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A group of twittering, tiny gray birds streaming through bushes and trees and across openings surely are Bushtits. Females' eyes are pale, males' dark. They are highly gregarious except when nesting. The intricately made sock-like nest is unusually large for the size of the bird. Bushtits show a distinct indifference to humans and regularly nest within residential neighborhoods and establish foraging routs throughout many cities. They regularly take suet at bird feeding stations and visit backyard birdbaths. The Bushtit is a fairly common resident throughout Oregon except in Umatilla, Union, and Wallowa counties and at higher elevations of mountain ranges…

The Pacific wren makes its home in dense coniferous forests with understory thickets where it often forages for insects. This bird was considered the same species as the winter wren but is now separated as its own distinct species. The Pacific wren is rufous brown above, richly colored below, and barred with a darker brown and dusky. Young birds are distinctly less barred. It’s most easily found by its sharp kep-kep call and ringing, tinkling song. Males defend territory by singing in spring and in hopes of attracting a mate.

Ruffed grouse are named for a series of black iridescent feathers on the sides of the neck called the ruff, which is erected by males to form an ring around the neck during courtship displays. This forest-dwelling species, favored by upland game-bird hunters, is well known for the drumming of the males during courtship displays in the spring. It is a common resident throughout most forested regions of the state. It occupies most forests at low to moderate elevations east of the Cascade crest, primarily the east slope of the Cascades from Ft. Klamath and upper Klamath Lake and Blue…

In grass or sagebrush-dominated habitats throughout the state, the song and striking appearance of the Western meadowlark create one of the most familiar and endearing avian images in Oregon. It's one of Oregon's most recognizable birds with its bold yellow breast and belly with a distinct black V across the chest and its habit of perching on fences along roadsides. Fittingly, it was chosen as Oregon's state bird by a vote of Oregon schoolchildren ratified by the Legislature in 1927. It is one of the most widely distributed open-country species in the arid desert country of eastern Oregon. It can…

This is one of the most widespread and familiar waterbirds in Oregon. It is the largest heron in North America, standing approximately four feet tall. It is slate gray with a white crown, cheeks, and throat, rusty thighs and a uniformly yellow bill. Adults develop long gray-white plumes on chest, neck, and back during breeding. Juveniles have similar plumage but may be distinguished by absence of breeding plumes, a dark crown, and dark upper bill. Great blue herons frequent many habitats from shallow areas of marshes, lakes, streams, and oceans, where they feed on fish, amphibians, and aquatic invertebrates; to…

Vireos and shrikes are predatory song birds. Their bills are strong and hooked to kill and dismember prey including insects and small birds, mammals and reptiles. These birds hunt from fences, wires and treetops and sometimes hang captured prey on thorns to eat them later.

This medium-sized shorebird is the most common dowitcher in eastern Oregon and inland locations, where it sometimes gathers in large flocks feeding in shallow water. It is also the only dowitcher in the state that regularly winters. Although breeding plumage adults are reddish below and heavily patterned above, most birds seen in Oregon are duller postbreeding adults or browner immatures. During winter, when shorebirds are hard to find, a small flock of chattering dowitchers, even in plain gray basic plumage, often brightens a day in western Oregon. In migration, it can be found at almost any shallow water site in…

Cryptically colored, usually solitary and somewhat secretive, the Wilson snipe is often flushed before being seen, sometimes exploding from practically underfoot and rocketing off in a corkscrew flight. This plump-bodied, long-billed bird of open marshland is primarily crepuscular, peaking in feeding activity at dusk and dawn, and often sleeping during the day. In breeding season they become more flamboyant, appearing atop fence posts and displaying their unique winnowing flights from high in the air, their outer tail feathers vibrating with an eerie whistling sound. They are uncommon and local west of the Cascades in the summer and uncommon and local…

The Red-breasted nuthatch is a happy, jolly little bird, quick and agile in its motions and seemingly always in a hurry to scramble over the branches. It is distinguished from other nuthatches by white eyebrows, black eyelines and cap, reddish breast, and nasal yank yank song. Although males have a blacker cap and redder breast than females, distinguishing sexes in the field is difficult. During winter, is can be observed foraging in mixed-species flocks with Chickadees, Brown creepers, Kinglets, Townsend's carblers, and Dark-eyed junkos. The Red-breasted nuthatch breeds and winters throughout Oregon where conifer or mixed conifer-hardwood forests are present…

These small, fast flying seabirds are unique among alcids in North America in their use of coastal coniferous forests, primarily old-growth trees, as nesting habitat. Their solitary nests are usually concealed within the forest canopy, and breeding birds are cryptic and primarily crepuscular at nest sites. Because of their secretive behavior and elusive nests, Marbled murrelets were considered the "enigma of the Pacific" and were one of the last ornithological mysteries in North America, as the first nest was not discovered until 1974. Distribution at inland nesting sites is fragmented, as birds occur only in areas where suitable habitat remains…

The European starling is considered an invasive species in Oregon. It was introduced from Europe. They most closely resemble blackbirds, with which they often flock in fall and winter. While both have iridescent plumage, starlings can be told from blackbirds by their two-toned wing pattern - dark upperwing, pale underwing - and during the breeding season by the bright yellow bill. Starlings adapt readily and quickly to human habitation and are highly efficient and successful breeders. However, the abundance of the bird, the rapidity with which it has spread across North America, and its propensity to cause damage to crops…

This sturdy-looking bird has a large head, short tail, and massive conical bill adapted for seed eating. The male plumage features bold patches of lemon yellow shading into olive, then brown and black, with white secondaries creating a flashy wing-patch easily seen in flight. The male's bill is chalky white in winter, but changes in early spring to a pale green that matches the new growth at the tips of spruce boughs, where they often nest. Many encounters with this species are of individuals heard flying high overhead, leaving the observer with little else to note. The Evening grosbeak is…

The gopher snake occurs in a wide variety of habitats, from deserts and grasslands to woodlands and open forests. It frequents agricultural regions, especially where there is brushy cover such as fence rows. Diet varies according to size, with young eating insects, lizards, rodents, and birds and their eggs. Adults can take larger prey, occasionally as large as rabbits. Photo by Simon Wray, ODFW