Birding the Net Bird Profiles

Noisy, sociable, and strikingly marked, Acorn Woodpeckers have a remarkable habit: They hoard acorns. Males and females look similar. They are boldly patterned with black and white and sporting a bright red cap (more red on the males). The birds live in family groups year round.

Graceful frosty white and gray seabirds, Arctic Terns are one of the planet’s great wanderers, migrating between the Arctic tundra and the Antarctic Ocean twice each year. Some Arctic Terns travel more than 50,000 miles each year – the longest known migration of any bird – and can live 20-30 years.

Atlantic Puffins inhabit rocky islands in the North Atlantic, strutting about their breeding colonies, circling the islands with rapid wing beats, diving to capture small fish, or simply bobbing around in nearby waters. With its black-and-white "tuxedo," upright posture, comical behavior, and large, multicolored bill, this smallest of puffins, called the "clown of the sea," universally delights birders and tourists alike.

The Bald Eagle is not only the well-known symbol of the United States of America but is also one of the best-known success stories in wildlife conservation. With a 7-foot wingspan, this massive bird of prey may now be seen soaring in every state and province in North America (except Hawaii) at some point during the year.

A favorite backyard visitor and summer songster throughout much of eastern North America, the Baltimore Oriole is a brilliant black-and-orange bird of the treetops. Females are softer shades of orange and gray in their plumage than the eye-popping males.

The warbler-sized Black-capped Vireo is a colorful songbird with a complex, cheerful-sounding song. Adult males sport a black cap and white "spectacles," a greenish back, and a white and yellow underside. Females look similar to males but have a gray cap.

Blue-footed Boobies are large brown-and-white seabirds with long wings and large webbed feet that are – you guessed it – bright blue. They are highly sought after by birders in the United States because they are a southerly tropical species and spend most of their time at sea, which means they aren’t easy to find.

Whether perched on a fishing pier or gliding above the sea, the Brown Pelican is unmistakable: large body, long bill, and enormous throat pouch! Long wings carry birds gracefully just above the water's surface; flocks often fly in synchronized single-file lines, slowly rising and falling over the waves. In the summer of 2010, heartbreaking images of pelicans drenched in oil brought the BP oil disaster home throughout the U.S. and around the globe.

This small gray denizen of California’s iconic coastal sage scrub habitat has a long black tail with white tips and a small black streak over the eye. During the spring and summer breeding season, adult males develop a full black cap.

The adult male is a bright cerulean blue above with a streaked back and is white below with a narrow blue-black band across the breast. The adult female is bluish-green above with no streaks, and white washed with yellow below.

A large duck-like bird that sits low in the water, the Common Loon is probably best known for its haunting yodel-like call, which has become synonymous with the north woods and wilderness. Its striking black and white summer plumage is unmistakable.

The Florida Scrub-Jay is a blue-and-gray bird found only in Florida, where it lives year-round in young oak scrub. It is a social bird, with a cooperative breeding system and a tendency to trust people, especially those with food.

The Golden-cheeked Warbler is one of the most at-risk species in North America. It breeds exclusively on or near the Edwards Plateau of central Texas, requiring Ashe juniper habitat, much of which has been lost or altered due to urban sprawl and land management practices. Birders make the pilgrimage from all over the world to see this special songbird.

The Harris’s Sparrow is the largest North American sparrow. It is attractively marked, sporting a black face and bright pink bill. Immatures are identified by their white throats with dark streaks; adults have fully black throats.

The male Lark Bunting, with his handsome black-and-white plumage and beautiful flight song, is a conspicuous summertime resident of the Great Plains. Lark Buntings are stocky sparrow-like birds with thick, finch-like bills. Females are heavily streaked with bold, dark throat stripes. In winter, the male loses his bold breeding plumage and comes to resemble the female but with a darker throat and bolder streaking.

The Lawrence’s Goldfinch is one attractive bird, featuring gray body plumage, yellow wing markings, and a yellow patch on the center of the breast, which distinguishes it from its close relatives, the Lesser and American Goldfinches. The male has a distinctive black face.

Lewis's Woodpecker has uniquely dark coloring and long wings. Its slow wingbeats and frequent glides make for a complex flight pattern similar to a jay’s. Its range covers much of the West, but its distribution can be patchy and inconsistent from year to year.

The Loggerhead Shrike is a robin-sized gray songbird with black wings, white wing-patches, a black mask and black tail. It lives in landscapes with short grass and isolated trees or shrubs.

Despite its name, the Mountain Plover is actually a resident of arid plains and prairies, not mountains. This pale, earth-colored bird is white on the lower breast and belly and lacks the flashy plumage and black breast bands of other plovers

A beautiful red bird with a clear song, the Northern Cardinal is a favorite species among backyard birders from New England west to the central Great Plains. Males cardinals are the only red bird with a crest in North America. Females also have a crest but are brownish overall, tinged with red on the wings.

Painted Redstarts are small songbirds that sport brilliant scarlet, black, and white markings. They belong to the wood-warbler family but unlike many other North American members of the family are not strongly migratory.

A powerful, crow-sized bird of prey with pointed wings, dark "sideburns" and strong, shallow wing beats, the Peregrine Falcon feeds by diving from great heights and striking birds in mid-air. It can be seen soaring over cities or along coastlines.

In the shade of North America’s wooded swamps and river bottom forests, the Prothonotary Warbler is a dash of brilliant yellow-gold. Its name refers to Catholic notaries privileged to wear golden hoods.

The Rufous Hummingbird is a very tiny bird often seen hovering near flowers in western North America. Males are almost entirely cinnamon colored with brilliant red throats, and females are green and cinnamon with some white below and a few red feathers on their throats.

Sandhill Cranes are large, elegant wading birds that walk methodically on thick, black legs through shallow wetlands and over prairies. The larger subspecies, the Greater Sandhill Crane, stands nearly 4 feet tall and has a wingspan of over 6 feet.

A beloved songbird of eastern forests, the Scarlet Tanager has a robin-like song and strikingly beautiful plumage. During the breeding season, males are a vivid scarlet-red color with deep black wings and tails. Females, and males outside the breeding season, are yellow-green with darker wings and tails. Scarlet Tanagers are related to another familiar North American red bird, the Northern Cardinal.

Snowy Plovers scurry up and down shorelines as they search for food and take off in wheeling flights or running retreats when surprised or threatened. Scarce and usually spread out, these diminutive shorebirds are well camouflaged by their pale plumage, making them easy to overlook in their natural surroundings.

The Spotted Owl is mostly chocolate-chestnut brown and, as the name suggests, has round-oval white spots on its head, neck, back and underparts. In the early 1980s, this charismatic owl became an icon of conservation activism.

The Surf Scoter is a large blackish sea duck. Adult males are black with white patches on their heads and large bills boldly patterned with orange, red, white, and black. Their eyes are also white. Females and immature birds are less distinctly marked.

Don’t just call it a seagull! The Western Gull is the only common large gull along much of the Pacific Coast. It boasts a white head, pink feet, and dark gray wings and back. The wing tips are black with only a few white spots. The underparts and tail are white. The Western Gull is an iconic symbol of the North American Pacific Coast.

The Whooping Crane is unmistakable. Standing almost 5 feet tall, it is the tallest North American bird. Regal in appearance, it is almost entirely white with some red on the face, black legs, and black wingtips. The black wingtips are mainly visible in flight, when the bird's nearly eight-foot wings are fully outstretched. Young birds are brown, changing to white late in their first year.

The Wrentit is a small songbird with a long tail (often held cocked), stubby straight bill, and relatively uniform gray-brown coloring on its head, back, wings, and tail. Wrentits are very secretive as they move around in dense scrub and are very hard to see. They are, however, very vocal. Their vibrant song is likened to the sound of a bouncing ball and is easily heard and recognized.

The Yellow-billed Magpie is one of California’s most striking birds. Popular among birders and compelling to conservationists, the bird is a true endemic that lives only in California’s Central Valley and coastal ranges in oak savannah woodlands and similar habitats. The bird has a black head and chest, white shoulders and belly, iridescent blue wings, and long tapered black tail. Its bill is bright

Rarely has a bird’s name so perfectly described the appearance of the bird itself. Males of this species boast a saffron-yellow head and chest over a black body. This elegant appearance contrasts with its raucous "song," a grating series of rattles followed by a harsh squeal.