Each week a new commonly seen bird and quiz will be added to this page to test your birding knowledge!
Cowboys sometimes called these owls “howdy birds,” because they seemed to nod in greeting from the entrances to their burrows in prairie-dog towns. Colorful fiction once held that owls, prairie-dogs, and rattlesnakes would all live in the same burrow at once. A long-legged owl of open country, often active by day, the Burrowing Owl is popular with humans wherever it occurs, but it has become rare in many areas owing to loss of habitat.
Coots are tough, adaptable waterbirds. Although they are related to the secretive rails, they swim in the open like ducks and walk about on shore, making themselves at home on golf courses and city park ponds. Usually in flocks, they are aggressive and noisy, making a wide variety of calls by day or night. They have strong legs and big feet with lobed toes, and coots fighting over territorial boundaries will rear up and attack each other with their feet. Often seen walking on open ground near ponds. In taking flight they must patter across the water, flapping their wings furiously, before becoming airborne.
Related to the Mourning Dove, but a larger and bulkier bird, the White-wing is mainly a summer resident in the southwestern states. It is abundant in some regions, and streamside groves or desert washes may echo with the crowing calls of males on spring mornings. In some desert areas, this dove often feeds on the fruits of cactus, and visits their flowers for nectar; it is an important pollinator of the giant saguaro cactus.
This birds famous song, with its varied repetitions and artful imitations, is heard all day during nesting season (and often all night as well). Very common in towns and cities, especially in southern areas, the Mockingbird often seeks insects on open lawns. When running in the open it may stop every few feet and partly spread its wings, flashing the white wing patches. Mockingbirds are bold in defense of their nests, attacking cats and even humans that venture too close.
This hardy little bird is a permanent resident along our Pacific Coast, staying through the winter in many areas where no other hummingbirds are present. More vocal than most hummingbirds, males have a buzzy song, often given while perched. In recent decades the species has expanded its range, probably helped along by flowers and feeders in suburban gardens; it now nests north to British Columbia and east to Arizona.
In the arid southwest, this hawk is limited to the edges of flowing streams. A bulky bird, with very broad wings, short tail, and long legs, it usually hunts low along streams, even wading in the water at times, catching fish, frogs, and other small creatures. Although it seems sluggish, it is wary, calling loudly in alarm if people approach the nest. Common Black Hawks have abandoned some former nesting areas because of too much human disturbance.
Every time you spot a bird, you can contribute to something bigger by recording your sighting in eBird, a major online database that has been tracking birds for many years.
?Free guided bird walks – Every first and third Saturday from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Please meet inside the center 5-10 minutes before departure time. Read more details here.
Project FeederWatch, a citizen science project where participants collect data on birds at their feeders, was founded in Ontario by Erica Dunn and the Long Point Bird Observatory in 1976. The project partnered with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology after 10 years to scale the project across the U.S. and Canada and now has over 20,000 participants. The data Project FeederWatch collects is used by scientists to understand trends in bird populations. If you would like to participate as a FeederWatcher you can learn more about the project here. Read on to see which birds are most commonly seen in your state.
Stacker used information from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Project FeederWatch to create a list of the most frequent birds observed close to feeders in Arizona. Based on the percentage of sites visited from November, birds are ranked. 26 to Dec. 9. When ties are observed, they are broken by the average group size; additional ties remained intact. Data was collected at 73 count sites in Arizona. States that had fewer than ten count sites were excluded from the rankings for every bird.
– States with the highest percent of sites visited— #1. New Mexico: 45%— #2. Utah: 7%— #3. Arizona: 5%— #4. Idaho: 2%— #5. California: 1%.
Coots are tough, adaptable waterbirds. Despite their kinship with the reclusive rails, they swim openly like ducks and stroll along the coast, settling into ponds in city parks and golf courses. They are often aggressive and noisy, calling in a variety of ways both during the day and at night. Because of their large, lobed toe feet and powerful legs, coots engaged in territorial disputes will often lunge forward and strike one another with their feet. Often seen walking on open ground near ponds. They must patter across the water while fiercely flapping their wings in order to take off.
This page will be updated every week with a new quiz and frequently seen bird to test your knowledge of birdwatching!
During nesting season, you can hear this bird’s well-known song all day (and sometimes even all night) with its varied repetitions and creative imitations. The Mockingbird is a common city dweller, particularly in southern regions, and it frequently forages for insects on open lawns. It may pause every few feet while running in the open and partially spread its wings, revealing the white patches on its wings. When cats or even people get too close to their nests, mockingbirds will attack them with courage.
These owls were known by cowboys as “howdy birds” because they appeared to nod hello from the entrances to their burrows in the towns where prairie dogs lived. Once upon a time, colorful fiction predicted that rattlesnakes, owls, and prairie dogs would all coexist in the same burrow. The Burrowing Owl is a long-legged, open-country owl that is frequently active during the day. Although it is well-liked by people wherever it lives, habitat loss has made it rare in many places.
This resilient little bird lives year-round along our Pacific Coast, spending the winter in many places where other hummingbirds don’t live. Male hummingbirds are more chatty than females, and they frequently sing while perched. With the help of flowers and bird feeders in suburban gardens, the species has spread its range in recent decades, now nesting in Arizona’s east and British Columbia’s north.
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