Bird Lab identification

Who is this? 🔉

Field Marks

• Dark grayish-brown upperparts

• White throat and abdomen with dark “vest”

• Indistinct wing bars, but white edge on tertials

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Tyrannidae

Habitat: Coniferous forests, especially edges

Life history:

Long-distance, neotropical migrant

Dubbed the “Peregrine of flycatchers” for its foraging behavior

Who is this? 🔉

Field Marks:

• Small, uniformly dark grayish-brown

• No eye ring

• Long primary projection

• Indistinct pale wing bars and tertial edges

Western Wood-Pewee

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Tyrannidae

Habitat: Woodlands and forests, especially edges

Life history:

Long-distance, neotropical migrant

Who is this? (WHW)

Field Marks:

• Drab olive with whitish gray wing bars

• Very reduced or absent eye-ring

• Bill is broad and pale underneath

• Grayish breast and abdomen

Willow Flycatcher

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Tyrannidae

Habitat: Riparian woodlands

Life History:

Long-distance, neotropical migrant

Conservation:

CA Endangered Species – all subspecies

Causes include loss of habitat due to overgrazing by livestock and cowbird parasitism.

SWFL: complications from non-native tamarisk

Who is this? (WHW)

Field Marks:

• Grayish olive-green (head especially gray)

• Whitish wing bars

• Whitish eye ring

• Relatively short, narrow, dark bill

• Notched tail

• Long primary projection

Hammond’s Flycatcher

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Tyrannidae

Habitat: Coniferous forest

Life History:

Neotropical migrant

Who is this? (WHW)

• Olive-green with yellow to white wing bars

• Pale, teardrop-shaped eye ring

• Bill is broad and pale underneath

• Dull yellow breast and abdomen

• Head appears to have a short peak

Western Flycatcher

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Tyrannidae

Habitat: Woodlands and forests, especially with steep-walled canyons or ravines.

Life History:

Neotropical migrant

Who is this? 🔉

• Black with white abdomen

• Wags tail while perching and singing

Black Phoebe

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Tyrannidae

Habitat: Riparian woodlands

Life History:

Occurs year-round

Builds mud nests lined with plant fibers, over water and plastered to a vertical wall

Who is this?

• Brownish gray with pale rusty abdomen and undertail coverts

• Black tail

• Wags tail when perched

Say’s Phoebe

Habitat: Grasslands, desert scrub, agricultural fields

Life History:

Occurs year-round, but some populations migratory.

Who is this? 🔉

Field Marks:

• Brownish gray upperparts, with pale gray throat and breast

• Very pale yellow abdomen and undertail coverts

• Underside of tail reddish with dark tips

• Short bushy crest

• Long, wide, black bill with slight hook

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Tyrannidae

Habitat: Dry scrub habitats, pinyon-juniper woodlands

Life History:

Neotropical migrant

Tolerant of high temperatures, and do not need to drink water, so able to breed even in deserts as long as food and nest cavities are available

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Dark gray head and breast with sharply contrasting white chin

• Yellow abdomen

• Black tail with pale tips

• Pale edging on wing coverts

Cassin’s Kingbird

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Tyrannidae

Habitat: Oak savannas, grasslands, scrubland, agricultural fields

Life History:

Short-distance neotropical migrant

Who is this? 🔉

Field Marks:

• Pale gray breast and head with less contrasting white chin

• Yellow abdomen

• Black tail with white edges on outermost feathers

• No pale edging on wing coverts

Western Kingbird

Habitat: Grasslands, desert scrub, agricultural fields

Life History:

Neotropical migrant

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Gray above and white below

• Black facial mask

• Small, black bill with short hook and tomial teeth

Loggerhead Shrike

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Laniidae

Habitat: Grasslands, desert scrub, agricultural fields

Life History:

Occurs year round, but some populations migratory

Predatory passerine; impales prey on thorns or barbed wire

Conservation:

Federal Endangered Species – only San Clemente subspecies mearnsi

Causes include loss of breeding habitat due to land overgrazing by livestock and fire, as well as consumption of pesticide-laced prey

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Dull gray to yellowish gray overall, lighter below

• Weak, broken eye ring

• Two wing bars, lower wing bar brightest

• Bi-colored bill (gray above, horn below)

Bell’s Vireo

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Vireonidae

Habitat: Riparian woodland, early successional

Life History:

Short distance neotropical migrant

Conservation:

Least Bell’s Vireo (V. bellii pusillus), the Coastal CA Subspecies, is Federally Endangered

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Greenish olive upper parts with dull yellow underparts

• Two yellow to white wing bars, with darkest part of wing between them

• Incomplete, yellow to white eye ring

• Thick, hooked bill

• Blue-gray legs

Hutton’s Vireo

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Vireonidae

Habitat: Oak woodlands

Life History:

Occurs year round

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Dull olive-green upperparts, with grayer crown, whitish underparts

• Two yellow to white wing bars

• Bold white "spectacles" over eyes

Cassin’s Vireo

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Vireonidae

Habitat: Coniferous, deciduous, and mixed forests.

Life History:

Short distance neotropical migrant

Who is this? 🔉

Field Marks:

• Grayish-olive upperparts, with whitish underparts

• No wingbars

• Whitish supercilium (“eyebrow”)

Western Warbling-Vireo

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Vireonidae

Life History:

Medium to long-distance neotropical migrant

Conservation:

No special status, but CA populations declining, probably due to loss of riparian habitat and cowbird parasitism

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Dark gray upperparts, with pale gray to white underparts

• Whitish throat, often extending to a collar around neck

• White head with black crown patch, varying in size, but no crest

• Flight feathers sometimes tipped white

Canada Jay

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Corvidae

Habitat: Coniferous forests

Life History:

Occurs year-round in northwestern CA

Copious sticky saliva from enlarged salivary glands is used to fasten food items in trees for use throughout the winter

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Dull blue overall, with chin and throat streaked whitish

• No crest

• Sharp-pointed bill

• Short-tailed

Pinyon Jay

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Corvidae

Habitat: Pinyon-juniper woodland

Life History:

Occurs year-round

Highly social, cooperative breeder

Excellent spatial memory, capable of digging up stored seeds months later, even through snow

Who is this? 🔉

Field Marks:

• Dark blue with black crest

• Blue streaks on forehead

• Grayish throat patch

Steller’s jay

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Corvidae

Habitat: Coniferous forests

Life History:

Occurs year round

Form monogamous, long-term pair bonds

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Deep blue upper parts with whitish underparts

• Dark gray/brown back (compare CASJ)

• Blackish lores extend across crown

• Relatively massive bill

Island Scrub-Jay

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Corvidae

Habitat: Scrub habitats and woodlands

Life History:

Occurs ONLY on Santa Cruz Island

Endemic to California (never recorded in any other country or state)

Heavy bill for dispatching island’s thick acorns

Who is this? 🔉

Field Marks:

• Blue upper parts with whitish underparts

• Dark cheeks and whitish supercilium (“eyebrow”), but no crest

• Presence of blue, streaky “necklace” varies

California Scrub-Jay

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Corvidae

Habitat: Scrub habitats, oak woodlands

Life History:

Occurs year-round

Omnivorous, opportunistic, and a known nest predator.

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Blue upper parts with grayish underparts– Blues and whites less bright than CASJ

• Dark cheeks and whitish supercilium (“eyebrow”), but no crest supercilium may be less distinct than CASJ, but unreliable.

• Blue necklace can be weakly present, but less distinct than CASJ

Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Corvidae

Habitat: Open scrub habitats, pinyon woodlands of the intermountain West

Life History:

Occurs year-round

Omnivorous, opportunistic, and a known nest predator.

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Light gray with white on forehead, chin, and undertail

• Central rectrices black, and outer rectrices white

• Wings black, with white-tipped secondaries visible in flight

• Long, pointed black bill

Clark’s Nutcracker

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Corvidae

Habitat: Subalpine coniferous forests

Life History:

Occurs year round, with seasonal altitudinal migration

Sublingual pouch for transporting seeds to cache sites

Excellent spatial memory for locating hidden seeds

Both males and females incubate eggs

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Primarily black with white scapulars and abdomen

• Wings and tail iridescent blue-green

• White marks on primaries form patch visible in flight

• Black bill

Black-billed Magpie

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Corvidae

Habitat: Riparian woodlands, especially near grasslands and meadows

Life History:

Occurs year-round in extreme eastern CA

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Primarily black with white scapulars and abdomen

• Wings and tail iridescent blue-green

• White marks on primaries form patch visible in flight

• Yellow bill

Yellow-billed Magpie

Habitat: Oak woodlands

Life History:

Endemic to CA, occurs year-round in the central valley

Nests in loose colonies, in large domed stick nests

Who is this?

• All black with stout glossy black bill

• Short and rounded or square-shaped tail

• Tips of folded wings often do not reach tail

American Crow

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Corvidae

Habitat: Habitat generalist, requiring open ground for feeding and scattered trees for nesting

Life History:

Occurs year-round

Roosts communally in large numbers, but less social when nesting

Some populations breed cooperatively, with young birds as “helpers”

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Very large, glossy black, with heavy black bill

• Wedge-shaped tail

• Elongated throat feathers, called “hackles”

• Long, tapered wings reach tail tips

Common Raven

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Corvidae

Habitat: Habitat generalist

Life History:

Occurs year round

Largest bodied passerine

Historically occurred in association with American bison and wolves

An acrobatic flier, it is often seen somersaulting and flying upside down

Who is this?

Field Marks:

• Brown to black upperparts with cinnamon to white underparts

• Black mask, breast band, and occipital feather tufts (“horns” – not always visible)

• Contrasting yellow supercilium (“eyebrow”) and throat

• Outermost tail feathers edged white

Horned Lark

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Alaudidae

Habitat: Grasslands, desert scrub, agricultural fields

Life History:

Occurs year-round in CA

Only member of family native to North America

Ground-dwelling