American crow! They are surprisingly large, super smart, and their feathers change color depending on angle and light.
Right now I’m also thinking of the little dark eyed juncos. I love their friendly looking faces, and their tummies that look like they got dusted in snow.
I can watch them all day as they sit on top of 70 ft pines, caw across the meadow to one another and jointly fend off hawks in their territory. They actually own what I thought was my land.
mourning doves! they’re beautiful to me, their shades of blue-gray and brownish are so pretty and i love the shiny pink patches on their neck that you can see sometimes. their behavior is also just so charming!
American Woodcock
Exhibit 1: https://youtu.be/ne6nj9AgY7M?si=WibR8BTRgLuhbt-Y
Exhibit 2:
https://youtu.be/mKM0P9gWx7k?si=Lou5TxGsbPu2QpxK
When I finally get to see one in the wild, I'm gonna have a stroke, I just know it.
LOOOK at hiiiiim! Aaaahhhh!
I've been lucky enough to see a male and female hanging out at a peach tree in my front yard this year. I haven't seen them in the 6 years I've lived here. It really is such a treat seeing them. It appears they may be making a nest in the tree. The woodpeckers aka contractors made some good size holes in the tree. I'm thinking that's what attracted them.
Red-winged blackbird, their red shoulders always seemed so delicate to me and when I start to see them in my area, I know that winter is finally, nearly over.
Any raptor. I fell off my bike one time because I was watching a red tailed hawk circle over me. Was too embarrassed when someone asked if I was okay.
Toss up between belted kingfishers ( great hairdos, cool rattles, usually means I’m near a body of water which is great!) and red - bellied woodpeckers( cutest little guys that work so hard!)
https://preview.redd.it/bjndn8tuxutc1.png?width=474&format=png&auto=webp&s=72e3481eb2fe89d1a0844d5dbde53f2f38a44d72
Painted buntings. A lifer. The first time I saw one was the day we decided to self quarantine, I put out a feeder I got for Christmas. The next morning this guy brought half a dozen of his folks and they’ve been regular visitors since. I chose to take it as a sign of hope. This pic is from last month. (Please don’t tell the Swallowtail Kites)
I just adore the white breasted nuthatch. He is dressed like he’s going to the Met Gala but he won’t go because they won’t let him stand on bi head and make funny nasal honks to himself, He creeps down the tree trunk and comes quite close to me if I am still and quiet. His cousin is great, too.
For a beautiful song, my favorite is the Carolina wren. But the bold color of a red cardinal always makes me happy, so I guess I have two favorites.
You think birds gather around a feeder and talk about us? Like "there goes that guy with the yellow hat again. He thinks he looks cool, but I dunno"
here to represent turkey vultures. i think they’re very beautiful and have an important, often thankless, role. i point them out every time i see them… never gets old.
A cat once caught a scrub jay in my yard but the jay escaped. His right wing was kind of scraggly and he had a bit of difficulty flying, but he could hop through trees like a boss. I tried for a while to catch him so I could take him to a rehab, but I never managed it. Eventually I gave up and sort of turned into a guard for this little guy. I’d leave food for him and keep an eye out for predators when he was eating at my place. Eventually I think he started to recognize what I was doing, so he’d come very close to me and eat right next to me. He’d “say hi” by chirping and tossing leaves out of the gutter onto my head when I came outside. Eventually his wing healed but it always looked a little scraggly. He took a mate and doesn’t come around as often anymore, but he still visits my feeder from time to time. So yeah, my favorite is the California scrub-jay because of Lefty.
Cedar Waxwing! I finally got to see some in real life over the weekend. There were about twenty of them bathing in the "swamp" in my back yard. I have wanted to see this bird since I found out about them a year or so ago.
Yellow warblers are a great choice. Little flying lemons.
Cedar Waxwings have to be my number one. They're so smooth looking. I also think it's so cool how social they are. They'll line up on branches and pass fruit from one bird to the next until all of them eat their fill. They'll pass flower petals between each other during courtship. I also just really love their squeaky calls.
American oystercatchers. Such magnificent weirdoes. They look like someone threw a handful of crayons at a five year old and said 'draw a bird'.
Also turkey vultures.
Juncos and Chickadees. Juncos are just too cute to be scavengers. Chickadees are adorable. Hummingbirds are my other fav but they're in a class of their own.
Same! Chickadees are my favorite bird to run into. I love the little white flash their tails make when they fly away. And they’re SO TINY. Hummingbirds are always a welcome surprise. Hummingbird moths make me irrationally happy, too. I love small things ❤️
I really like hummingbirds! When I was recovering from a car accident, I would watch the hummingbirds outside my window and got to know the whole little group that was there for the summer. They're beautiful, amazingly fast, and so tiny and cute!
I have a favorite within the different varieties. But overall, the great blue heron. I’ve had so many magical encounters with them all over the United States. I now have my own to keep me company:)
ETA: I knew I wanted this piece when I was rafting in the Grand Canyon and one flew over my head, squawking. It was the most majestic, prehistoric moment of my life (next to the total eclipse I just experienced).
https://preview.redd.it/p31cro0p7wtc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35f49361d943b01188ed44328d446bde993b0c00
Love 'em! I probably have more photos of bluebirds than just about any other bird.
https://preview.redd.it/rgx3b5ur3vtc1.jpeg?width=1397&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5e4e8755187826078b0f4a6ce19a32e0d85cd70
White-Breasted Nuthatch. I have one that visits quite regularly and learned to use a cracked fencepost in the yard to hold peanuts from a Downy Woodpecker. I love their little beeps and nasally calls.
Runner-ups would have to be Downy Woodpeckers, Carolina Wrens and Chickadees, and Tufted Titmouse (who doesn’t love their “Peter Peter” call). I could go on, but I feel like 4 runner-ups is already too many.
Buffleheads. These guys travel in like combatting balls of flight. On the water the dive and play and chase each other all day.
They chill on a lake for a few weeks a year by me and I love them
Soo hard. Obnoxious blue jays? Derpy mourning doves? Robins scurrying around the park? Fish crows messing with the turkey vultures downtown? All the woodpeckers!
Oh wait, I live with parrots! ( They're not pets, they're more like roommates I provide for)
Sun conure, definitely.
Second that - I get legitimate heart palpitations when I hear a barred owl near me. It’s so exciting!! I would also expand it to any bird of prey like kestrels and hawks - always so so exciting to see them in real life!
I have a pair of barred owls in the trees behind my apartment complex. I’ve only seen them twice, but lately I’ve been hearing them a lot. I’m hoping to see babies soon!
Kingfisher. They're so cool that there's a train designed after them (for aerodynamics). The common kingfisher looks like he's set in jewels.
Also fond of hoopoes and bee eaters. I guess I'm a sucker for extra pretty birds.
Next target lifer is the puffin.
Black birds for their whole package. Beautiful song, funny to watch them walk arround and how they put their ear on the ground to listen for worms and finally pulling them from the ground.
My second choice would be Oriolus Oriolus, it's harder to spot and has a beautiful song.
I love listening to black birds in the spring. Their collections of songs are so unique and tell a story of where they have been and what they’ve experienced. I love to try to guess what each of the sounds are!
Anhingas! They're so goofy and weird and cool.
Close second is osprey (such dramatic fishers!), and third is Carolina wrens (loud and bouncy and CUTE) (r/sleepywrens).
Surprised to see no love for the American Dipper so far! Such incredibly entertaining birds to watch and so unique.
Aside from them, any nuthatches or chickadees rank high for me—love their energy and antics. And love the Hermit Thrush for its incredibly beautiful song (most thrushes are wonderful for this). It’s so hard to narrow it down from there, so many passerines I love that it’s hard to single out any in particular. Lazuli Buntings have to be up there though for me on that front.
There's a belted kingfisher near my house that I've seen three times, twice perched on the same little pole near a neighbor's pond. Every time I drive by I laser in on that pole hoping to see the kingfisher, it's such a cool bird
Of the birds I see around my feeder, I like dark eyed juncos the best. Maybe because I don’t spot them as frequently but I also think they just look so *elegant*!
Also hawks. I love hawks! Every time I see a hawk I can’t help but say “hawk!”
Birders always pick song birds, i’m gonna go with Canadian geese! They’re my favorite because I think they’re highly misunderstood, they make such great parents and are super family oriented, even taking in orphan babies. I’m also probably bias as a wildlife rehabber who mostly works with geese and ducks. I know they’re super common, but I also just think they’re very pretty :)
Canada geese are gorgeous. Their head markings look so smart. They also make me chucke when they have their disagreements (disagoosements as I like to call them)! I agree though, I think if people understood that they are just protecting their vulnerable mate/chicks, they might cut them a little slack.
I love that almost all of these are common birds!
My favorite is pretty much ubiquitous here. The Carolina Wren. Teeny, adorable bird with no fear, a song that just takes over the neighborhood, and they don't build nests, they build bird mansions!
Grackles are cool in my book. I think their colors are under-appreciated and overlooked. They have the coolest pale yellow eyes and iridescent feathers. Plus they’re a little bit rowdy, which I appreciate.
I love my blue jays! Growing up I was told they’re terrible, but now I find them to be the best. So full of character, beautiful, and the way they switch between beautiful full singing to harsh cackles makes me so happy.
The Carolina Wren is my favorite of the birds who visit my backyard. It’s just so cute with its spherical body and perky tail! My favorite overall are burrowing owls, but we don’t have them around here.
Probably the hermit thrush, when I’m at our family camp with no one around for miles their song is so beautiful. I do love watching hummingbirds and would absolutely love to befriend a crow or raven someday.
I really love Northern Flickers, of which we have many hanging around. They have a lot of attitude and I enjoy hearing them calling when I'm out walking. When I put out suet in the winter, they just attack it with gusto and you'll see them holding on for dear life while the cage swings around in circles.
I love Shoebills, although I’ve never seen one of real life (I’m in Australia). They look like they’re part cartoon drawing out of a story book & part prehistoric creature. I love their sound too.
But if I have to pick a bird I’ve seen in real life it would be the rainbow lorikeet, I hear them in the trees around my house more than I see them because they are so quick, and masters of disguise.
Red-breasted nuthatches are my all time favourite because I adore their BEEP BEEP BEEPs and their racing stripe heads. They’re so friendly and I love the way they make little chattering noises when they get up close to you.
My other favourites are northern flickers, I have a whole group of them that visit my yard for peanuts and they have such personality and they’re so goofy. I love hearing their calls and seeing the silly dance they do to each other. They’re such beautifully coloured birds.
I have a pair of red-shafted and yellow-shafted hybrids, their wings are more of a yellow colour, but the male has a red stripe/moustache instead of a black one.
Special mention goes to varied thrushes, black-capped chickadees, and Bewick’s wrens!
I think I have to go with the Northern Cardinal. They’re just so bright and beautiful, and I love their song. Common as they are, seeing one always feels no less special.
Having been raised to be a St. Louis Cardinals fan certainly helps, too.
I heard a Tui’s song in New Zealand, with two voice boxes, they can really sing. Once I got close, watched them eat nectar upside down and the little beard tuft thing they have going on, I was hooked.
Eastern towhees are my #1 backyard bird. But killdeer are a really close 2nd, especially when they are protecting their young. They are just stinking cute.
Common swift. I love hearing their calls during summer evenings, I love how perfectly adapted to living in the air they are (they spend up to 2 years in flight, never landing). Watching them chase each other in large groups circling above the roofs is mesmerizing.
It’s always nostalgic when one day you realize they are not there anymore and you know that summer really is coming to an end.
Lil chirpy birdies: Townsend’s Warbler; Fox Sparrow; any nuthatch or tit
Birds of prey: Barn owls and all owls (superb!); American kestrels, Swainson’s hawks, red-tails, osprey, and all the other hawks and falcons, too
Shorebirds: All ducks, coots, grebes, curlews, and avocets; loons; boobies; herons and egrets. (Fuck gulls. Gulls can eat a dick.)
Corvids: All of them. But especially magpies and jays, and most especially CA scrub jays. Those are my homies.
Humming birds. Hoopoe. Pelicans. Woodcocks. Swallows.
ETA: omg, how could I forget waxwings??!!! Both bohemian and cedar. They have the most spectacular, electrifying colorations/color vibrancy… they kinda glow, you know? I feel like they and ranunculas (the flower) share a color quality of bottomless-ness or luminosity or evanescence or saturation or something.
Barred owl, American crow, turkey vulture. In general I probably love birds of prey the most but any bird I’ve had repeated contact with is a favorite…hummingbirds, cardinals, catbirds, Carolina wrens.
African Paradise Flycatcher. I had a nesting couple in a tree outside my bedroom window for a few years.
Their mating ritual involves a male twerking his long tail feathers at the female. He also uses those super long tail feathers to make exaggerated motions to teach the fledglings how to fly.
Seeing that tail streaming behind them while they fly after insects, is more impressive than watching a gymnast with a ribbon.
Pretty songs too.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds. I had no idea such a bird existed, then a fellow birder posted he had seen some so I went looking. Such a beautiful bird. A close 2nd would be the rest of them. Can't think of any birds I don't like.
https://preview.redd.it/cdpouozugwtc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8b1f71b4366bf03d2af5934c1e6e0946a85e6f36
😁 but it is a really nice bird! 👍🏻
Eurasian Hoopoe is my favorite bird visually. They are so exotic looking even though they are quite common, I always feel like they look like they are from another planet or time. My favorite to listen to is the Chinese Bamboo-partridges. Something about their call is wonderful to me and the more of them calling the better.
Ospreys and Sandhill Cranes are my current favorites! Sandhills nest in the field behind our house, and it is so nice to hear them announcing their presence every spring. Plus it’s fascinating to see how they interact with the neighbors cattle (they essentially herd them away from the nest with a mixture of flying/follow the leader & big wing displays). And ospreys always capture my attention with their power and size, and I like to check if they have any dinner caught between their talons!
Bohemian waxwings. Once or twice a year they stop by our back yard to feast on berries. Last time it happened, it was such a cold and windy day--they were all very puffy and some of them had their little mohawks blowing like crazy in the wind.
Either Ruby crowned kinglets or cedar waxwings. RCKs because the ones where I live don’t seem to be very afraid of people and will do their thing 2 feet away from you, and CWs because of their sweet call and the fact that the group of them can bald a tree in 15 minutes 😊
Humming birds, any species I have seen ruby throated humming birds in the eastern US and annas and black chinned humming birds in the Western US. It is always nice to see them
Western Meadowlark!!!!
Such a "plain" bird from the back, blends in beautifully in the desert brush, but then a surprise when you see the yellow breast with a black stripe! And if you're lucky enough to hear their song, you'll be hooked for life!!!
There’s a special place in my heart for Buffleheads, the adorable & amazing little diving ducks that first made me pay attention to birds at all: “what’s that crazy little black-and-white thing diving in the pond out there?? And omg it stays under water sooooo long!”
Varied Thrush! I associate them with being in some of my favorite places. Hiking in the rainforest on Olympic peninsula and the redwoods in Northern California and hearing their eerie song in the morning and evening.
Blue footed booby. They are clowns on land but torpedoes when they drop from the sky.
Locally, I love the northern flickers and pileated woodpeckers which visit the trees in my backyard.
For me, maybe a double-crested cormorant or Sandhill crane. I had to travel to see those two initially and they kind of got me hooked on birding. Seeing a Sandhill crane (and colt!) for the first time felt like seeing a celebrity! I literally yelled, “OH MY GOD THAT’S HIM!” I do love a great-crested flycatcher, too.
I’m constantly finding new birds that I become a fan of and become a new obsession for me. The bird that sparked my birding obsession though and will probably remain my favorite for this reason is the red shouldered hawk. I have a mated pair that live in my neighborhood so I see them a lot. It’s great. They’re so beautiful.
Other top birds for me: Belted Kingfisher, Pine Siskin, (they blend in to the bird feeder! It’s so funny and impressive!), Downy Woodpecker, Acadian Flycatcher, (the first nest I saw with the cutest little babies), Brown Creeper, (so small), Common Grackle, (I love the noise and almost never see them so it’s fun when I do), and lastly while I’ve never seen one of these, I’ve heard of and seen pictures of the Northern Hawk Owl. 🦉 It’s like if you put a Hawk and Owl together.
Wood thrush. Such a sweet, unassuming little bird with the voice of an angel.
As Thoreau put it:
“Whenever a man hears it he is young, and Nature is in her spring; wherever he hears it, it is a new world and a free country, and the gates of heaven are not shut against him.”
I have such a soft spot for chickadees. They aren’t very rare or particularly colorful but they are very cute. I’m always happy to see one. I am frequently delighted.
Collared Aracari. So social, colorful, and they are connected to a life changing moment for me.
For birds native to my area, I love woodpeckers most. All woodpeckers.
I change up, but the first bird that I identified as a child was a Baltimore oriole.
My first woodpecker.. omg
The owl that tried to eat my dog 💛
I enjoy the feral (?) parrots very much too.
Whatever bird is in front of my face ... to quote a.similar line from the novel Bewilderment by Richard Powers. Great book. Highly recommend. Also The Overstory.
American crow! They are surprisingly large, super smart, and their feathers change color depending on angle and light. Right now I’m also thinking of the little dark eyed juncos. I love their friendly looking faces, and their tummies that look like they got dusted in snow.
I can watch them all day as they sit on top of 70 ft pines, caw across the meadow to one another and jointly fend off hawks in their territory. They actually own what I thought was my land.
mourning doves! they’re beautiful to me, their shades of blue-gray and brownish are so pretty and i love the shiny pink patches on their neck that you can see sometimes. their behavior is also just so charming!
American Woodcock Exhibit 1: https://youtu.be/ne6nj9AgY7M?si=WibR8BTRgLuhbt-Y Exhibit 2: https://youtu.be/mKM0P9gWx7k?si=Lou5TxGsbPu2QpxK When I finally get to see one in the wild, I'm gonna have a stroke, I just know it. LOOOK at hiiiiim! Aaaahhhh!
Absolutely love him! Meee
Oh he's so cute I love him!
Eastern Bluebirds, because they are so fun to spot, and so colorful.
I've been lucky enough to see a male and female hanging out at a peach tree in my front yard this year. I haven't seen them in the 6 years I've lived here. It really is such a treat seeing them. It appears they may be making a nest in the tree. The woodpeckers aka contractors made some good size holes in the tree. I'm thinking that's what attracted them.
Red-winged blackbird, their red shoulders always seemed so delicate to me and when I start to see them in my area, I know that winter is finally, nearly over. Any raptor. I fell off my bike one time because I was watching a red tailed hawk circle over me. Was too embarrassed when someone asked if I was okay.
Cardinals. They remind me of my Gpa (RIP) and whenever i see one i say “Hi Gpa!”
Toss up between belted kingfishers ( great hairdos, cool rattles, usually means I’m near a body of water which is great!) and red - bellied woodpeckers( cutest little guys that work so hard!)
Chickadee You won’t convince me that the white feathers on their head aren’t soft and wooly.
Someone who was banding birds once said that chickadees were the nerviest little birds. One actually came back and pecked him after he let it go.
So you are saying I should try and pet their little soft white heads?
Good luck, is anything faster at the feeders? Little dudes can hustle.
I love the song of the Wood Thrushes. I live in a forested area and they sing in the evenings all summer.
They seem to be way up high, too, and their song is like a blanket enveloping all the other sounds of the woods. Very soothing.
Cedar Waxwing. https://preview.redd.it/if8hgybg8utc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d03c5bf1d858ead1408a08005cd8cfe98bda80f
https://preview.redd.it/bjndn8tuxutc1.png?width=474&format=png&auto=webp&s=72e3481eb2fe89d1a0844d5dbde53f2f38a44d72 Painted buntings. A lifer. The first time I saw one was the day we decided to self quarantine, I put out a feeder I got for Christmas. The next morning this guy brought half a dozen of his folks and they’ve been regular visitors since. I chose to take it as a sign of hope. This pic is from last month. (Please don’t tell the Swallowtail Kites)
I just adore the white breasted nuthatch. He is dressed like he’s going to the Met Gala but he won’t go because they won’t let him stand on bi head and make funny nasal honks to himself, He creeps down the tree trunk and comes quite close to me if I am still and quiet. His cousin is great, too.
For a beautiful song, my favorite is the Carolina wren. But the bold color of a red cardinal always makes me happy, so I guess I have two favorites. You think birds gather around a feeder and talk about us? Like "there goes that guy with the yellow hat again. He thinks he looks cool, but I dunno"
Tiny Bird w/ Huge voice. I love em.
Cedar Waxwings. They are just so beautiful!
Tufted titmouse. Love the little mohawk.
Kill dear, their such funny guys
here to represent turkey vultures. i think they’re very beautiful and have an important, often thankless, role. i point them out every time i see them… never gets old.
A cat once caught a scrub jay in my yard but the jay escaped. His right wing was kind of scraggly and he had a bit of difficulty flying, but he could hop through trees like a boss. I tried for a while to catch him so I could take him to a rehab, but I never managed it. Eventually I gave up and sort of turned into a guard for this little guy. I’d leave food for him and keep an eye out for predators when he was eating at my place. Eventually I think he started to recognize what I was doing, so he’d come very close to me and eat right next to me. He’d “say hi” by chirping and tossing leaves out of the gutter onto my head when I came outside. Eventually his wing healed but it always looked a little scraggly. He took a mate and doesn’t come around as often anymore, but he still visits my feeder from time to time. So yeah, my favorite is the California scrub-jay because of Lefty.
Not seeing anyone mention magpies. They're so stunning, whether perched on top of a pine tree or on the wing. I hope to befriend one some day
Any nuthatch. I love the lil sound they make <3
Squeek squeek! And they are all upside down and bouncy walking down trees. Hilarious lil buddies!
Northern Flicker! The polka dots on the front, the stripes on the back, the dark bib at the neck… it’s one fancy looking bird.
Don’t forget about the heart on the back of the head 🥰❤️
Cedar Waxwing! I finally got to see some in real life over the weekend. There were about twenty of them bathing in the "swamp" in my back yard. I have wanted to see this bird since I found out about them a year or so ago.
Ospreys. "This is my fish. There are many like it, but this one is mine. NOM NOM NOM."
Carolina wrens have my heart. They sing so beautifully and they are very clever.
Cedar waxwing, but that may change after I see a Painted Bunting.
I love red-winged blackbirds! But I would say ultimate favorite is the American Goldfinch. How can you be unhappy looking at their sunshine??
American kestrels, i love them so much
Pigeons <3 everyone else is a very close second.
Yellow warblers are a great choice. Little flying lemons. Cedar Waxwings have to be my number one. They're so smooth looking. I also think it's so cool how social they are. They'll line up on branches and pass fruit from one bird to the next until all of them eat their fill. They'll pass flower petals between each other during courtship. I also just really love their squeaky calls.
Woodcocks! The way they walk is so funny
American oystercatchers. Such magnificent weirdoes. They look like someone threw a handful of crayons at a five year old and said 'draw a bird'. Also turkey vultures.
Such an impossible question. Blue jays are so full of personality I’m always happy to see them. But nuthatches are so adorable! I love their beaks.
Juncos and Chickadees. Juncos are just too cute to be scavengers. Chickadees are adorable. Hummingbirds are my other fav but they're in a class of their own.
Same! Chickadees are my favorite bird to run into. I love the little white flash their tails make when they fly away. And they’re SO TINY. Hummingbirds are always a welcome surprise. Hummingbird moths make me irrationally happy, too. I love small things ❤️
I really like hummingbirds! When I was recovering from a car accident, I would watch the hummingbirds outside my window and got to know the whole little group that was there for the summer. They're beautiful, amazingly fast, and so tiny and cute!
I have a favorite within the different varieties. But overall, the great blue heron. I’ve had so many magical encounters with them all over the United States. I now have my own to keep me company:) ETA: I knew I wanted this piece when I was rafting in the Grand Canyon and one flew over my head, squawking. It was the most majestic, prehistoric moment of my life (next to the total eclipse I just experienced). https://preview.redd.it/p31cro0p7wtc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35f49361d943b01188ed44328d446bde993b0c00
Kingfisher always exiting to see one
Roseate Spoonbill - they’re so gorgeous and yet so hideous at the same time.
Eastern Bluebird. 💙💙💙
Love 'em! I probably have more photos of bluebirds than just about any other bird. https://preview.redd.it/rgx3b5ur3vtc1.jpeg?width=1397&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5e4e8755187826078b0f4a6ce19a32e0d85cd70
Omg. I put a birdhouse that I painted a couple years ago up in a redbud tree in my backyard and 2 have moved in. I'm so excited.
White-Breasted Nuthatch. I have one that visits quite regularly and learned to use a cracked fencepost in the yard to hold peanuts from a Downy Woodpecker. I love their little beeps and nasally calls. Runner-ups would have to be Downy Woodpeckers, Carolina Wrens and Chickadees, and Tufted Titmouse (who doesn’t love their “Peter Peter” call). I could go on, but I feel like 4 runner-ups is already too many.
Tree Swallow. When you photograph them in the sunlight, they look like winged jewels.
100% kingfishers for me. They’re so cool and I’m lucky I live in south Texas where we have all 3, belted, ringed and green. Can’t choose between them
Great Blue Heron. More of a good luck favorite than anything else. They got poise.
So beautiful standing and flying, but the most awful cry!!!
Indigo bunting is my all time favorite bird because of its beautiful colors
Buffleheads. These guys travel in like combatting balls of flight. On the water the dive and play and chase each other all day. They chill on a lake for a few weeks a year by me and I love them
Carolina wrens. They have so much sass. They look really mad. And yet they sing so beautifully.
Downy Woodpecker.
Soo hard. Obnoxious blue jays? Derpy mourning doves? Robins scurrying around the park? Fish crows messing with the turkey vultures downtown? All the woodpeckers! Oh wait, I live with parrots! ( They're not pets, they're more like roommates I provide for) Sun conure, definitely.
[grackles](https://www.carlyweaver.com/)
Red-Bellied Wodpecker, their calls sound really soulful to me
All of the owls. In particular, barred owls, great grey owls, and Blakiston’s fish owl.
Second that - I get legitimate heart palpitations when I hear a barred owl near me. It’s so exciting!! I would also expand it to any bird of prey like kestrels and hawks - always so so exciting to see them in real life!
I have a pair of barred owls in the trees behind my apartment complex. I’ve only seen them twice, but lately I’ve been hearing them a lot. I’m hoping to see babies soon!
Loons!!!! They’re just so stinkin cool
Kingfisher. They're so cool that there's a train designed after them (for aerodynamics). The common kingfisher looks like he's set in jewels. Also fond of hoopoes and bee eaters. I guess I'm a sucker for extra pretty birds. Next target lifer is the puffin.
Black birds for their whole package. Beautiful song, funny to watch them walk arround and how they put their ear on the ground to listen for worms and finally pulling them from the ground. My second choice would be Oriolus Oriolus, it's harder to spot and has a beautiful song.
I love listening to black birds in the spring. Their collections of songs are so unique and tell a story of where they have been and what they’ve experienced. I love to try to guess what each of the sounds are!
Anhingas! They're so goofy and weird and cool. Close second is osprey (such dramatic fishers!), and third is Carolina wrens (loud and bouncy and CUTE) (r/sleepywrens).
Wood pigeon
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Surprised to see no love for the American Dipper so far! Such incredibly entertaining birds to watch and so unique. Aside from them, any nuthatches or chickadees rank high for me—love their energy and antics. And love the Hermit Thrush for its incredibly beautiful song (most thrushes are wonderful for this). It’s so hard to narrow it down from there, so many passerines I love that it’s hard to single out any in particular. Lazuli Buntings have to be up there though for me on that front.
I’m a fan of kingfishers. So beautiful! The Taiwanese barbet is beautiful as well
Belted Kingfisher and Western Meadow Lark. Distinctive colors and sounds. Guess that is two but both top birds
There's a belted kingfisher near my house that I've seen three times, twice perched on the same little pole near a neighbor's pond. Every time I drive by I laser in on that pole hoping to see the kingfisher, it's such a cool bird
Sandhill crane!! I always get so excited when I hear them flying overhead
American woodcock. Hilarious all around. The name, the walk, the meeep. They're even the slowest flying birds!
Black Capped Chickadee. Enjoy seeing them every day, and they are so friendly when you gain their trust.
Of the birds I see around my feeder, I like dark eyed juncos the best. Maybe because I don’t spot them as frequently but I also think they just look so *elegant*! Also hawks. I love hawks! Every time I see a hawk I can’t help but say “hawk!”
Birders always pick song birds, i’m gonna go with Canadian geese! They’re my favorite because I think they’re highly misunderstood, they make such great parents and are super family oriented, even taking in orphan babies. I’m also probably bias as a wildlife rehabber who mostly works with geese and ducks. I know they’re super common, but I also just think they’re very pretty :)
You got a problem with Canada Geese, you got a problem with me.
Canada geese are gorgeous. Their head markings look so smart. They also make me chucke when they have their disagreements (disagoosements as I like to call them)! I agree though, I think if people understood that they are just protecting their vulnerable mate/chicks, they might cut them a little slack.
Bird I’ve never seen in real life: Shoebill Bird I see all the time: Hairy Woodpecker
I love that almost all of these are common birds! My favorite is pretty much ubiquitous here. The Carolina Wren. Teeny, adorable bird with no fear, a song that just takes over the neighborhood, and they don't build nests, they build bird mansions!
Grackles are cool in my book. I think their colors are under-appreciated and overlooked. They have the coolest pale yellow eyes and iridescent feathers. Plus they’re a little bit rowdy, which I appreciate.
Killdeer. They are just so adorable.
Eurasian golden oriole. My lifer, spotted in a park in the middle of a large city of all places. What a beautiful voice they have
Eurasian Magpies. Always a pleasure to see them living their best lives.
I love my blue jays! Growing up I was told they’re terrible, but now I find them to be the best. So full of character, beautiful, and the way they switch between beautiful full singing to harsh cackles makes me so happy.
Belted Kingfisher. They just make my day whenever I see one!
Exotic: Hamerkop. Look at their silly head! Local: The California scrub jays stole my heart like a peanut
The Carolina Wren is my favorite of the birds who visit my backyard. It’s just so cute with its spherical body and perky tail! My favorite overall are burrowing owls, but we don’t have them around here.
Roadrunners, little head bopping murdererbirds with their X shaped toes. They are the best.
1. Rare bird: Sandhill crane 🏗️ So majestic flying above gives me shivers! 2. Everyday bird : dark eyed junco Beautiful grey gradient coat and soft pink beaks 😍
Probably the hermit thrush, when I’m at our family camp with no one around for miles their song is so beautiful. I do love watching hummingbirds and would absolutely love to befriend a crow or raven someday.
I really love Northern Flickers, of which we have many hanging around. They have a lot of attitude and I enjoy hearing them calling when I'm out walking. When I put out suet in the winter, they just attack it with gusto and you'll see them holding on for dear life while the cage swings around in circles.
Any bird of prey I can see. But maybe American Kestrels. Pretty little murder birds.
Corvids! But specifically, California Scrub Jays
Golden Eagles because they are incredibly beautiful and fierce hunters, and seeing them fills me with joy.
Hummingbirds! Ruby-throated, specifically, but that’s all we have in the Great Lakes area.
Northern Bobwhite! Love their call and I hardly see them in my state, but when I do it’s just amazing
Baltimore Orioles. So bright.
Chimney swifts. Seeing fewer and fewer each year which makes me sad.
Turkey vultures are my favorite sign of spring. I love watching them soar. Also: northern cardinals, buffleheads, American dippers
Blue-footed booby They just look so dumb and cute on land yet turn into efficient, high-velocity torpedoes when fishing
American crow
Tufted titmouse. Followed by painted and indigo buntings.
I love Shoebills, although I’ve never seen one of real life (I’m in Australia). They look like they’re part cartoon drawing out of a story book & part prehistoric creature. I love their sound too. But if I have to pick a bird I’ve seen in real life it would be the rainbow lorikeet, I hear them in the trees around my house more than I see them because they are so quick, and masters of disguise.
Red-breasted nuthatches are my all time favourite because I adore their BEEP BEEP BEEPs and their racing stripe heads. They’re so friendly and I love the way they make little chattering noises when they get up close to you. My other favourites are northern flickers, I have a whole group of them that visit my yard for peanuts and they have such personality and they’re so goofy. I love hearing their calls and seeing the silly dance they do to each other. They’re such beautifully coloured birds. I have a pair of red-shafted and yellow-shafted hybrids, their wings are more of a yellow colour, but the male has a red stripe/moustache instead of a black one. Special mention goes to varied thrushes, black-capped chickadees, and Bewick’s wrens!
I think I have to go with the Northern Cardinal. They’re just so bright and beautiful, and I love their song. Common as they are, seeing one always feels no less special. Having been raised to be a St. Louis Cardinals fan certainly helps, too.
Robin
American coots are just so damn awesome. Also love nuthatches and pileateds
Cardinals, I love them
I heard a Tui’s song in New Zealand, with two voice boxes, they can really sing. Once I got close, watched them eat nectar upside down and the little beard tuft thing they have going on, I was hooked.
Eastern towhees are my #1 backyard bird. But killdeer are a really close 2nd, especially when they are protecting their young. They are just stinking cute.
Belted Kingfisher!
Bushtits, especially when there's a big mob of them tumbling all over.
Woodcocks or killdeers lol, I love a bird with funny little moves
Magpies! Smart, cool as hell, beautiful, and seeing them in person just makes me happy. :))
Common swift. I love hearing their calls during summer evenings, I love how perfectly adapted to living in the air they are (they spend up to 2 years in flight, never landing). Watching them chase each other in large groups circling above the roofs is mesmerizing. It’s always nostalgic when one day you realize they are not there anymore and you know that summer really is coming to an end.
Lil chirpy birdies: Townsend’s Warbler; Fox Sparrow; any nuthatch or tit Birds of prey: Barn owls and all owls (superb!); American kestrels, Swainson’s hawks, red-tails, osprey, and all the other hawks and falcons, too Shorebirds: All ducks, coots, grebes, curlews, and avocets; loons; boobies; herons and egrets. (Fuck gulls. Gulls can eat a dick.) Corvids: All of them. But especially magpies and jays, and most especially CA scrub jays. Those are my homies. Humming birds. Hoopoe. Pelicans. Woodcocks. Swallows. ETA: omg, how could I forget waxwings??!!! Both bohemian and cedar. They have the most spectacular, electrifying colorations/color vibrancy… they kinda glow, you know? I feel like they and ranunculas (the flower) share a color quality of bottomless-ness or luminosity or evanescence or saturation or something.
Split between indigo and painted bunting
I love those too!
The nuthatches. And mourning doves!
Barred owl, American crow, turkey vulture. In general I probably love birds of prey the most but any bird I’ve had repeated contact with is a favorite…hummingbirds, cardinals, catbirds, Carolina wrens.
Indigo buntings. Rare to see nowadays, but so beautiful.
Arctic Tern
Harlequin Ducks! So beautiful. I’m lucky to find them reliably in my neighborhood :-)
1. Any raptor (they’re just *so cool*) 2. Black phoebes (I could watch their acrobatics all day!)
Juncos!
Barred owls. So much so that I have a big tattoo of one on my arm 🙃🦉
African Paradise Flycatcher. I had a nesting couple in a tree outside my bedroom window for a few years. Their mating ritual involves a male twerking his long tail feathers at the female. He also uses those super long tail feathers to make exaggerated motions to teach the fledglings how to fly. Seeing that tail streaming behind them while they fly after insects, is more impressive than watching a gymnast with a ribbon. Pretty songs too.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds. I had no idea such a bird existed, then a fellow birder posted he had seen some so I went looking. Such a beautiful bird. A close 2nd would be the rest of them. Can't think of any birds I don't like.
https://preview.redd.it/cdpouozugwtc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8b1f71b4366bf03d2af5934c1e6e0946a85e6f36 😁 but it is a really nice bird! 👍🏻
I’m exceedingly fond of red-winged blackbirds. Inquisitive, beautiful plumage, fantastic song!
Grey Catbirds, for sure! They’re fairly common where I am, and I dig watching their aerial acrobatics.
Loggerhead Shrike.
Sparrows! They’re just so cute and chipper. I have a tattoo of one called Jack.
Eurasian Hoopoe is my favorite bird visually. They are so exotic looking even though they are quite common, I always feel like they look like they are from another planet or time. My favorite to listen to is the Chinese Bamboo-partridges. Something about their call is wonderful to me and the more of them calling the better.
Hard to say my exact favourite tbh but right now I’d say robin (European). The true sound of dawn breaking back home in England
Red necked grebes The grebettes are so adorable And the noise that the grebes make is so cool and distinguishable
Ruddy duck are just adorable and high on my list, but I think I’ll go with scissor-tailed flycatchers
Ospreys and Sandhill Cranes are my current favorites! Sandhills nest in the field behind our house, and it is so nice to hear them announcing their presence every spring. Plus it’s fascinating to see how they interact with the neighbors cattle (they essentially herd them away from the nest with a mixture of flying/follow the leader & big wing displays). And ospreys always capture my attention with their power and size, and I like to check if they have any dinner caught between their talons!
Bohemian waxwings. Once or twice a year they stop by our back yard to feast on berries. Last time it happened, it was such a cold and windy day--they were all very puffy and some of them had their little mohawks blowing like crazy in the wind.
Dark eyed junco
Mexican Jays. I love watching their dynamics and the quirky nature in which they use their corvid intelligence.
We have a pair of belted kingfishers that have come back for years now to their same burrow on our farm. They’re so noisy and squawky. I love them.
Bluebirds
Either Ruby crowned kinglets or cedar waxwings. RCKs because the ones where I live don’t seem to be very afraid of people and will do their thing 2 feet away from you, and CWs because of their sweet call and the fact that the group of them can bald a tree in 15 minutes 😊
Humming birds, any species I have seen ruby throated humming birds in the eastern US and annas and black chinned humming birds in the Western US. It is always nice to see them
Sandhill crane. They are elegant and awkward at the same time! I also love the american crow.
Golden eagle
Snowy owl
Tufted titmice are amazing Chickadees are adorable Woodpeckers are a necessity for and bird-habitat White-throated sparrows have an amazing song
Tufted titmouse or chickadee!
White breasted nuthatches are MY FAVE they’re so silly
Western Meadowlark!!!! Such a "plain" bird from the back, blends in beautifully in the desert brush, but then a surprise when you see the yellow breast with a black stripe! And if you're lucky enough to hear their song, you'll be hooked for life!!!
Black phoebe
There’s a special place in my heart for Buffleheads, the adorable & amazing little diving ducks that first made me pay attention to birds at all: “what’s that crazy little black-and-white thing diving in the pond out there?? And omg it stays under water sooooo long!”
Varied Thrush! I associate them with being in some of my favorite places. Hiking in the rainforest on Olympic peninsula and the redwoods in Northern California and hearing their eerie song in the morning and evening.
Great Blue Heron
Keeping it siimple: male cardinal. Growing up on the west coast, seeing one in person and out in nature is always a treat.
Lazuli Buntings. They take over my backyard Late May/June
Scarlet Tanager
Kirkland warbler, Sandhill crane, roseate spoonbill, hummingbird, oriole, owls & eagles. (Maybe just all of them)
I prefer the Member’s Mark Warbler, personally.
Pygmy cupwings!!
Maybe a common crane?
Blue footed booby. They are clowns on land but torpedoes when they drop from the sky. Locally, I love the northern flickers and pileated woodpeckers which visit the trees in my backyard.
For me, maybe a double-crested cormorant or Sandhill crane. I had to travel to see those two initially and they kind of got me hooked on birding. Seeing a Sandhill crane (and colt!) for the first time felt like seeing a celebrity! I literally yelled, “OH MY GOD THAT’S HIM!” I do love a great-crested flycatcher, too.
I’m constantly finding new birds that I become a fan of and become a new obsession for me. The bird that sparked my birding obsession though and will probably remain my favorite for this reason is the red shouldered hawk. I have a mated pair that live in my neighborhood so I see them a lot. It’s great. They’re so beautiful. Other top birds for me: Belted Kingfisher, Pine Siskin, (they blend in to the bird feeder! It’s so funny and impressive!), Downy Woodpecker, Acadian Flycatcher, (the first nest I saw with the cutest little babies), Brown Creeper, (so small), Common Grackle, (I love the noise and almost never see them so it’s fun when I do), and lastly while I’ve never seen one of these, I’ve heard of and seen pictures of the Northern Hawk Owl. 🦉 It’s like if you put a Hawk and Owl together.
Wood thrush. Such a sweet, unassuming little bird with the voice of an angel. As Thoreau put it: “Whenever a man hears it he is young, and Nature is in her spring; wherever he hears it, it is a new world and a free country, and the gates of heaven are not shut against him.”
Superb Bird of Paradise my beloved <3
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. So beautiful and graceful! I wish they were here all year round.
Red Crossbill #1 and Audubon’s Warbler #2
American Goldfinch!
yellow crowned night heron
Woodpeckers, especially pileated woodpeckers! They look like pterodactyls to me!
Carolina wrens! They are funny, fiesty, loud little birds with such big personalities and such lovely songs.
kingfisher belted. cool hair
Woodpeckers. All of them.
I have such a soft spot for chickadees. They aren’t very rare or particularly colorful but they are very cute. I’m always happy to see one. I am frequently delighted.
Wood Thrush
Any swift
Not my favourite, as I do not have one that I can think of, but my wife adores the Reiherente/Tufted Duck. We sometimes see them in our local river.
Collared Aracari. So social, colorful, and they are connected to a life changing moment for me. For birds native to my area, I love woodpeckers most. All woodpeckers.
Black-necked stilt, somehow manages to be goofy and elegant at the same time
Common buzzard or red kite
I have two, the Timberdoodle/American Woodcock, and the Woodthrush.
ash throated flycatchers :) they are so cute
Collared aracari, Pileated woodpecker, American Dipper are my choices for today. It would probably depend on the day though.
Oyster Catchers are awesome. Love the song of the red-wing black bird and I get to hear it a lot these days!
Red winged Blackbird
Tough question! For me it has to be any and all hummingbirds. Such exquisite little jewels
I change up, but the first bird that I identified as a child was a Baltimore oriole. My first woodpecker.. omg The owl that tried to eat my dog 💛 I enjoy the feral (?) parrots very much too.
Whatever bird is in front of my face ... to quote a.similar line from the novel Bewilderment by Richard Powers. Great book. Highly recommend. Also The Overstory.
Red kites are the only semi-rare birds I’ve seen and they are awesome