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The male Red-winged blackbird, sentry of the marsh during the breeding season, continually announces its territory to all present with its oak-a-tee song, and tenaciously defends against flyby predators. The male is territorial, polygynous, larger than the female, and glossy black with a broad bar of red-orange, bordered with yellow, on wing writs. Females are less conspicuous in behavior, light brown, with a heavily streaked breast, and buffy supercilium. This is one of the most abundant and studied birds in North America. The Red-winged blackbird occurs west of the Cascades in Oregon from coastal and valley locations, and east of…

Formerly known as the Green-backed goldfinch, this species was either not present or overlooked during the 19th century by most Oregon ornithologists. The male's black forecrown contrasts smartly with the greenish back and bright yellow underparts. Females lack the clear contrasting colors of the males, though the tips of the secondary coverts and the base of the primaries are white in both sexes. Often the plaintive tee-yee call reveals the presence of the bird long before it is seen. In the north Willamette Valley the Lesser goldfinch is a fairly common breeder along the western fringe. Scattered and local in…

Of Oregon's breeding seabirds, Leach's storm-petrel is the smallest, most pelagic, and flies the farthest offshore of any of Oregon's breeding seabirds to feed. It spends the non-breeding season in the subtropical and equatorial Pacific. It is the second most abundant breeding seabird in Oregon, and is rarely seen from land or close to shore. It comes to its breeding islands, where it nests in burrows, only under the cover of darkness. Its plumage is black and Oregon populations have a distinct white rump. Leach's storm-petrels are long lived birds characterized by long-term pair bonds and may breed yearly for…

The Turkey vulture, known locally as a "buzzard," is a common sight spring through fall throughout the state, except in the highest mountains and featureless desert expanses in summer where they are uncommon. Seeing Turkey vultures returning is a welcome sign of spring. Turkey vultures are large-winged soaring birds with overall dark plumage except for a silvery sheen on the undersides of the flight feathers. Adults have small, featherless, red heads, while juveniles have gray heads. The Turkey vulture is a common to abundant transient throughout the state and an uncommon to common summer resident except in high mountains. It…

With a widespread distribution and affinity for open habitats, the Killdeer is one of the most common and recognized birds through much of North America. Killdeer are large for a plover and easily distinguished from other North American plovers by their characteristic two black or brownish-black breast bands. Killdeer are well known for their loud and persistent call of "kill-dee, kill-dee," heard at all times of day or night on both the breeding and wintering grounds. Killdeer often nest close to human activities. Adults perform an elaborate and exaggerated broken-wing display to lure humans and potential predators away from their…

The red tree vole is a medium-sized vole. It is uniquely colored among North American voles: bright orangish-red to cinnamon on the dorsum, silvery gray (often with some light orangish hairs) on the venter, and a tail pale orangish on the venter grading to black on the dorsum. This vole is endemic to western Oregon. It occurs at moderate elevations on the west slope of the Cascade Range southward as far as the Douglas-Jackson county line and in the Coast Range to the Oregon-California border. It is largely arboreal and builds nests on suitable foundations (commonly nests of birds or…

Wigeon drakes are beautifully marked with white pate, green eye stripe, purplish breast and flanks, white belly and wing covert patch, and iridescent black/green speculum. The grayish hen shows white on the wing covert patch. Drakes give a three-note whistle and get progressively noisier as spring approaches and courting flights begin. Medium sized flocks are common in fall and winter, and like geese, will be found grazing pastures, park lawns, and golf courses. It is a rare to locally common breeder in eastern Oregon and rare in summer in western Oregon. It is a common to abundant migrant and wintering…

Raccoons are found throughout the state, excluding high mountains and desert regions. They have adapted well to residential life because of their flexible diet and nocturnal nature. Raccoons are opportunistic feeders and have a diverse diet that includes insects, plants, and small animals—but also unnatural foods, like pet food and trash, when they have the chance. Raccoons are notorious for getting into garbage cans and eating pet food left on a porch or food left out at campsites. Raccoons that are fed by people often lose their fear of humans and may become aggressive. Do not attempt to feed or…

In Oregon, fork-tailed storm-petrels breed in numbers that are only a tiny fraction of those of Leach's storm petrels. This is the larger of the two storm-petrels breeding in Oregon and is gray in color. These birds leave and return to breeding colonies only at night, when they are best detected by their distinct raspy call. At sea, they are distinguished by quick, buoyant flight with short glides interspersed with wing fluttering to maintain their position at a food source. Fewer than 20 nests have been found in Oregon, all located in the same habitat as colonies of Leach's storm…

This fragile-looking bird with bold black-and-white plumage and exaggerated, long, reddish legs is often associated with American avocets at shallow inland ponds and lakes. Very noisy and aggressive in protection of its nest and young, using a variety of distraction displays, including an impressive broken-leg act to lure away interlopers. The Black-necked stilt is a locally uncommon to fairly common summer resident of Klamath, Lake, Harney and Malheur counties. The largest Oregon breeding colony is at summer Lake. It has become a regular spring and fall migrant through eastern Oregon and irregular spring and casual fall migrant through western Oregon…

This stocky, medium-sized shorebird is a denizen of Oregon's rocky shoreline, foraging as close to the crashing waves as possible, hence its name. It uses the rocky intertidal zone which includes jetties, offshore rocks and rocky shorelines, sea stacks, and tidal pools and is occasionally found on sandy beaches interspersed with groups of rocks, and on mudflats near the mouth of the Coquille River. It sometimes uses freshwater outfalls for bathing. Birds wintering in Oregon have the upperparts, head, neck, and breast slate gray with a whitish eye-ring. Indistinct supercilium and chin are white, wheres the belly and abdomen are…

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…

Canada geese, with their distinctive black neck and head and white cheek patches, need little description because they are one of Oregon's most familiar and conspicuous birds. There are 11 subspecies of the Canada goose. As a whole, the species is widely distributed throughout Oregon, with the exception of mountainous and desert areas lacking reservoirs, lakes, or large rivers. Concentrations of wintering and breeding Canada geese occur wherever agriculture and other human developments provide green forage or small grains and water bodies provide sanctuary. Hear the call of the Canada goose Photo by Leise Wease

All of Oregon's blue-colored birds are appreciated for their dazzling appearance, but the striking plumage of this summer visitor is accompanied by a song described as vivacious, varied, well-articulated and sweet. Males are unmistakable when singing from a prominent perch, flashing deep azure upper parts with rich orange-brown breast and flanks, a white belly, and white wing bars. Females are warm brown and relatively plain, though they share with males the habit of twitching the tail to one side when excited. The Lazuli bunting is fairly common in low-elevation dry valleys in Curry County but are becoming uncommon north through…

Bobolinks summer in Oregon's eastern grasslands and meadows, singing what has been described as a bubbling delirium of ecstatic music that flows from the throat of the bird like sparkling champagne. The yellow-brown female, juvenile or non-breeding male may at first appear to be a sparrow, but the breeding male has an astonishing and diagnostic backwards tuxedo pattern of buff on the nape and white rump and scapulars on an otherwise black body. The Bobolink is a regular, locally common breeder at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and a few scattered pairs occur in northeast Oregon. West of the Cascades…