Backyard Birding: Urban Birding Guide for Seattle-Area Kids and Families

Here is a quick list and description for some of my favorite commonly seen, year-round resident birds that you can spot in your yard and or local greenspace around the Puget Sound region.

• Black-capped chickadee and chestnut-backed chickadee: This bird will come to suet and seed, and will nest in boxes put out for them
• Bushtit: Smaller than chickadees, bushtits travel in groups like a swarm of adorable flies; makes distinct twittering vocalization as they move around; they are a mid-canopy bird, and will come to suet but not the seed feeder. They make pendulum-style nests from all sorts of found objects and fuzz, including drier lint and spider webs.
• Bewick's wren: Feeds on the ground and lower canopy of woods, has a sassy little tail wagging and a distinct white eye stripe and scolding style of vocalizing.
• Northern flicker: A type of woodpecker with very loud vocalization; it hammers on roofs during the breeding season; will come to suet. Mid to upper canopy, and on ground where they eat insects. They also perch on telephone poles
• House finch: Reddish head and shoulders, comes to feeders.
• Anna’s hummingbird: A green hummingbird that lives year-round, relying heavily on feeders in winter.
• Brown creeper: A tiny brown bird that travels up a tree trunk looking for insects, mid-to-high canopy.
• Stellar’s jay: Often called a “blue jay” in error, for its brilliant blue color and definitive crest, all levels of the canopy.
• Ruby-crowned kinglet: A solitary bird with a “hover gleaning” feeding style. A distinct white patch around the eye gives this bird a dreamy look, and they are very curious and flirty if you are near and respectfully still.
• Dark-eyed junco: A ground feeder, often seen in groups, that feeds beneath feeders.
• Towhee: A ground feeder, which can be found in the lower and middle canopy.

You can look in your bird guide (see next page) for a visual reference and to feel more confident about what you are seeing. Be sure to find a guide that is specific to the Northwest U.S., as some species can vary in appearance depending on the part of the country where they reside.