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The Rufous hummingbird is the most common and widespread of Oregon hummingbirds. This rusty-red and fearless nectar feeder is a popular yard bird, inspiring even the most modest of nature lovers to set up a feeder. It is a common transient and breeder throughout most of western Oregon, especially in forested regions. Hear the call of the Rufous hummingbird Photo by Charlotte Ganskopp

The racer is found in a variety of open habitats, including sagebrush flats, juniper woodlands, chaparral, and meadows. It avoids dense forests, high mountains, and very dry areas, and seeks cover under rocks, logs, or dense shrubs This species feeds on lizards, smaller snakes, frogs, toads, small mammals, birds and their eggs, and some insects. Young racers eat crickets, grasshoppers, and other insects. Photo by Simon Wray, ODFW

Features: Bullheads present in Oregon (brown, yellow and black) are distinguished from channel catfish by their square or rounded tails and lack of spotting. They seldom exceed two pounds and 18-inches long. Black bullheads have a square tail with a light vertical bar at its base and chin barbels that are all dark. Habitat: Bullheads are found on the bottom in the shallows of mud-bottomed ponds, lakes, reservoirs and backwaters of rivers. The black bullhead is primarily in reservoirs and streams tributary to the Snake River. Bullheads feed on almost any type of plant or animal material; insect larvae and…

These delicate and truly golden plovers that pass through Oregon in fall are always a delight to find on an open beach or grassy coastal plain. The Pacific golden-plover feeds mainly in the open. A rare to uncommon migrant; most birds occur in fall on the outer coast. They are very rare to rare in winter on the coast and in the Willamette Valley. Hear the call of the Pacific golden-plover Photo by Dave Budeau, ODFW

With long, pointed wings, nighthawks can sometimes be seen during the day catching insects while in flight although most are active at night. Nighthawks roost by scraping the ground or roost on low branches. Nestlings can fly at 10 days old. Swifts nest on vertical walls, such as chimneys or old smoke stacks, hollow trees or rock crevices. It's fun to watch them at dusk in summer, circling their nesting site. These birds are never seen perched, but only in flight.

A dreary winter day can come alive with a flock of these striking birds foraging quietly in a dark green conifer. Though a common migrant and uncommon winter resident, it breeds largely to the north of Oregon. The Townsend's warbler is a common breeder in the Blue and Wallowa mountains of northeast Oregon and a local summer resident in the vicinity of Mt. Hood and in the central Cascades. Hear the song of the Townsend's warbler Photo by Doug Greenberg, Flickr

Features: These blue-green, silvery or light brown fish are a schooling fish and an important food source for larger fishes, sea birds and marine mammals. Habitat: Anchovy are frequently offshore, but can be caught inshore in harbors and large estuaries during spawning. Technique: Anchovy are usually targeted in bays with multiple-hook herring jigs.

Horned puffins have an unmistakable black and white plumage and a large, distinct, yellow and orange bill during the breeding season. They are rare in Oregon, and most commonly encountered dead on the beach in winter or spring, or sighted more than 50 miles offshore in spring. Individual birds, or possibly pairs, occasionally stay in Oregon for the breeding season and are seen attending colonies with Tufted puffins, but there are no records of breeding in Oregon. Hear the call of the Horned puffin

About the size of the domestic pigeon, this swift-flying species is popular among sport hunters. An arboreal bird, it is often observed perched alone on top of a tall tree or in flocks when flying about feeding areas and mineral sites. This is a common summer resident in forested areas west of the Cascade crest. It typically nests in forested mountain areas in the west Cascades. Hear the call of the Band-tailed pigeon Photo by Dave Budeau, ODFW

The Southern alligator lizard is found in a variety of habitats from grassland and chaparral to oak woodlands and edges of open coniferous forests, as well as riparian zones and moist canyon bottoms. It requires thickets, brush heaps, downed logs, or rock piles for cover. This carnivorous lizard feeds primarily on small invertebrates (slugs, spiders, centipedes, scorpions, beetles, grasshoppers, and crickets), but also is known to feed on bird eggs, nestlings, other lizards, and small mammals. Photo by Alan Harper, Creative Commons

This large loon breeds in the Arctic tundra from Northwestern Russia across Siberia and Alaska through Canada to Hudson Bay. It winters in North America along the coast of South Alaska and British Columbia, and regularly in small numbers south to Baja, California. The majority of Oregon records are of transient birds found between early November and early June. Hear the call of the yellow-billed loon Photo by Mark Peck, Flickr