Yard List & Index

10/22/17

(page constantly under construction; please check back for updates....)

Here is a list of the bird species seen in or from my yard since July 2001, when we moved to this location. Order is based on the 7th edition of the AOU Checklist of North American Birds (as amended through the 42nd supplement). As of 12/26/16, and the addition of Allen's Hummingbird, the list is at 214 species.

If I have a photo uploaded, there is a numbered icon in the photo link column. Click the number to go directly to the full-sized photo. Or, if you want to see notes on the photo, click the link in the classification column to go to that page, then scan the page for the photo and its caption. Classification and Abundance are both based on occurrence in my yard and may not be the same as that listed in local checklists.

Classification Column: YRR = Year Round Resident WR = Winter Resident SR = Summer Resident M = Migrant (seen most Springs and/or Falls) A = Accidental (seen only once or twice)

Abundance Column: Regular (RG) = can be counted on; seen or heard nearly every day without much effort; Common (C) = seen most days, in season, but may require more time or effort; Uncommon (U) = can't be counted on; Irregular (I) = seen often, but at irregular intervals; Accidental (X) = has only been seen once or twice.

	Species (Common Name)	Photo Link	Classification	Abundance	Notes
1	Least Grebe
2	Pied-billed Grebe
3	Eared Grebe
4	American White Pelican
5	Double-crested Cormorant	1	WR	I
6	Anhinga
7	Great Blue Heron
8	Great Egret	1 2	YRR	I
9	Snowy Egret
10	Little Blue Heron
11	Tricolored Heron
12	Cattle Egret
13	Green Heron
14	Yellow-crowned Night Heron
15	White-faced Ibis
16	Black Vulture	1	YRR	RG
17	Turkey Vulture	1 2	YRR	RG
18	Black-bellied Whistling Duck	1 2	YRR	I	Most common in the spring and early summer. Usually seen flying over at dawn or dusk.
19	Mute Swan				unknown if sighting was wild bird or an escapee
20	Canada Goose
21	Gadwall
22	American Wigeon
23	Blue-winged Teal
24	Cinnamon Teal
25	Northern Shoveler
26	Northern Pintail
27	Green-winged Teal
28	Canvasback
29	Redhead	1	M	I	seen on and off during winter months, 1 or 2 days at a time
30	Ringed-necked Duck
31	Greater Scaup
32	Lesser Scaup
33	Bufflehead
34	Hooded Merganser
35	Ruddy Duck
36	Osprey	1	WR	I	visit from nearby Canyon Lake
37	Mississippi Kite
38	Bald Eagle
39	Northern Harrier
40	Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	WR	C
41	Cooper's Hawk	1 2	WR	C
42	Red-shouldered Hawk	1 2 3	YRR	C	nests locally
43	Broad-winged Hawk
44	Swainson's Hawk
45	Zone-tailed Hawk	1 2	WR	I
46	Red-tailed Hawk
47	Crested Caracara	1 2 3	YRR	I	Nests on a nearby ranch.
48	American Kestrel	1 2 3	WR	U
49	Merlin
50	Peregrine Falcon
51	Prairie Falcon			X	fly by on 9/6/08
52	Wild Turkey	1	YRR?	X	Photo is from a nearby ranch.
53	Northern Bobwhite
54	Common Moorhen			X	Considered very rare in the general area; this single bird hung around for about 2 weeks. 1st seen 5/12/11
55	American Coot
56	Sandhill Crane
57	Killdeer
58	American Avocet
59	Greater Yellowlegs
60	Lesser Yellowlegs
61	Solitary Sandpiper
62	Spotted Sandpiper
63	Upland Sandpiper
64	Long-billed Curlew
65	Semipalmated Sandpiper
66	Short-billed Dowitcher
67	Long-billed Dowitcher
68	Wilson's Snipe
69	Wilson's Phalarope
70	Franklin's Gull
71	Ring-billed Gull
72	Rock Pigeon
73	Eurasian Collared Dove	1	A	X	will it become common?
74	White-winged Dove	1	YRR	RG	present in large numbers (75-125)
75	Mourning Dove
76	Inca Dove	1	YRR	RG
77	Common Ground Dove	1 2	YRR	I
78	Yellow-billed Cuckoo
79	Greater Roadrunner	1 2 3	YRR	I
80	Eastern Screech-Owl
81	Great Horned Owl	1 2 3	YRR	I	See YRR page for additional photos.
82	Barred Owl
83	Common Nighthawk
84	Common Poorwill
85	Chuck-will's-widow
86	Whip-poor-will			A	heard once; 9/28/08
87	Chimney Swift
88	Ruby-throated Hummingbird	1 2 3	M	RG
89	Black-chinned Hummingbird	1 2	SR	RG
90	Anna's Hummingbird	1 2 3 4 5 6	A	X	Two birds winter of 2005; one bird winter of 2007/08; one bird winter of 2008/2009. Also put in an appearance in 2010 and 2011.
91	Calliope Hummingbird
92	Broad-tailed Hummingbird	1 2 3 4	A	X	Females may show up more than they are reported, as they can be easily mistaken for the more common Rufous. Fall of 2011 brought more Broad-taileds than usual, including 2 immature males. One stayed thru molt in spring 2012. Both returned for the next two winters.
93	Rufous Hummingbird	1 2 3 4 5	WR	C
94	Allen's Hummingbird				First seen 12-26-16. He stayed long enough to molt into full adult plumage. Identified by shape of tail feathers.
95	Belted Kingfisher
96	Golden-fronted Woodpecker	1 2 3	YRR	C
97	Red-bellied Woodpecker
98	Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
99	Red-naped Sapsucker
100	Ladder-backed Woodpecker	1	YRR	C
101	Downy Woodpecker
102	Northern Flicker
103	Eastern Wood-Pewee
104	Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
105	Least Flycatcher
106	Eastern Phoebe	1 2 3	YRR	C
107	Ash-throated Flycatcher	1	SR	U
108	Western Kingbird
109	Eastern Kingbird	1	A	X
110	Scissor-tailed Flycatcher	1	SR	I	Photo is from a nearby ranch.
111	Loggerhead Shrike
112	White-eyed Vireo	1 2 3	YRR	U	Usually to be found in the neighborhood, but not often in the yard (heard more often than seen in yard). Juveniles are the most frequent visitors to the yard.
113	Bell's Vireo
114	Black-capped Vireo
115	Yellow-throated Vireo	1 2	A	X
116	Blue-headed Vireo	1 2	M	I	locally a winter resident, but only a migrant in my yard
117	Warbling Vireo
118	Philadelphia Vireo
119	Red-eyed Vireo
120	Blue Jay	1 2	YRR	RG
121	Western Scrub-Jay	1 2	YRR	RG
122	American Crow
123	Common Raven	1 2 3	YRR	I	Nests nearby.
124	Chihuahuan Raven
125	Purple Martin	1 2	SR	RG
126	Tree Swallow
127	Northern Rough-winged Swallow				First recorded 10/4/08
128	Cliff Swallow
129	Cave Swallow
130	Barn Swallow	1 2
131	Carolina Chickadee	1 2	YRR	RG
132	Black-crested Titmouse	1 2	YRR	RG
133	Bushtit
134	Red-breasted Nuthatch	1 2 3	A	X
135	Rock Wren
136	Canyon Wren	1	YRR	I
137	Carolina Wren	1	YRR	RG
138	Bewick's Wren	1 2	YRR	RG
139	House Wren
140	Golden-crowned Kinglet
141	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	WR	RG
142	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	2	M	C
143	Eastern Bluebird
144	Hermit Thrush	1 2	WR	U	comes to the bird bath; heard as often as seen
145	American Robin	1	WR	I	Usually around, but often only seen at dawn or dusk. Numbers vary greatly from one year to the next.
146	Gray Catbird				1st seen 5/2/11 during an active spring migration when a strong cold front grounded many birds. It was eating an orange.
147	Northern Mockingbird	1 2	YRR	C
148	Curve-billed Thrasher	1 2
149	European Starling
150	American Pipit
151	Cedar Waxwing	1	WR	C	numbers vary from year to year, and day to day
152	Blue-winged Warbler
153	Tennessee Warbler
154	Orange-crowned Warbler	1 2 3	WR	U
155	Nashville Warbler
156	Yellow Warbler	1	M	U
157	Chestnut-sided Warbler				1st occurrence for yard 5/8/11
158	Magnolia Warbler
159	Yellow-rumped Warbler	1	WR	U	For my yard, some years a winter resident and others only seen as a migrant. Winter resident in general area.
160	Golden-cheeked Warbler
161	Black-throated Green Warbler	1	M	U	Usually seen at least once or twice during spring migration. Sometimes in small groups (3-4 individuals).
162	Blackburnian Warbler	1	A	X
163	Pine Warbler
164	Bay-breasted Warbler	1 2	A	X	1st occurrence for yard, 5/1/11
165	Black-and-White Warbler	1 2	M	I
166	American Redstart
167	Mourning Warbler
168	Wilson's Warbler	1 2	M	U
169	Yellow-breasted Chat	1			Added Sept 2011. One individual stuck around for about 2 weeks, eating grapes from a feeder.
170	Summer Tanager	1 2	SR	I
171	Scarlet Tanager
172	Western Tanager
173	Spotted Towhee	1	M	X	Added at long last in April 2010. My habitat seems right, but they just don't show up here. A winter species locally.
174	Canyon Towhee
175	Cassin's Sparrow
176	Rufous-crowned Sparrow	1 2	YRR	RG
177	Chipping Sparrow	1 2 3	WR	RG
178	Clay-colored Sparrow	1 2	WR	U	present in small numbers (1-2 individuals); takes effort to find among much larger numbers of Chipping Sparrows
179	Brewer's Sparrow
180	Field Sparrow
181	Vesper Sparrow
182	Lark Sparrow	1 2	YRR	U
183	Grasshopper Sparrow
184	Song Sparrow
185	Lincoln's Sparrow	1 2	WR	U
186	White-throated Sparrow
187	White-crowned Sparrow	1 2	M	I	locally a winter resident, but rarely shows up in my yard
188	Dark-eyed Junco	1	WR	I	usually only one, seen on and off for a few weeks; not seen every winter
189	Northern Cardinal	1 2 3	YRR	RG
190	Pyrrhuloxia
191	Rose-breasted Grosbeak	1	A	X
192	Black-headed Grosbeak	1 2 3	A	X	photo 1 = immature; photos 2,3 = adult male
193	Blue Grosbeak	1 2	SR	I	nests locally; usually just one pair and their offspring seen
194	Lazuli Bunting	1 2 3	A	X	not expected, but seen the last several springs
195	Indigo Bunting	1 2	M	U
196	Painted Bunting	1 2	SR	C	Has become more common in my yard. Regular during the summer of 2009, a year of severe drought.
197	Dickcissel
198	Red-winged Blackbird	1	SR	I	Numbers vary with the level of the neighborhood lake. A breeding resident when the weather allows suitable habitat to be present.
199	Western Meadowlark				Added 10/31/2010. Seen, and fortunately, heard 'chucking' to provide id. (both Eastern and Western are present in the area)
200	Yellow-headed Blackbird
201	Common Grackle	1	M	U	Transitioning to a regular summer resident (at least for summer 2010; juveniles have been seen in late June)
202	Great-tailed Grackle
203	Bronzed Cowbird	1	SR?	RG	1st seen, 4/30/11, but daily since then (and 2 seen at times). Remains to be seen if it will become 'resident'.
204	Brown-headed Cowbird	1	SR/M	C	More common some years then others.
205	Orchard Oriole	1	SR	I	Probably nests nearby; many spring and fall migrants
206	Bullock's Oriole	1 2	M	U	Northern Orioles are common fall migrants, but identifiable Bullock's are less common than Baltimore's.
207	Baltimore Oriole	1 2	M	U
208	Scott's Oriole	1 2 3	SR	U	See the Blackbirds and Orioles page for more pictures.
209	Purple Finch
210	House Finch	1 2	YRR	RG
211	Pine Siskin	1 2 3 4	WR	RG
212	Lesser Goldfinch	1 2	YRR	RG	nests locally; numbers higher in winter
213	American Goldfinch	1 2	WR	RG
214	House Sparrow	1	YRR	RG

This site was last updated 10/15/17