Tufted Titmouse A little gray bird with an echoing voice, the Tufted Titmouse is common in eastern deciduous forests

s and a frequent visitor to feeders. The large black eyes, small, round bill, and brushy crest gives these birds a quiet but eager expression that matches the way they flit through canopies, hang from twig-ends, and drop in to bird feeders. When a titmouse finds a large seed, youll see it carry the prize to a perch and crack it with sharp whacks of its stout bill. Tufted Titmice look large among the small birds that come to feeders, an impression that comes from their large head and eye, thick neck, and full bodies. The pointed crest and stout bill help identify titmice even in silhouette. Tufted Titmice are acrobatic foragers, if a bit slower and more methodical than chickadees.

Eastern Blue Bird Most of the country drives during an eastern North American summer will turn up a few Eastern Bluebirds sitting on telephone wires or perched atop a nest box, calling out in a short, wavering voice or abruptly dropping to the ground after an insect. Marvelous birds to capture in your binoculars, male Eastern Bluebirds are a brilliant royal blue on the back and head, and warm red-brown on the breast. Blue tinges in the wings and tail give the grayer females an elegant look. Male Eastern Bluebirds are vivid, deep blue above and rusty or brick-red on the throat and breast. Blue in birds always depends on the light, and males often look plain gray-brown from a distance. Females are grayish above with bluish wings and tail, and a subdued orange-brown breast.

Northern Flicker Northern Flickers are large, brown woodpeckers with a gentle expression and handsome black-scalloped plumage. On walks, dont be surprised if you scare one up from the ground. Its not where youd expect to find a woodpecker, but flickers eat mainly ants and beetles, digging for them with their unusual, slightly curved bill. When they fly youll see a flash of color in the wings yellow if youre in the East, red if youre in the West and a bright white flash on the rump. Flickers appear brownish overall with a white rump patch thats conspicuous in flight and often visible when perched. The undersides of the wing and tail feathers are bright yellow, for eastern birds, or red, in western birds. With a closer look youll see the brown plumage is richly patterned with black spots, bars, and crescents.

Red winged Blackbird One of the most abundant birds across North America, and one of the most boldly colored, the Red-winged Blackbird is a familiar sight atop cattails, along soggy roadsides, and on telephone wires. Glossy-black males have scarlet-and-yellow shoulder patches they can puff up or hide depending on how confident they feel. Females are a subdued, streaky brown, almost like a large, dark sparrow. In the North, their early arrival and tumbling song are happy indications of the return of spring. Male Red-winged Blackbirds are hard to mistake. They're an even glossy black with red-and-yellow shoulder badges. Females are crisply streaked and dark brownish overall, paler on the breast and often show a whitish eyebrow.

House Finch The House Finch is a recent introduction from western into eastern North America, but it has received a warmer reception than other arrivals like the European Starling and House Sparrow. Thats partly due to the cheerful red head and breast of males, and to the birds long, twittering song, which can now be heard in most of the neighborhoods of the continent. If you havent seen one recently, chances are you can find one at the next bird feeder you come across. House Finches are gregarious birds that collect at feeders or perch high in nearby trees. When theyre not at feeders, they feed on the ground, on weed stalks, or in trees. They move fairly slowly and sit still as they shell seeds by crushing them with rapid bites.

Red bellied Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpeckers are pale, medium-sized woodpeckers common in forests of the East. Their strikingly barred backs and gleaming red caps make them an unforgettable sight just resist the temptation to call them Red-headed Woodpeckers, a somewhat rarer species that's mostly black on the back with big white wing patches. Learn the Red-bellied's rolling call and youll notice these birds everywhere. Look for Red-bellied Woodpeckers hitching along branches and trunks of medium to large trees, picking at the bark surface more often than drilling into it. Like most woodpeckers, these birds have a characteristic undulating flight pattern.

Pileated Woodpecker The Pileated Woodpecker is one of the biggest, most striking forest birds on the continent. Its nearly the size of a crow, black with bold white stripes down the neck and a flamingred crest. Look for Pileated Woodpeckers whacking at dead trees and fallen logs in search of their main prey, carpenter ants, leaving unique rectangular holes in the wood. The nest holes these birds make offer crucial shelter to many species including swifts, owls, ducks, bats, and pine martens. The Pileated Woodpecker digs characteristically rectangular holes in trees to find ants. These excavations can be so broad and deep that they can cause small trees to break in half. The oldest known Pileated Woodpecker was 12 years 11 months old.

Brown-headed Cowbird The Brown-headed Cowbird is a stocky blackbird with a fascinating approach to raising its young. Females forgo building nests and instead put all their energy into producing eggs, sometimes more than three dozen a summer. These they lay in the nests of other birds, abandoning their young to foster parents, usually at the expense of at least some of the hosts own chicks. Once confined to the open grasslands of middle North America, cowbirds have surged in numbers and range as humans built towns and cleared woods. Brown-headed Cowbirds are smallish blackbirds, with a shorter tail and thicker head than most other blackbirds. The bill has a distinctive shape: its much shorter and thicker-based than other blackbirds', almost finch-like at first glance. In flight, look for the shorter tail.

Great Blue Heron Whether poised at a river bend or cruising the coastline with slow, deep wingbeats, the Great Blue Heron is a majestic sight. This stately heron with its subtle blue-gray plumage often stands motionless as it scans for prey or wades belly deep with long, deliberate steps. They may move slowly, but Great Blue Herons can strike like lightning to grab a fish or snap up a gopher. In flight, look for this widespread herons tucked-in neck and long legs trailing out behind. Largest of the North American herons with long legs, a sinuous neck, and thick, daggerlike bill. Head, chest, and wing plumes give a shaggy appearance. In flight, the Great Blue Heron curls its neck into a tight S shape; its wings are broad and rounded and its legs trail well beyond the tail.

Downy Woodpecker The active little Downy Woodpecker is a familiar sight at backyard feeders and in parks and woodlots, where it joins flocks of chickadees and nuthatches, barely outsizing them. An often acrobatic forager, this black-and-white woodpecker is at home on tiny branches or balancing on slender plant galls, sycamore seed balls, and suet feeders. Downies and their larger lookalike, the Hairy Woodpecker, are one of the first identification challenges that beginning bird watchers master. Downy Woodpeckers are small versions of the classic woodpecker body plan. They have a straight, chisel-like bill, blocky head, wide shoulders, and straight-backed posture as they lean away from tree limbs and onto their tail feathers. The bill tends to look smaller for the birds size than in other woodpeckers.

Song Sparrow A rich, russet-and-gray bird with bold streaks down its white chest, the Song Sparrow is one of the most familiar North American sparrows. Dont let the bewildering variety of regional differences this bird shows across North America deter you: its one of the first species you should suspect if you see a streaky sparrow in an open, shrubby, or wet area. If it perches on a low shrub, leans back, and sings a stuttering, clattering song, so much the better. Song Sparrows are medium-sized and fairly bulky sparrows. For a sparrow, the bill is short and stout and the head fairly rounded. The tail is long and rounded, and the wings are broad. Song Sparrows commonly visit bird feeders and build nests in residential areas. Male Song Sparrows sing from exposed perches such as small trees.

American Crow American Crows are familiar over much of the continent: large, intelligent, all-black birds with hoarse, cawing voices. They are common sights in treetops, fields, and roadsides, and in habitats ranging from open woods and empty beaches to town centers. They usually feed on the ground and eat almost anything typically earthworms, insects and other small animals, seeds, and fruit but also garbage, carrion, and chicks they rob from nests. Their flight style is unique, a patient, methodical flapping that is rarely broken up with glides. Crows are rarely found alone. A large, long-legged, thick-necked bird with a heavy, straight bill. In flight, the wings are fairly broad and rounded with the wingtip feathers spread like fingers. The short tail is rounded or squared off at the end.

Morning Dove A graceful, slender-tailed, small-headed dove thats common across the continent. Mourning Doves perch on telephone wires and forage for seeds on the ground; their flight is fast and bullet straight. Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like laments. When taking off, their wings make a sharp whistling or whinnying. Mourning Doves are the most frequently hunted species in North America. Plump-bodied and long-tailed, with short legs, small bill, and a head that looks particularly small in comparison to the body. The long, pointed tail is unique among North American doves. You can see Mourning Doves nearly anywhere except the deep woods. Look for them in fields or patches of bare ground, or on overhead perches like telephone wires.

Canada Goose A familiar and widespread goose with a black head and neck, white chinstrap, light tan to cream breast and brown back. Canada Geese are big waterbirds with a long neck, large body, large webbed feet, and wide, flat bill. Canada Geese have a black head with white cheeks and chinstrap, black neck, tan breast, and brown back. Habitat is about anywhere near lakes, rivers, ponds, or other small or large bodies of water, and in yards, park lawns, and farm fields. Canada Geese feed by dabbling in the water or grazing in fields and large lawns.

Northern Cardinal The male Northern Cardinal is perhaps responsible for getting more people to open up a field guide than any other bird. Theyre a perfect combination of familiarity, conspicuousness, and style: a shade of red you cant take your eyes off. Even the brown females sport a sharp crest and warm red accents. Cardinals dont migrate and they dont molt into a dull plumage, so theyre still breathtaking in winters snowy backyards. In summer, their sweet whistles are one of the first sounds of the morning. The Northern Cardinal is a fairly large, long-tailed songbird with a short, very thick bill and a prominent crest. Cardinals often sit with a hunched-over posture and with the tail pointed straight down.