Wyoming Birds: Pictures And Bird Identification Tips

Western Meadowlark

With lots of land and relatively less people than other states, Wyoming has always been a land for the birds. Yellowstone National Park proudly reminds its visitors that park workers have kept records of the birds since the opening of the park in 1872.

Today the list has grown to the three hundred species mark, with half of them nesting species. Considering that the Wyoming birds checklist consists of approximately 450 species, a Yellowstone birding vacation can easily provide visitors with a very good feel for the state’s bird population.

Of course, Wyoming is more than Yellowstone. It’s easy to describe the state as the quintessential western state. There’s a large land mass comprised of forests, fields, mountains, prairies and sagebrush. Each of those habitats supports a specific group of birds.

For example, the Western Meadowlark, the official state bird, is one of the typical grassland birds of the West. They live on a diet of seeds and insects.

American Pipit

Moving from the ground level grasslands to the tops of the mountains, the American Pipe is one of a handful of birds that breed in the Alpine Tundra, above the tree line. They winter in many areas of the South.

Pine Siskin

Birding Wyoming also means birding the Bighorns. A recently published book entitled, “Birds and Birding in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains Region” (Canterbury, Johnsgard and Downing) notes the presence of at least 327 bird species. Considering the fact that the Wyoming birds checklist approaches the 450 bird species, there’s quite a bit of bird diversity in the Bighorns.

Magpie