Birds of my neighborhood

I’m calling this page, Birds of My Neighborhood, because it’s the name of an album by my favorite band, The Innocence Mission. Plus, the name is totally appropriate for this project! On this page, I’m going to document all the birds I’ve seen in my backyard, and which I’ve been able to identify with some confidence. I will (hopefully) add more photos as I become better able to spot and identify more birds. This Checklist of New York State Birds indicates that I’ve only scratched the surface!

I first got into birding when I started rebuilding the gardens in the autumn of 2016. As I was clearing out the honeysuckle vines and other weeds from the old rose beds, I noticed that a little bird started following me around. I think it was a dark-eyed junco that was foraging for insects in the places where I had disturbed the ground. I began to think of the approaching winter, and how I could help my little friend. That began my current passion for bird feeding and bird watching.

Without further ado, here are the birds of my neighborhood:

  • American crow
  • American goldfinch
  • American robin
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Blue jay
  • Brown-headed cowbird
  • Carolina wren
  • Common grackle
  • Dark-eyed junco
  • Downy woodpecker
  • Eastern towhee
  • European starling
  • Grey heron
  • House sparrow
  • Mallard duck
  • Mourning dove
  • Northern cardinal
  • Northern mockingbird
  • Pine warbler
  • Red-bellied woodpecker
  • Red-winged blackbird
  • Tufted titmouse
  • White-breasted nuthatch
  • Sharp-shinned hawk

Update (April 13, 2019): Added American goldfinch. Though now I’m not sure if my ID of Pine warbler was correct. It probably was a goldfinch.

Update (April 20, 2019): Added Common grackle.

Update (May 6, 2019): For the past week or so, a pair of pigeons has been visiting the yard, joining the other birds at the ground feeders. It’s scary, because I don’t often see pigeons this far east of the city.

Please note that these bird photos are not my own. I’m using them on license from Shutterstock. I got help with bird identification from the great Project Feeder Watch website, by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada.