Bird Friends at NIEHS!

White-Breasted Nuthatch Sitta Carolinensis

Identification Tips:

• Length: 5 inches
• Straight gray bill
• Black crown and nape
• White face and under parts
• Blue-gray upperparts
• Rusty under tail coverts
• Short tail
• Sexes similar but female duller
• Feeds by hopping along tree trunks and branches often hanging upside down
• Eats insects and sunflower seeds

Canada Goose Branta Canadensis

Identification Tips:

• Length: 16-25 inches Wingspan: 50-68 inches
• Sexes similar
• Large long-necked goose
• Black bill
• Black head and neck
• White throat patch extends up to cheek
• Brown back, upper wing and flanks
• Brownish-white breast and belly
• White upper tail coverts contrast with black tail
• White undertail coverts
• Great size variation, with some northern subspecies duck-sized
• Immature similar to adult
• Eats water plants and grass seeds

Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes Carolinus

Identification Tips:

• Length: 8.5 inches
• Medium-sized woodpecker
• Pale gray face, throat, breast, and belly
• Back strongly barred with black and white
• Black wings barred and spotted with white
• White bases to the primaries appear as white crescent in the hand in flight
• White rump and upper tail coverts with sparse dark markings
• Dark tail with black and white barring on the central retricies Adult male:
• Red cap extending from bill to nape Adult female:
• Red nape patch, gray crown, and red spot above bill

Downy Woodpecker Picoides Pubescens

Identification Tips:

• Length: 5.75 inches
• Very small black and white woodpecker
• Very short bill
• Mostly black head set off by broad white supercilium and lower border to auriculars
• Black nape
• White back
• Black wings with white spotting on coverts and flight feathers
• White under parts and black rump
• Black tail with white outer tail feathers barred with black Adult male:
• Red spot at rear of head

Northern Mockingbird Mimus Polyglottos

Identification Tips:

• Length: 9 inches
• Slender bill
• Gray head and upperparts
• Yellow eye
• White under parts
• Long black tail with white outer tail feathers
• White wing bars
• White patch in wing, especially visible in flight
• Black legs
• Sexes similar
• Juvenile has spotted breast
• Most often found in scrubby habitats and in urban areas
• Eats worms and berries

European Starling Sturnus Vulgaris

Identification Tips:

• Length: 6 inches
• Pointed bill-yellow for most of year, dark in fall
• Black plumage with green and purple iridescence
• White spots scattered about head and body-largest in fall
• Dark wings and tail
• Pointed wings
• Short tail
• Juvenile gray-brown with faint streaking below
• Very common-frequently seen in large flocks

American Robin Turdus migratorius

Identification Tips:

• Length: 8.5 inches
• Black to dark gray head
• Broken eye ring
• Dull red breast and belly
• White under tail coverts
• Gray upperparts
• Streaked throat
• Thin yellow bill
• Sexes similar-female somewhat paler
• Winter plumage is somewhat paler than Summer plumage
• Juveniles have spotted, whiter breasts
• Common in residential areas where it often forages on lawns
• Often sings very early in morning
• Often found in large flocks outside of breeding season
• Eats worms and insects

Carolina Wren Thryothorus Ludovicianus

Identification Tips:

• Length: 4.75 inches
• Long, thin, slightly decurved bill
• Bold white supercilium
• Rusty upperparts
• White throat and buffy under parts
• Wings and tail barred with black
• Thin white wing bars
• Long tail frequently held upright
• Pink legs
• Sexes similar
• Usually very vocal and loud

Northern Cardinal Cardinalis

Identification Tips:

• Length: 7.75 inches
• Large, conical bill
• Crest
• Long tail Adult male:
• Bright red plumage, dullest on back and wings
• Black around base of bill
• Red bill Adult female:
• Reddish crest, wings and tail
• Brownish-gray upperparts
• Buffy underparts
• Red bill
• Juvenile like adult female but has dark bill and crest
• Eats berries and sunflower seeds

Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus Bicolor

Identification Tips:

• Length: 4.5-5.5 inches
• Short bill
• Gray crest
• Dark forehead
• Pale gray upperparts
• White under parts
• Rusty flanks
• Birds from central and southern Texas (formerly a separate species, Black-crested Titmouse) have black crests and pale foreheads
• Sexes similar
• Often found in small flocks

Blue Jay Cyanocitta Cristata

Identification Tips:

• Length: 10 inches
• Black sturdy bill
• Blue crest and upperparts
• Black eye line and breast band
• Grayish-white throat and under parts
• Bright blue wings with black bars and white patches
• Long blue tail with black bars and white corners
• Dark legs
• Migrates during the day in small flocks
• Eats insects, nuts, and sunflower seeds

Eastern Bluebird Sialia Sialis

Identification Tips:

• Length: 5.5 inches
• Thin bill
• Most often seen in open habitats: agricultural areas, wood edges, et al
• Southwestern United States birds are paler Adult male:
• Bright blue upperparts
• Orange-red throat, breast and sides
• White belly and under tail coverts Female:
• Blue wings and tail-duller than male
• Gray crown and back
• White eye ring
• Brownish throat, breast and sides
• White belly and under tail coverts
• Eats insects and berries

Mourning Dove Zenaida Macroura

Identification Tips:

• Length: 10.5 inches
• Sexes similar
• Medium-sized, somewhat slender dove with very thin neck
• Black bill Adult:
• Pale buff-brown head, neck, breast, and belly
• Purple and green iridescence on neck
• Small black mark on lower neck
• Medium brown back and upper wings, with large black spots on coverts and long tail pointed at tip
• Dark brown tail with white tips to outer four tail feathers Juvenile:
• Dark brown mottled head neck and breast
• Scaly neck and upper wings with numerous black spots on coverts and scapulars
• Pale belly
• Medium length tail is pointed at tip
• Eats corn and millet seeds

Red-Tailed Hawk Buteo Jamaicensis

Identification Tips:

• Length: 18 inches Wingspan: 48 inches
• Sexes similar - Short, dark, hooked beak
• Large, broad-winged, broad-tailed hawk
• Dark patagial mark on under wing, present on all ages and races, is unique
• Blocky translucent area in outer primaries
• Flies with a dihedral Adult:
• Brown head, nape, back, and upper wings
• White chin, throat, breast, and belly
• Dark belly band formed by vertical streaks in band across belly
• White under wings have dark carpal bar on leading edge, dark outer primary tips and a dark trailing edge and are otherwise pale with dark bars on the flight feathers on all but the outermost primaries
• Tail appears brick red above and pink below
• Breast and back pattern vary with geography, with some birds being intermediate between light and dark morphs

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Archilochus Colubris

Identification Tips:

• Length: 3 inches
• Long, straight, thin bill
• Small hummingbird
• Bright green back and crown
• White under parts with greenish flanks Adult male:
• Iridescent scarlet gorget
• Black face and chin
• Entirely dark forked tail Female/Immature:
• White chin and throat with variable amounts of thin dark streaking
• Dark, shallowly-forked tail with white tips on outer tail feathers

House Finch Carpodacus Mexicanus

Identification Tips:

• Length: 5.25 inches
• Conical bill
• Long tail
• Distinctive call note often given in flight Male:
• Red forehead, supercilium, breast and rump
• Streaked belly and under tail coverts
• Brown wings and tail
• Immature male resembles female Female:
• Plainer face than Purple and Cassin's Finch
• Heavily streaked under parts
• Brown upperparts

American Goldfinch Carduelis Tristis

Identification Tips:

• Length: 4.25 inches
• Small, seed-eating bird
• Short, conical bill
• Short, forked tail Male alternate:
• Plumage held in Spring and Summer
• Black forehead
• Yellow head, back, breast and belly
• Black wings and tail
• White wing bars and tertial edges
• White rump and under tail coverts
• Pale bill and legs Female alternate:
• Greenish upperparts
• Yellow under parts
• Pale bill and legs

Great Blue Heron Ardea Herodias

Identification Tips:

• Length: 38 inches Wingspan: 70 inches
• Sexes similar
• Huge long-legged long-necked wader
• Usually holds neck in an "S" curve at rest and in flight
• Long, thick, yellow bill Adult:
• White crown and face
• Black plume extending from above and behind eye to beyond back of head
• Brownish-buff neck with black-bordered white stripe down center of foreneck
• Blue-gray back, wings and belly
• Black shoulder
• Shaggy neck and back plumes in alternate plumage

Carolina Chickadee Poecile Carolinensis

Identification Tips:

• Length: 4.25 inches
• Short bill
• Black crown and throat
• White face
• Pale gray upperparts
• Gray edges to wing coverts
• Grayish-white under parts
• Rusty flanks
• Sexes similar
• Often found in small flocks
• Eats insects and sunflower seeds

Mallard Anas platyrhynchos

• Length: 15-16 inches Wingspan: 36 inches
• Large dabbling duck
• Most males have blue speculum with white bar
• Silvery-white wing linings
• Juvenile similar to adult female
• Alternate plumage worn from fall through early summer
• Gray back
• Yellow bill
• Green head
• White ring around neck
• Chestnut breast
• Gray flanks and upper wing coverts
• Black under tail coverts contrast with white tail
• Female have orange bill with black central patch, and
• Mottled brown and tan plumage
• Eats water plants and grass seeds.