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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

Features: Common carp are deep-bodied, heavy-looking fish with short heads and forked tails. They have large (really large) scales ranging from grey to bronze. Two barbels hang from each side of the upper lip of their subterminal (near the bottom of the head) mouth. This distinguishes them from goldfish that have no barbels. The dorsal fin is elongated. Habitat: Though tolerant of most conditions, common carp prefer large bodies of slow moving or standing water with soft sediments like mud or sand, and good growths of aquatic vegetation. They’re omnivorous bottom feeders that prefer aquatic insects, worms, mollusks and zooplankton

The drake gadwall is a large mostly gray dabbling duck. Adult drakes have a black bill, buff head, gray body, and black upper and lower tail coverts. Hens are nondescript brown ducks with a spotted, yellowish-orange bill with black edges. Gadwalls are unique among dabbling ducks in having a partly white speculum which can be observed in flight. Common vocalizations include the deep, reed-like sounds of the male and the female's quacking, similar to but more nasal and higher pitched than the mallard hen. It is an abundant breeder locally in eastern Oregon and an uncommon breeder in western Oregon

Within wintering flocks of Horned Larks in the valleys of eastern Oregon, and along flats bordering coastal estuaries in the fall, it is sometimes possible to find flocks of this large arctic-breeding sparrow. Their habit of running along the ground in a crouch rather than flying makes them a challenge to observe, but in flight their characteristic rattling call is unmistakable. Otherwise, in fall and winter plumage, they appear as brownish streaked sparrows. In flight their dark tail with white sides is conspicuous. Along the outer Oregon coast, the Lapland longspur is an uncommon but regular fall migrant, especially at

This long-distance, relatively late-arriving migrant to Oregon is associated with shrub-dominated habitats, especially riparian willow thickets. The plumage has subtle tones of olive-green and gray; the species is without a visible eye-ring but the characteristic sneezy, abrupt song reveals its presence. The Willow flycatcher breeds in western Oregon from sea level along the coast and interior to above 5,000 feet west of the Cascades summit. In eastern Oregon it breeds mostly above 1,000 feet from Klamath to Burns and also Lake County and Union County. The habitat of breeding Willow flycatchers is characterized by dense shrubs and/or tall herbaceous plants

Large and primarily white, the American white pelican has the longest wingspan of any bird in Oregon. It also has an enormous orange bill, and flies with neck withdrawn. During the breeding season the top of the bird's head becomes dusted with black and a horn grows on the upper mandible; this projection serves as a target for aggressive encounters to avoid injury to the essential bill pouch, but is shed after the eggs are laid. This pelican makes unusually long flights for feeding and migration, and at great distances, soaring flocks have been reported as UFOs. In Oregon, it