What birds come to your house?

[bookbard]

I was sitting outside this morning and watching them. We get blue fairy wrens, fire-tailed finches, purple swamp hens, kookaburras, cockatoos, shrike thrushes, cuckoo-doves, rosellas and king parrots, yellow robins, magpies and whip birds. 

 

What about you?

[Laura Corin]

Robins, great tits, coal tits, thrushes, blackbirds, wrens, tree creepers, great spotted woodpeckers, wood pigeons, bull finches, green finches, gold finches, chaffinches, dunnocks,crows, pheasants, partridges, swallows, swifts, buzzards. Occasional peregrines and maybe a Merlin.

Edited August 18, 2017 by Laura Corin

[Guest]

California quail and all their little families. Magpies, finches, doves, owls, robins...and lots of squirrels that like to play with my chickens.

[Stacia]

Tufted titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, cardinals, purple finches, pine warblers, hawks once in awhile, doves, hummingbirds, sometimes blue jays, bluebirds, crows, carolina wrens, sometimes robins, sometimes eastern towhees, sparrows, and juncos once in awhile. And one time I saw a rose-breasted grosbeak, but only that one time.

 

Eta: Other animals I routinely see in our yard -- squirrels, chipmunks, possums, and raccoons. I have also seen deer, foxes, and rabbits.

Edited August 18, 2017 by Stacia

[Wheres Toto]

Tufted titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, tons of cardinals, red tailed and red shouldered hawks, lots of mourning doves, hummingbirds, blue jays, bluebirds, crows, grackles, red-winged blackbirds, robins, towhees, catbirds, cowbirds, eastern goldfinch, house finches, sparrows, rose-breasted grosbeaks, baltimore orioles, great blue herons, canadian geese, mallard ducks, wild turkeys, turkey vultures, pileated woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, probably a few others (wrens).  

 

We have a hilly, overgrown acre right on a river so that's probably why we get so many.  Lots of bushes, dead and live trees, sheltered areas.

 

One of my pinterest boards is View from my backyard.

Edited August 18, 2017 by Where's Toto?

[Ausmumof3]

Galahs and red rump parrots and blue wrens this morning.

 

We also see magpies, Bronzewing pigeon, Sulfur crest, red ribbons, jays, crows, yellow tail black cockatoos, corellas, swallows, mud larks, apostle birds, kookaburras, robin redbreast, Adelaide rosellas, honeyeaters, lorikeets, wedge tailed Eagles, wattle birds, shire face cuckoo.

 

There are also various other small brown finch that I can't easily identify because they are super shy and non descript.

 

And of course there are always the chickens and roosters!

 

Oh yes and wood ducks and black ducks.

Edited August 18, 2017 by Ausmumof3

[Lori D.]

Yes, I am in an urban neighborhood ;) :

 

2 varieties of doves

2 varieties of woodpeckers

several varieties of finches (including a bright yellow one)

several varieties of hummingbirds (one nested and raised a little one in our patio area this spring!)

mockingbirds

sparrows

grackles

cactus wrens

house wrens

red-tail hawks

great horned owls

crows (or ravens -- not sure which!)

 

occasionally, we get:

cardinals

pigeons

cooper hawks

 

once, after a storm, a blue heron got blown off course and landed atop the telephone pole in our alley

once, someone's pet green cockatiel escaped and landed in the neighbor's tree

 

Right now, my big delight -- but also big head-scratcher -- is a small cottontail rabbit (jack rabbit?) that has taken up residence in a pile of wood in our backyard. How it got in is mysterious -- we have a slump-block wall all around the backyard, so it must have squeezed through a weep hole, and is enjoying all the grass and weeds that have taken off in our yard with our recent rainy season... So cute! (until he finds my little berry patch and garden area!)

Edited August 19, 2017 by Lori D.

[EKS]

Around or above my house: robins, Stellar's jays, Downey woodpeckers, pileated woodpeckers, flickers, Western tanagers, some sort of swallow, some kind of hummingbird, bald eagles, ospreys, various hawks, and great blue herons.  And a bunch of others that I can't remember right now.

[klmama]

I have seen robins, sparrows, mourning doves, woodpeckers, cowbirds, goldfinches, hummingbirds, chickadees, cardinals, crows, bluejays, red-tailed hawks, and wild turkeys.  Occasionally, I'll see a bald eagle fly over extremely high up.  I often hear owls at night, but I don't know what kind.  At a nearby pond there are sandhill cranes and blue herons. 

 

 

 

 

[Rosie_0801]

Black birds, mynahs and sparrows mostly, magpies of course. A lot of crested pigeons during the season too, and at the right times of year we get blue wrens, crimson rosellas and a pair of New Holland Honey Eaters. We get crowds of tiny, little, nondescript finches too and I can't work out what they are either.

[KarenNC]

We're in a suburban neighborhood in the Piedmont area of NC, backing onto a small river.  I don't know a lot about different varieties, but I can identify and have seen turkey vultures, hawks (red-tailed, I think), owls, robins, cardinals, mourning doves, goldfinches, bluebirds, hummingbirds, mockingbirds, blue heron, starlings, crows, and generic little brown birds. :)

 

Once in a while I'll hear a woodpecker and I've seen a wild turkey once in the 11 years we've been here. Other than that, we have deer, possums, raccoons, coyote, rabbits, squirrels, skunks, and foxes. I think we have ravens at the school not too far away (or really, really big crows). I used to see blue jays as a child but now I see bluebirds instead, don't know why. We often get seagulls in the parking lots of the shopping centers although we're several hours from the coast, and a lot of Canada geese.

[Guest]

We get mostly these: chickadees, sparrows, house wrens, cardinals, blue jays, robins, several types of woodpeckers (pileated, hairy, downy, red bellied, red headed), nuthatches, bluebirds, purple finches, red grossbeaks, towees, goldfinches and the ocassional indigo bunting. We have an ocassional ruby-throated hummingbird in the summer. We have redtail and red-shouldered hawks; we have a few owls we see or hear: great horned, barred and barn owls usually. For "pest" birds, we have cowbirds, turkey and black vultures, crows and blackbirds.

 

Near the water/on the water we have: bald eagles, osprey, great blue herons, green herons, mallard and wood ducks, sometimes swans. Sometimes I see a kingfisher. Ubiquitous canadian geese.

 

I love watching birds and I am always excited when I see a different one from usual. Over my vacation, I realized I took more photos of the Green Herons on the canal then I did of my family. 😳

 

ETA: I forgot: sometimes wild turkeys. Also mockingbirds and brown thrashers. And catbirds. And coopers hawks.

Edited August 19, 2017 by Quill

[Pawz4me]

I'm not a bird person so mostly I try to ignore them. ;) However, we have a rather large flock of wild turkeys that's pretty hard to ignore. And the crows stomping around on the sun room roof make too much racket to ignore.

[kewb]

The ones I can identify:

Robins

Cardinals

Blue Jays

Crows

Pigeons

Golden Finch

Woodpecker

Grackle

Turkey Vultures

Hawks

Sparrows

The occasional Turkey

Morning Doves

 

 

Hmm, I know more birds then I thought I did.

[Tap]

Black ones, blue ones, grey ones, speckle ones, some humming type things and some peckery things make noise some times.   LOl  That is just about as much as I know.   :leaving:

[Liz CA]

Lots of jays, crows eating the left over peaches in the orchard after the harvest, finches, pigeons - most likely many more I don't know.

Every year around Thanksgiving, turkeys run by. I am wondering if it's a sign that I should not spend money on a Thanksgiving bird...

[Lady Florida.]

Suburban neighborhood -

 

Year round we see mockingbirds, blue jays, two types of doves, cardinals. red-bellied woodpeckers, red-shouldered hawks, various blackbirds/crows, tufted titmice, gray cat birds, painted buntings, and Carolina wrens. We rarely see, but often hear a barred owl and a bob-white at night. We very rarely get treated to a ruby throated hummingbird.

 

In winter we get the real snowbirds in addition to the human ones, including robins, cedar waxwings, red-winged blackbirds, and goldfinches.

 

Those are in the backyard. There's a wildlife refuge a few miles away that has a much larger variety than what we see in the backyard.

 

ETA: Other wildlife - lots of squirrels, there's an Eastern cottontail rabbit who lives somewhere in the yard, we used to have a gopher tortoise but he seems to have moved, raccoons, and bats. Lots of lizards, frogs, and toads. In spring we see snakes - mostly black racers, corn snakes, and basic garden snakes.

Edited August 19, 2017 by Lady Florida.

[Callie]

Tufted titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, tons of cardinals, red tailed and red shouldered hawks, lots of mourning doves, hummingbirds, blue jays, bluebirds, crows, grackles, red-winged blackbirds, robins, towhees, catbirds, cowbirds, eastern goldfinch, house finches, sparrows, rose-breasted grosbeaks, baltimore orioles, great blue herons, canadian geese, mallard ducks, wild turkeys, turkey vultures, pileated woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, probably a few others (wrens).

Yes these.

We have a hilly, overgrown acre right on a river so that's probably why we get so many. Lots of bushes, dead and live trees, sheltered areas.

 

One of my pinterest boards is View from my backyard.

[Bluegoat]

We are in a semi-urban area.

 

Starlings, chickadees, robins, bluejays, pigeons, mourning doves, crows, cedar waxwings, wrens, sparrows, juncos, rarely a cardinal family though we  see them across the street a lot.

 

Once we saw a bald eagle at the pub around the corner.

 

When we moved here we heard and saw very few birds, now we have a lot, though somewhat limited types.  I think this is because we've done so much with the garden.  We have sparrows nest in some of our bushes now.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

GRACKLES!!!! Thank you! They're so common, but I couldn't identify them for sure and couldn't decide whether they were some kind of crow or starling!

 

We have feeders, and I just adore watching the birds come and go, but I feel like we don't have a lot of variety, and I never see anything unusual.

 

Lots of purple finches, sparrows of several kinds, blue jays, cardinals, tufted titmice, white-breasted nuthatches, mourning doves, and black-capped chickadees at the feeder. Around the yard, we get lots of robins, dark-eyed juncos, and gray catbirds, and some tiny gray bird I haven't been able to see well enough to identify. They tend to stick to the leaf litter looking for bugs, and they blend right in. Oh, and the grackles. We also see woodpeckers a couple of times a month, and very occasionally, a hawk (Cooper's, I think) and flickers. Supposedly gold finches are plentiful around here, but I've only seen them rarely.

 

We also have loads of gray squirrels (evil little sociopaths) that I'm still trying to outsmart while keeping the feeders in places where I can see them!

 

I really love watching our birds and can get stuck at the back window for a long time, lost in observation  :001_wub:

Edited August 19, 2017 by ILiveInFlipFlops

[Ausmumof3]

I just remembered the occasional heron and plovers. And I don't know if it counts because they never land but We've had a lot of Pelicans go over this year.

[bookbard]

We get crowds of tiny, little, nondescript finches

 

 

Could be the female blue wrens - there are more females than males, and they're not blue, just sort of brown. The teenagery blue wrens have a bit of blue on them but not super blue either.

 

Sadie, I forgot honeyeaters until you said that - the New Holland ones, the spinebills and there's another one too, can't remember what it's called.

 

Laura, I forgot we have birds of prey here too, but I don't have enough knowledge to tell them apart in the sky.

 

[Loesje22000]

Okay,

I will check tomorrow this again to translate all those bird names!

 

What we see:

- crow

- pigeons / dove ( is it the same?)

- pheasant

- green pecker

( back yard)

 

 

Hedge sparrow

And something small that flies too quick to identify...

(Front yard)

[Carrie12345]

I don't know all the names, but my kids know the names and most of the calls. (Outsourcing rocks!)

 

I do know we have robins, blue jays, blue birds, cardinals, woodpeckers, hawks, crows, I think ravens (?), scarlet tanagers, and a bunch of smaller birds.  I haven't seen an eagle for myself, but I know they're in the general area. (I've seen them around, just not at home.)

[KrissiK]

Lots of sparrows and finches. We have mockingbirds and robins, mourning doves, an occasional Phoebe bird. Humming birds. Scrub jays come sometimes, and at night we will occasionally have an owl. I love the owls.

[Petrichor]

We usually only see what we assume are sparrows, and sometimes cardinals and robins. I think I've seen blue jays landing on my deck before. Is there a blue jay season?

 

We've seen what I decided must have been a hawk, it was perched on our fence stalking a small bird that was hiding under a car. 

 

A couple of weeks ago we saw doves! I'd never seen those on our deck before. 

 

Once I saw a turkey crossing a neighbor's yard. We do have a herd of wild turkeys that we see a few times per year around here (but not usually so close to my house!). 

 

When we had a hummingbird feeder we saw hummingbirds. 

 

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Once I saw a turkey crossing a neighbor's yard. We do have a herd of wild turkeys that we see a few times per year around here (but not usually so close to my house!). 

 

We're in the burbs, but we're less than a quarter mile from a lot of farmland and undeveloped land. One of my favorite stories is when one year, on the day before Thanksgiving, my mom (who was there taking care of the kids while I worked) called me urgently to the living room. She pointed out the front window, and there was a large turkey, just meandering down the sidewalk. I ran and got my camera and hurried outside to try to get a picture. Of course it hurried faster, so I kept following, hoping to get a good shot. My neighbor opened his front door and called out, "Hey, I think your Thanksgiving dinner's getting away!" 

 

We've never seen turkeys here since, and that was 7-8 years ago!

Edited August 19, 2017 by ILiveInFlipFlops

[Selkie]

mourning doves (my favorites)

hummingbirds

cardinals

blue jays

several types of woodpeckers

nuthatches

sparrows

chickadees

juncos

goldfinches

rosefinches

rose-breasted grosbeaks

tree swallows

barn swallows

bluebirds

wrens

indigo buntings

scarlet tanagers

Baltimore orioles

several types of hawks

bald eagles

turkey vultures

wood ducks

several types of owls

red winged blackbirds

big, noisy crows

grackles

catbirds

robins

loads of flocks of geese flying overhead in spring and fall

 

and turkeys - there are herds of them everywhere. I love seeing the mama turkeys leading around their broods of chicks.  :001_wub:

Edited August 19, 2017 by Selkie

[Lanny]

We live in a Tropical Valley (Cali, Colombia).  We have (sometimes flocks)  Parrots. Also Canaries, but I don't see as many Canaries now as I did in previous years. My wife could probably list 10 or 15 others. A man from the Conservation department  came to our HOA and gave a talk, approximately 5 years ago. I think he said there are approximately 50 varieties of birds in our huge rural subdivision and approximately 500 in the mountains to our West (approximately 10 air miles to the base of the mountains is my guess).  During our "Summers" (dry seasons) we have fewer birds here. During our "Winters" (rainy seasons), we have more birds. During the past few days we have had thunderstorms almost daily, so if we are going into a "Winter" we will probably see more birds soon.  

[desertstrawberry5]

Quail, mourning doves, road runners, vultures, buzzards, hummingbirds and hawks.

[kitten18]

Roadrunners, quail, sparrows.

[KungFuPanda]

I'm bad at identifying birds, but some of the easy ones I've seen:

 

Blue jays

Robins

Cardinals

Orioles

Woodpecker (I hate him)

Hawks

Crows

Random little sparrow things

 

We spot a bald eagle about once a year, but they don't land in my yard. The crows don't either. I know they're not birds, but we do see bats.

[Amy in NH]

black capped chickadee,

house sparrow,

cardinal,

blue jay,

Canada jay,

tufted titmouse,

robin,

mourning dove,

goldfinch,

pileated, hairy, & downy woodpeckers

common grackle,

starling,

white breasted nuthatches,

indigo bunting,

ruby throated hummingbird,

veery,

whip-poor-will,

crow,

raven,

wild turkey,

brown headed cowbird,

red winged blackbird,

Canada goose,

mallard,

wood duck,

bald eagle,

osprey,

barred owl,

great blue heron,

loon

Edited August 20, 2017 by Amy in NH

[Selkie]

I forgot to put cedar waxwings on my list. They are so pretty!

[sassenach]

We recently moved about 5 min drive from our old house and I have been really surprised to find a completely different variety of birds here. We're closer to the bay here, vs a creek at the old place. I think the only overlap in birds has been woodpeckers and crows.

[Rosie_0801]

I just remembered the occasional heron and plovers. And I don't know if it counts because they never land but We've had a lot of Pelicans go over this year.

 

We get galahs and plovers down the other end of my street. They don't come to my house though.

[AngieW in Texas]

We have lots of mockingjays and cardinals.

 

Lately we have had a whippoorwill who sings very loudly in our backyard starting as soon as it gets dark and continuing for hours and hours.

 

We have a lot of owls, but they quietly hoot. They are not incredibly obnoxiously loud like the whippoorwills.

Some of our owls are tiny (just 6 inches tall), but some of them are really large. When I went to pick my daughter up from work at 10pm on Friday, there was an owl that stood about 2 feet tall just standing on the sidewalk. I drove right past it and it completely ignored me.

[Guest]

I live in a very unique birding area:

 

I live at the northernmost area of Central American bird habitat.

 

I live at the southernmost area of North American bird habitat.

 

I live at the easternmost area of the West Coast bird habitat.

 

I live at the westernmost area of the East Coast bird habitat.

 

Furthermore, I live right in the North American migratory path.

 

My area also has a unique convergence of mountain, desert plain, and riparian environments, all within a few minutes ' drive.

 

Over 450 species of bird have been seen here. Bird watchers from all over the world come here.

 

That said, bird watching is not my thing. I just note when the roadrunners are around, 'cuz they eat rattlers. I like them. LOL

 

[Faithr]

Love this thread!  We get cardinals, crows, bluebirds, chickadees, sparrows, hawks, mourning doves, robins, mockingbirds, cedar waxwings, woodpeckers (big ones and small ones!), We have a pond behind our house and we often see Canada geese, occasionally ducks, lots of redwing blackbirds, swallows, and sometimes Great Blue Herons and very rarely the smaller green herons.  

[Tanaqui]

Cardinals, crows, bluejays, woodpeckers, chickadees, sparrows, mourning doves, pigeons, robins, some small orange bird I don't know what it is, some small green bird I don't know what it is... and also wild turkeys which have invaded from the South Shore.

 

Those scare me, the turkeys.

 

Edit: Oh, and mockingbirds. We never used to get mockingbirds, but with increasing temperatures they're coming up to NYC.

Edited August 20, 2017 by Tanaqui

[Guest]

I live in a very unique birding area:

 

I live at the northernmost area of Central American bird habitat.

 

I live at the southernmost area of North American bird habitat.

 

I live at the easternmost area of the West Coast bird habitat.

 

I live at the westernmost area of the East Coast bird habitat.

 

Furthermore, I live right in the North American migratory path.

 

My area also has a unique convergence of mountain, desert plain, and riparian environments, all within a few minutes ' drive.

 

Over 450 species of bird have been seen here. Bird watchers from all over the world come here.

 

That said, bird watching is not my thing. I just note when the roadrunners are around, 'cuz they eat rattlers. I like them. LOL

 

https://youtu.be/uzR-QzJnrk4

I'm envious and a little bit mad at you now. 😉 It's like when my SIL built her house and had this incredibly awesome two-story library/den with a balcony reading nook (that, if mine, I would possibly never leave) installed and then shrugged and said, "But you know, I'm not really a reader. I'm trying to fill up the shelves." 😱

[KungFuPanda]

We have lots of mockingjays and cardinals.

 

 

They have real mockingjays in Texas?!?!

[AngelaNYC]

Pigeons, sparrows, mourning doves, starlings, robins, cardinals, blue jays, crows,  and the occasional red-tailed hawk.

[Tammi K]

I have a family of screech owls living in the trees surrounding my house.  They are aptly named and enjoying vocalizing at 3 am. Not so much a fan of that.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

They have real mockingjays in Texas?!?!

 

:lol: I thought the same thing!

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

Yesterday we had rainbow lorikeets and New Holland honey eaters. 

 

Sigh. Our birds are so lame!

Edited August 21, 2017 by ILiveInFlipFlops

[EMS83]

Hmm...bluebirds, blue jays, cardinals, mockingbirds, mourning doves, hawks, swallows (sometimes), sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, robins, hummingbirds, crows.  I've heard woodpeckers but never seen them.  And one brown bird  never got around to identifying.  I'll add more if I think of it.  The mockingbirds and cardinals are the most populous here, and they're year-round residents as far as I know.  Sparrows would be next for most populous.