Back yard birding ranks as many birders favorite past time. Landscaping a yard for birds can be as easy as providing adequate food, water and shelter. Bird diets vary with some preferring seeds and other preferring insects. Here’s a quick run down of the most common garden birds from both categories.
Feeder Birds
Generally two feeder birds seasons run through the year. Year round birders welcome year round perching birds such as the chickadees, jays and sparrows on a daily basis. When the spring and fall migration seasons are ready, they plan for the extra company.
Often considered among the most intelligent of the bird families, the twenty North American Corvidae species include familiar birds such as jays, crows, ravens and magpies.
Ten multicolor jay species compete for North American territory. Blue Jays, the dominant jay east of the Rocky Mountains, readily take to back yard feeders offering corn, sunflower seeds and peanuts. One of their western counter parts, the Western Scrub-Jay shares a similar pattern of behavior and diet.
Finch definitely belong in the garden birds category. Twenty three finch species (Fringillidae family), sorted into ten genera, including Redpols, Grosbeaks and Siskins inhabit North American fields, forests and residential areas. Popular since the days of Darwin, the colorful feathers and mild tenement of native species make them popular visitors to back yard feeders.
Providing both thistle and larger seeds such as sunflower seeds in separate feeders helps attract a wider array of local finch species.
The video at the top of the page shows a female house finch getting a drink of water.
The blackbird family consists of a variety of species including grackles and orioles. Many will visit feeders. In some instances fruit slices help attract orioles. The green Blackbirds button points to more detailed coverage of the group.
Sparrows and their related birds, such as juncos, towhees, longspurs and buntings can often be seen around the feeder. Often they prefer scratching at the ground underneath the feeder looking for fallen seeds.
Sparrow identification begin by whittling down the species according to their population density. For example, five of the sparrows
- Baird’s Sparrow
- Botteri’s Sparrow
- Olive Sparrow
- Rufous-winged Sparrow
- Yellow-eyed Juncos
Additionally, while six Towhee species are represented, only the three members of the Pipilo genus, the Eastern, Spotted and Green-tailed Towhees, have an extended range and are regular visitors to back yards from coast to coast. The picture shows an Eastern Towhee with the typical Robin look alike red breast.
The California, Abert’s and Canyon Towhees have a limited California coastal or Southwest range.
Finally, the range of three more species, Bell’s, Saltmarsh and Seaside Sparrows, get limited to coastal areas, Bell’s along the California Coast with the California Towhee, and the Saltmarsh and Seaside Sparrows limiting their range to the immediate Atlantic and Gulf Coast areas.
White-crowned Sparrows also breed in Northern Canada and spend their winters in most areas of the United States. The distinct white feathers on the head make for easy identification.
Chipping Sparrows live year round in many areas of the Southeast. They also breed in many grassy areas throughout the United States. Those conditions also match many suburban areas.
They tend to be smaller than average sparrows. The darker eyebrow serves as a good field identification clue. During breeding season, males also show a nice set of rusty feathers on the head.
American Tree Sparrows, another wide ranging migratory species, breed in Northern Canada and winter in the Northern areas of the United States. They are primarily ground feeders that do take to feeders.
Fox Sparrows also fit into the migratory category. In the East they travel to Canada during the breeding season and return to residential areas during the winter. In the Pacific Northwest they can be year round residents. Additionally the Eastern Fox sparrows tend to have a more pronounced red hue to their feathers.
They prefer brushy habitat for ground cover and likewise tend to scratch along the ground for seeds under the feeders in residential neighborhoods.
Nothing shy about the Song Sparrow. During breeding season they will sit perched and available for video recording in the yard while singing up a storm.
The breast is streaky looking in all of its various forms across the United States.
The following three species don’t fit the typical back yard sparrow profile.
First off, Lincoln’s Sparrow winters along the Southern border and breed mostly in Canada and the Rocky Mountain region. Fields and wetlands tend to be their primary migratory habitat.
Savannah Sparrows are grassland birds that breed in the Northern half of the United States (along with Canada) and then winter in the Southern half of the United States.
A yellow eyebrow or spot of feathers around the eye is a great field identification clue.
Vesper Sparrows prefer grasslands and open areas. Year round resident in much of the South, the remaining population breeds in the North although not heavily in Northeast and New England.
The picture highlights the thin, white eye ring and a small rusty patch at the top of the wing.
Add in the sparrow species with a more regional range and almost all places in the continental United States have one dozen or so sparrows that live year round or visit the area for migration or breeding.
Throat feathers also represent the defining feature of a Southwest sparrow, the Black-throated sparrow.
Black throat feathers that extend well down the breast is a defining feature of the Harris’s Sparrow. They are the largest native sparrow species and winter in the Midwest.
The yellow head feathers also make for easy identification of the Golden-crowned sparrow, a West Coast species that breeds in Alaska.
Garden Birds: Insectivores
In addition to the seed eating birds that gather around back yard feeders, another group of insectivores often can be found near the garden, helping with insect management. One need go no further than the Northern Mockingbird to understand their popularity. Five states, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, designate it their state bird, making this back yard visitor one of the most popular of all state birds. Here’s a rundown of some representative species of the most popular types of garden birds.
Maintaining a health yard is one way to attract a variety of insectivores.
Seven thrasher species (Toxostoma) also rank as common garden birds, easily fitting into back yards within their territory. Physically they share similar features, being medium sized birds with muted feather colors and decurved bills. All thrashers also forage on the ground searching for local insect populations.
Second only to the bird mimics the thrush and bluebirds of North America also happily attach themselves to residential areas and back yard gardens.
Better known by the common names of thrushes, robins, solitaires and bluebirds, species diversity reaches its peak in the genus Turdus, with its eleven recorded species, including the American Robin. The picture shows a Varied Thrush. During the breeding season, their territory tends to be the coniferous forests of mountain areas. During winters, many move to the valleys, and they can often be seen at backyard bird feeders.
American robins, another very popular garden bird, has three states, Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin designating it as their official state bird. During the winter season, Robins are known to gather in large flocks, sometimes reaching populations of 100,000 or more, in areas that provide adequate food, shelter and water.
Kinglets are a group of small songbirds in the family Regulidae. Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Golden-crowned Kinglets, live in and around the edges of the forests in northern North America.
The picture highlights the red patch characteristic of the male Ruby-crowned Kinglet. It’s not always visible. The Golden-crowned Kinglet sports a distinct yellow color crown. It is characteristic of both males and females, although the male patch can also have a touch of orange in it. During the colder winter months, the northern populations tend to move to lower elevations, including residential areas. They live a very active lifestyle, hopping about the tree branches in search of insects.
Chickadees and Titmice find homes in North American fields, forests and residential areas. The familiar chick-a-dee-dee-dee song of most chickadees greets the ears of visitors within their range. Please press the green birds button to see additional videos and pictures of North American birds.
Most Chickadees reside year-round in their territory, although some migrate short distances during winter in search of a more consistent food source. Their diet varies depending on season and usually consists of insects, fruit and seeds. During winter they naturally visit backyard bird feeders.
The National Audubon Society lists the Boreal Chickadee, a species at home in boreal forests from Alaska to Maine, as one of the top five common North American birds experiencing severe population decline.
Chestnut-backed Chickadees have a range limited to the Northwest coastal areas up through southern Alaska. The chestnut coloring on the feathers makes for easy identification.
Mountain Chickadees can easily be distinguished from the Black-capped chickadees by the presence of the white band in the otherwise black cap. Their range extends a bit wider than the Chestnut-backed chickadees. Look for them from Canada to the Southwest in both the Cascades and Rocky Mountain areas.
In the Southeast, the Carolina Chickadee brightens up the backyards of folks on a daily basis. They look very similar to the Black-capped Chickadees, with some differences in wing feathers. In areas where the two species overlap, the species with the more grayish wing and tail feathers belong to the Carolina Chickadee.
Another common visitor the to backyard feeders in the east is the related Tufted Titmouse. Southeast residents who commonly watch both species around the backyard bird feeder might notice that more often than not, the titmice rank above the chickadees in the pecking order and usually eat at the feeder first. A scroll down the page shows that Titmice are forest birds. They are what is called secondary cavity nesters, that use trees that already have holes present as their nesting sites.
The remainder of the titmice have very limited ranges. Black-crested Titmouse are the dominant species of Texas and northern Mexico. They happily appear at feeders. There’s no mistaking it for another species.
Bridled Titmouse live year round in both southern Arizona and New Mexico.
Juniper Titmouse are the more common Southwest resident. Comparing pictures shows that the Juniper Titmouse lacks the black head band of the Bridled Titmouse.
One upon a time, mighty patches of oak trees filled areas along the Pacific Coast. Some have survived and the Oak Titmouse makes a year round home from southern Oregon and along the California coast.