseball fan, for having a special affection for orioles, but I am not alone. For many bird watchers, the return of orioles in the spring is a special moment. It is not just that orioles are beautiful, the males a palette of rich oranges, yellows, and blacks, or that their song, familiar and resonant, rings across the landscape. It is that no matter where you live in North America, you have a chance of seeing one.
Posted on Jan 08, 2020 Comments »
Redpolls spend the summer nesting in the forests of Alaska and northern Canada. As winter rolls around, you may spot redpolls visiting your feeders, especially if you live in the states along the Canadian border. About every two years, these foraging finches will irrupt farther south, extending their territory toward Interstate 40.
Written by Birdsquatch, Dec 18, 2019 Comments »
Dear Birdsquatch: Do you have any ideas on how to keep Nyjer/thistle seed dry when it rains or snows? Thanks.
—Martin S., Yorktown Heights, New York
Posted on Nov 27, 2019 Comments »
Did You Know? Most woodpeckers have an X-shaped footprint. Also, they have nostril feathers to prevent inhalation of wood particles as they chisel.
Written by Eirik A.T. Blom, Aug 07, 2019 Comments »
A lot of bird watchers and non-bird watchers alike have spent time peering into a thicket, trying to persuade the poor lost kitten pitifully mewing in the brush to come out. Even those who are familiar with the catbird have been fooled at times. The soft mew of the gray catbird is so realistic that sometimes the brain just won't accept that it is not a cat.
Posted on Jun 12, 2019 Comments »
If you're flipping through a field guide or browsing through a quick internet image search, it can be hard to tell the difference between North America's two waxwing species. They both have distinctive crests, black masks, bodies in shades of brown and gray, red-tipped secondaries, and yellow-tipped tailfeathers. However, if you look just a little bit closer, you can distinguish cedar waxwings from their bohemian cousins fairly easily.
Posted on Feb 20, 2019 Comments »
Many bird watchers think of warblers as beautiful but elusive little birds, easiest to spot in the spring as they announce their return with song. But there's one species of warbler that remains across most of North America even when temperatures plummet and snow flies.
Posted on Dec 12, 2018 Comments »
Are there pine siskins at your thistle feeder? They're easy to overlook, since they are streaky brown, like female house and purple finches, but have wing bars like an American goldfinch. They often turn up in flocks with their finch cousins, and blend in, unnoticed. Keep an eye out for a small, finely streaked finch with yellow at the base of a notched tail.
Written by Dawn Hewitt, Jun 13, 2018 Comments »
For WBB Managing Editor Dawn Hewitt, the Baltimore oriole was the first bird that took her breath away. It was the first invisible bird that, once pointed out to her, caused her jaw to drop. It was the
bird that gave her a clue that she was overlooking and missing out on spectacular beauty in the natural world.
Posted on May 16, 2018 Comments »
Ah, the confusing baby birds of spring! Baby birds often look only a tiny bit like their parents' adult plumage, so it's easy to get confused when an unfamiliar feathered critter shows up in the backyard. Here are two of the most confusing juveniles.
Written by Bill Thompson, III, and Dawn Hewitt, Apr 25, 2018 Comments »
If the habitat of your yard and neighborhood is suitable—with tall trees and shrubs—it is likely that warblers will be passing through very soon, so start watching for warblers in your yard.
Written by Dawn Hewitt, Nov 01, 2017 Comments »
A pileated woodpecker at my feeder! I was thrilled! Someone had given me a homemade suet feeder with a tail-prop design. A few months after hanging it in my yard (and keeping it continually stocked with suet), a pileated woodpecker showed up. My neighborhood was heavily forested with big, old trees, and I frequently heard their calls and occasionally saw them overhead and in the trees. Having one at my feeder was an exciting first.
Posted on Aug 30, 2017 Comments »
Are the chickadees at your feeder Carolina or black-capped? Carolina and black-capped chickadees are nearly identical.
Written by Jane Henderson, Apr 10, 2017 Comments »
It's time to start looking for a true sign of spring: chipping sparrows in their breeding finery foraging under your birdfeeders. Don't overlook the subtle beauty of this common backyard bird. It nests across most of North America.
Written by Dawn Hewitt, Feb 27, 2017 Comments »
If you feed birds, you probably feed mourning doves. Mourning doves are North America's most common and widespread native dove species, named for its mournful cooing: coo-AHH-coo,coo,coo, sometimes confused for an owl.
Written by Cathy Priebe, Feb 14, 2017 Comments »
Contributor Cathy Priebe admits that some of the little brown birds at her feeders are challenging for her to identify. But once she noticed the distinguishing features and behavior of the winter-only American tree sparrow, she was smitten.
Posted on Feb 15, 2016 Comments »
Five species of titmice reside in North America, and they're all adorable. Along with their cousins the chickadees, titmice are the watchdogs of the woodlot and backyard, alerting other birds to danger. When they sound especially agitated it’s a good bet that they’ve located a predator, such as an owl, hawk, snake, cat, or fox.
Posted on Sep 01, 2015 Comments »
A beady, insect-like trill first alerts many bird watchers to the presence of cedar waxwings, as they tend to completely blend into the surrounding foliage. These wandering fruit eaters appear and disappear seemingly without rhyme or reason, descending to strip a tree of its fruits and then whirling off to parts unknown. Fermented fruits sometimes cause entire flocks of waxwings to stagger about on the ground until their intoxication wears off.
Written by Eirik A.T. Blom, Jun 25, 2015 Comments »
Mockingbirds are loud, persistent singers and they have a habit of singing all night long. With a suspicious genius they usually choose the corner of the house right over the master bedroom. Even if you close the window the sound penetrates. It would be OK if the song were melodious. Sounds of birds and nature, when sufficiently soft and rhythmic, can be sleep inducers. But the mockingbird’s song is neither soft nor melodious. The mocker is a mimic extraordinaire, incorporating not only the songs of other birds, but also the sounds of the neighborhood.
Written by Bill Thompson, III, May 28, 2015 Comments »
A close look at chipping sparrows reveals much to admire in its quiet and confiding ways. As common as they are around backyards and parks, we know surprisingly little about their mating habits. One Ontario study showed males not to be monogamous, as assumed, but to mate freely. These birds have the interesting habit of lining their nests with animal hair. They'll also use human hair, but more on that later.
Written by Kyle Carlsen, May 07, 2015 Comments »
American goldfinches are brightening feeder-filled backyards, weedy fields, and grassy meadows all over North America. In fact, 48 states and 9 provinces host the black-and-yellow birds for at least part of the year. Generally speaking, southern Canada has them during summer; the southern United States has them during winter; and the northern United States has them year-round.
Posted on Feb 26, 2015 Comments »
Noisy and sociable, tame around humans, the tufted titmouse is a fascinating little bird. Learn how to attract it to your backyard, and how to identify it when it arrives.
Posted on Dec 25, 2014 Comments »
North America's largest common woodpecker, the pileated woodpecker is a magnificent, flashy, loud, but shy bird. The word "pileated" is Latin for "crested," a reference to this woodpecker's remarkable crest.
Posted on Nov 06, 2014 Comments »
For many of us, winter is the only time we have dark-eyed juncos around. They form large flocks in backyards, parks, and pastures, and along rural roadsides and woodland edges in just about every corner of the United States except southern Florida. Watch for the flash of white from their tail feathers as they dart between brush piles or scatter from feeding on the ground beneath a bird feeder.
Posted on Oct 31, 2014 Comments »
Creeping along pine branches like a tiny mechanical toy, the red-breasted nuthatch is looking for seeds and for insects, spiders, and other edible morsels. Its small size and preference for northern coniferous forests may make it a less familiar sight to many backyard bird watchers.
Posted on Oct 17, 2014 Comments »
Can you identify the owl above? Eastern and western screech-owls are nearly identical. Until 1983, they were thought to be the same species. DNA tests showed they are not.
Posted on Jul 10, 2014 Comments »
A common and widespread bird in the forests of the mountain West, the mountain chickadee prefers to live in or near conifers. Like its chickadee relatives, the mountain chickadee is active and noisy as it forages high in the tall trees, often in mixed flocks with other species.
Posted on Jul 03, 2014 Comments »
The barn swallow is named for its preferred nesting location of barns. This species seems to define what it means to be at home in the air. One early naturalist estimated that a barn swallow that lived ten years would fly more than two million miles, enough to travel eighty-seven times around the earth.
Posted on May 15, 2014 Comments »
If you live in eastern North America, now is a great time to be watching for rose-breasted grosbeaks in your backyard. These colorful, cardinal-sized songbirds pass through backyards across the southeastern United States en route to their breeding grounds farther north. They spend the winters in the Neotropics and fly across the Gulf of Mexico each spring to breed.
Posted on May 08, 2014 Comments »
A familiar and fairly large (13 inches long) woodpecker, the northern flicker is a distinctively marked bird that—unlike other woodpeckers—is often seen foraging on the ground. The eastern form of the flicker is known as the yellow-shafted flicker for its bright lemon yellow underwing and tail color. A red-shafted form of the northern flicker occurs in the West. There are more than 130 different names by which the flicker is known, including high-hole, yellowhammer, and yawkerbird.
Written by Bill Thompson, III, Apr 23, 2014 Comments »
Spring warbler watching means calling up information that has been stored, unused in the memory banks, for nearly a year. This article is designed as an exercise to stretch and warm up the mental muscles in preparation for the coming waves. When you have the right mindset, you will be amazed by how quickly you remember.
Written by Kyle Carlsen, Apr 17, 2014 Comments »
No matter where in North America you reside, chances are that you're enjoying (or are about to enjoy) the warmer temperatures of spring. This also means you're noticing (or are about to notice) changes in the birds in your backyard. Here are a few of the many interesting species to watch for in birdy backyards across the continent this spring.
Written by Dawn Hewitt, Apr 09, 2014 Comments »
Even though hundreds or even thousands of chimney swifts drop into a single chimney to roost at dusk during fall migration, that chimney will host only one chimney swift nest during breeding season. Chimney swifts are not colonial nesters, although a breeding pair will permit unmated swifts to roost in "their" chimney while nesting is active.
Posted on Mar 06, 2014 Comments »
The two common "red" finches that visit bird feeders all over North America are the purple finch and the house finch. Of these two, the house finch is the more common. It is also the more commonly misidentified because its plumage can vary from dull red to bright orange.
Written by Kyle Carlsen, Nov 06, 2013 Comments »
You may not think of turkeys, quail, and other upland gamebirds as backyard birds, but in many areas of North America, birders can easily lure these species to their backyard feeding stations.
Written by Melissa Mayntz, Sep 04, 2013 Comments »
A scuffling caught my eye one day, and a flash of orange. Orange? The only orange bird I'd had in the yard was a black-headed grosbeak, but this bird didn't have nearly enough orange on it, and the grosbeaks don't tend to forage on the ground. This bird was decidedly a ground-forager, for there is no sky view outside my basement office window—just an eye-level patch of perpetually damp dirt under thick, low evergreens where I occasionally toss a handful of hulled sunflower seeds to give the California quail, dark-eyed juncos, and house sparrows a treat.
Posted on Aug 14, 2013 Comments »
Putting names on birds can always be challenging, but it seems to be especially so during late summer and fall, when juvenile birds and non-breeding plumages shake things up a bit. As you consult your favorite field guide this season, keep these tips in mind.
Written by Nancy Castillo, May 02, 2013 Comments »
I still have trouble at times telling the difference between a sharp-shinned hawk and a Cooper's hawk. So if you do, too, you're not alone! I've read a number of resources to help differentiate them, and just when I think I have it down, I see one that I can't quite identify with certainty.
Posted on Apr 03, 2013 Comments »
Backyard bird watchers from more than 100 countries made history this past winter in the first global Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). In the largest worldwide bird count ever, bird watchers counted more than 25 million birds on 116,000 online checklists, recording more than 3,500 species. That's one-third of the world's total bird species.
Written by Kyle Carlsen, Mar 27, 2013 Comments »
I remember well the first painted bunting I ever laid eyes on. The memory is fresh. My buddy and I were hiking along a dirt trail just outside of Dallas, Texas, on a particularly hot midsummer afternoon. 'Twas my first time exploring the Lone Star State. Mississippi kites circled overhead and greater roadrunners scurried along the ground. Having spent most of my life up to that point in southern Ohio, I was easily distracted but such exotic creatures. The armadillos were especially fascinating, as were the cacti. I paused to snap a photo, and that's when I heard it: a sharp pik!
New On This Site
Ask Birdsquatch: How Do Birds Sleep? added on Feb 24, 2021
Listen for Early Birds added on Feb 17, 2021
On Thistle and Goldfinches in Winter added on Jan 27, 2021
Memorable Spring Visitors added in the gallery by Deanna Mayhew on Jul 1, 2020
Fresh out of the Nest added in the gallery by Deanna Mayhew on Jul 1, 2020
Robin Feast added in the gallery by Tylor Birmingham on May 26, 2020
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