Songbirds

Bird with black, orange, and white plumage on a white background

Baltimore Oriole

Icterus galbula

Weaves a hanging pouch of a nest that outlasts the summer.

Bird with blue and brown feathers on a white background

Barn Swallow

Hirundo rustica

Builds a mud cup under your eaves and eats mosquitoes by the thousand.

Blue and white bird with a black beak on a white background

Belted Kingfisher

Megaceryle alcyon

Rattles down the creek and dives headfirst for fish. The female is the flashier one.

Black-capped Chickadee

Poecile atricapillus

Caches seeds in hundreds of spots. Remembers most of them.

Bohemian Waxwing

Bombycilla garrulus

Arrives in winter in the hundreds and strips the fruit trees politely.

Carolina Chickadee

Poecile carolinensis

Nearly identical to its black-capped cousin. The birds can tell.

Bird with brown and beige plumage on a white background

Cedar Waxwing

Bombycilla cedrorum

Passes berries down the row until every bird has one.

Blue and orange bird on a white background

Eastern Bluebird

Sialia sialis

Hunts from a low perch, dropping on insects it spotted from metres away.

House Wren

Troglodytes aedon

Fills every cavity it finds with sticks, then picks its favourite.

Northern Cardinal

Cardinalis cardinalis

Sings from the highest perch it can find. Prefers an audience.

Northern Mockingbird

Mimus polyglottos

Learns the songs of everyone else in the neighbourhood. Performs nightly.

Gray and white bird on a white background

Northern Shrike

Lanius borealis

A songbird that hunts like a raptor and stores food on thorns.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Sitta canadensis

Lines its nest entrance with sticky resin. Guests are not encouraged.

Bird with black, white, and red plumage on a white background

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Pheucticus ludovicianus

The male looks formal. Both parents sing on the nest.

Red bird with black wings on a white background

Scarlet Tanager

Piranga olivacea

Blazing red all summer, then moults to green and slips away unnoticed.

Bird with a tufted crest on a white background

Tufted Titmouse

Baeolophus bicolor

Takes one seed at a time and flies off to open it in private.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Sitta carolinensis

Walks down trees head-first, checking bark the others missed.

Bird with gray, black, and yellow plumage on a white background

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Setophaga coronata

The one warbler tough enough to winter on berries this far north.

← All backyard birds