Birds of The Land Between
Backyard Community Science Program
Birds are easy to observe animals that are often indicators of habitat type and health. Different species can be found in different habitats and at different times of the year, making bird watching a new experience every time you go out. Their unique colors, songs and habits make them an exciting animal to watch! Below are seasonal lists of birds that we have highlighted for you to look for in every season. This is not a comprehensive list of all the species that you can find, but it should help you identify some common and even rarer species. Click on the buttons below to explore our highlighted species for each season.
PLEASE NOTE: the Summer, Autumn and Winter pages are currently unavailable because they are under construction.
How to create habitat for birds in my community?
Attracting birds to your backyard is a lot simpler than many believe it to be. Most birds will find their way into your yard regardless of how you use it, provided there is adequate cover (such as trees or bushes) or food. To help attract birds to your backyard, we’ve put together some simple steps you can follow to make your backyard a bird paradise.
Habitat – Keeping your property naturalized (lots of trees and bushes) will help attract birds by providing them with lots of areas to nest/hide in, as well as attracting insects and other prey foods. Trees, shrubs and wildflowers are great ways to attract birds to your backyard!
Water – Birds love water! If you have a pond on your property, keeping the pond edge natural and the water clean will promote bird use. If you have bird baths they should be monitored as they can also be a source of disease spread. However, refreshing the water every few days, while also cleaning the bath itself every couple weeks will help reduce the spread of infectious diseases.
Nesting Areas – Depending on the bird species you’d like to attract, it’s possible to attract birds with the use of nest boxes and nesting areas. In general, nesting boxes are a great way to attract more birds to your backyard. Just be sure to clean them out every year or two to promote their use in subsequent years!
Food – Birds are attracted to areas with excess food to either supplement their wild diet or to help them when food is scarce elsewhere. An easy way to provide food for birds and attract them to your yard is by putting bird feeders up. Different birds will be attracted to different styles of feeders and food!
Spring birds
Spring is an exciting time for all beings in the Land Between! The longer and warmer days means that the snow starts to melt and many species are emerging from their winter strongholds. Search through the gallery of images below and click the picture to find out more information! Take a look to see if you recognize anyone!
Activity Sheets
Download and print our activity sheets to have some extra fun learning about and searching for birds during your bioblitz!
Featured Spring Birds: species you are likely to see!
American Robin
Eastern Phoebe
Pine Warbler
Common Grackle
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Common Yellowthroat
Fox Sparrow
Rusty Blackbird
Eastern Bluebird
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Yellow Warbler
Eastern Meadowlark
House Wren
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
More information about our featured species!
American Robin
(Turdus migratorius)
Appearance: Our most common Thrush, the American Robin is a medium sized songbird with a round, rufous-red belly. They have a yellow beak on a black head with a bold, broken eye ring. Their upperparts are dark gray.
Habitat: American Robins can be found in numerous habitats such as forests, fields and open lawns.
Months Present: American Robins can be observed all year but are most commonly observed between April and November.
Fun Fact: Despite the common misconception, not all American Robins will migrate for the winter. Some will stick around if the food availability is good enough to support them!
Common Grackle
(Quiscalus quiscula)
Appearance: Common Grackles are medium sized black birds with iridescent purple sheens on their heads. They have yellow eyes, and their body can have a purple, brown or black sheen. Regardless of their coloring, Common Grackles have a keel-shaped tail.
Habitat: Common Grackles are often found in open forests and grasslands, as well as near urban or rural areas.
Months Present: Common Grackles can be observed all year, but are mostly visible between April and November.
Fun Fact: Common Grackles can be seen in mixed flocks of several hundred Blackbird species during migration.
Common Yellowthroat
(Geothlypis trichas)
Appearance: Common Yellowthroats are small songbirds (smaller than sparrows) with a distinctively bright yellow throat and yellow under-tail feathers. They have olive-green upperparts and gray-green underparts. They have a black face mask with a whitish-gray upper border.
Habitat: Common Yellowthroats can be found in dense, tangled areas often near water.
Months Present: Common Yellowthroats can be observed between May and November.
Fun Fact: Common Yellowthroats are easily found and identified by its “Witchity-witchity-witchity” song.
Eastern Bluebird
(Sialia sialis)
Appearance: Eastern Bluebirds are a member of the Thrush family and are smaller than American Robins but larger than most sparrows. They have bright blue upperparts, rufous-brown breast, sides and throat and a white belly. Females are duller in coloration.
Habitat: Eastern Bluebirds can be found in open fields with nearby trees and little ground cover for foraging.
Months Present: Eastern Bluebirds can be observed throughout the year but are mostly observed between May and October.
Fun Fact: Eastern Bluebirds saw a dramatic population decrease in the mid 1900s due to intensive habitat loss. Thanks to conservation efforts, Eastern Bluebirds have made a significant comeback thanks to habitat protection and nest box programs.
Eastern Meadowlark
(Sturnella magna)
Appearance: Eastern Meadowlarks are larger song birds with bright yellow underparts and with a bright yellow patch in front of their eye. They have a black “V” breast band and mottled brown upperparts.
Habitat: Eastern Meadowlarks prefer large open areas such as fields and grasslands.
Months Present: Eastern Meadowlarks are most often observed between May and October.
Fun Facts: The genus name “Sturnella” refers to the genus “Sturnus”, which is the genus of European Starlings. This is because of their similar physiology and behaviours.
Eastern Phoebe
(Sayornis phoebe)
Appearance: The Eastern Phoebe is a small flycatcher with dark, brown-gray upperparts and head, with whitish underparts. Their small, dark beak helps separate them from other flycatcher species, along with their song which sounds like “fffffeee-BE-BE’ or “fee-bee”.
Habitat: Like most flycatchers, Eastern Phoebes are often found in forest edge areas such as lawns or field edges, or in open areas with scattered trees.
Months Present: Eastern Phoebes are most often observed from May through October.
Fun Fact: Eastern Phoebes nest almost exclusively on man-made structures and can be identified by their constant tail wagging.
Eastern Wood-Pewee
(Contopus virens)
Appearance: The Eastern Wood-Pewee is a small sized bird that has dark olive-gray upperparts with a white or pale-yellow belly. Its defining features that separate it from other visually similar flycatchers are its partial white eye ring and its mouth coloration, having a dark upper beak and an orange lower beak. Like most flycatchers, it is easiest to identify by its distinctive call which sounds like “peeee-ah-WEEEEEE”.
Habitat: Like most flycatchers, Eastern Wood-Pewees are often found in forest edge areas such as lawns or field edges, or in open areas with scattered trees.
Months Present: Eastern Wood-Pewees are most often observed from May through October.
Interesting Fact: Eastern Wood-Pewees are highly susceptible to nest parasitism by Brown-Headed Cowbirds and have seen population declines as of late because of this.
Fox Sparrow
(Passerella iliaca)
Appearance: A large sparrow, Fox Sparrows have gray heads with rufous-red streaking on their cap and cheeks. Their gray upperparts also have rufous-red streaking, and their tail is rufous-red. Like the rest of their body, their white underparts also have rufous-red streaking, which often merges on their breast as a breast spot. Their beak is bicolored.
Habitat: Fox Sparrows prefer forest edges and shrubby fields.
Months Present: Fox Sparrows don’t stick around The Land Between during breeding season but can be observed April-May and September-October during migration.
Fun Fact: Despite being predominantly red-colored here in The Land Between, Fox Sparrows have many color morphs in various different parts of North America.
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
(Regulus satrapa)
Appearance: Being the second smallest sized family of birds in Ontario, Kinglets are divided into two species. The Golden-Crowned Kinglet has olive-green upperparts and white underparts. They have dark wings and tails with yellow edging. Their head is adorned with a yellow crown with black borders on each side.
Habitat: Golden-Crowned Kinglets are often found in wooded areas, most often with coniferous trees.
Months Present: Golden-Crowned Kinglets are most often observed from April to November.
Interesting Fact: The Golden-Crowned Kinglet is named so due to the golden feathers hidden in the crown of males. These feathers are only visible when the male is performing territorial/breeding displays or is agitated.
House Wren
(Troglodytes aedon)
Appearance: House Wrens are very small birds, smaller than most sparrows. They are brown overall, with dark barring on their tail, wings and sides. A key ID feature of the Wren family is the way they cock their tail; House Wrens have a long tail which is often cocked upright.
Habitat: House Wrens are often found in treed areas near buildings, hence their common name.
Months Present: House Wrens are most often observed from May to October.
Fun Fact: Wrens, including House Wrens, have some of the loudest and most intricate songs for being such small birds.
Pine Warbler
(Dendroica pinus)
Appearance: Pine Warblers are small songbirds (smaller than sparrows) that are yellow overall, with a noticeable yellow eye ring. Their wings are gray and have two white wing bars. While yellow overall, they have streaking on their breast and sides and white under-tail feathers.
Habitat: Pine Warblers are often found in Pine trees and Pine forests.
Months Present: Pine Warblers are most often observed between May and November.
Fun Fact: Pine Warblers are one of the few Warbler species that visit feeders.
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
(Regulus calendula)
Appearance: Being the second smallest sized family of birds in Ontario, Kinglets are divided into two species. The Ruby-Crowned Kinglet has olive-green upperparts and olive underparts. They have dark wings and tails with yellow edging. A broken white eye ring encircles their eye.
Habitat: Ruby-Crowned Kinglets are often found in dense, mature forests with tall trees.
Months Present: Ruby-Crowned Kinglets are most often observed from April to November.
Fun Fact: Ruby-Crowned Kinglets will often conceal their ruby crown unless agitated or excited. Despite being such small birds, Ruby-crowned Kinglets also have a significantly large number of eggs per brood (up to 12!).
Rusty Blackbird
(Euphagus carolinus)
Appearance: Rusty Blackbirds go through two distinct plumages and each gender has their own plumage. In breeding plumage, males (Top Left) are black overall with varying amounts of rust patches and a yellow eye. Females (Top Right) are similar but grayer overall. In nonbreeding plumage, males (Bottom Left) have rusty patches on their upperparts and breast and have a pale line above their eye. Females (Bottom Right) have a rusty head and back, with a gray rump, buffy-gray underparts and a distinct buffy line above their eye.
Habitat: Rusty Blackbirds can be found in wetlands and wet forests.
Months Present: Rusty Blackbirds don’t stick around The Land Between during breeding season but can be observed April-May and September-October during migration.
Fun Fact: One of the few species who have two distinct plumages in both males and females.
Yellow Warbler
(Dendroica petechia)
Appearance: Yellow Warblers are small songbirds (smaller than sparrows) that are yellow overall. Males have distinct chestnut-red streaking on underparts whereas females may be lacking or have duller streaking.
Habitat: Yellow Warblers prefer thickets or disturbed areas near water.
Months Present: A common spring warbler, Yellow Warblers can be observed May to November.
Interesting Facts: Susceptible to nest parasitism by Brown-Headed Cowbirds, Yellow Warblers have adapted to this by rebuilding their nest on top of their old nest if they observe Brown-Headed Cowbird eggs.
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
(Dendroica coronata)
Appearance: Yellow-Rumped Warblers are small songbirds (smaller than sparrows) that have yellow markings on their crown, sides and rump (hence their common name). They have blue-gray upperparts with streaking and clean white underparts. A black patch on their face gives a masked appearance.
Habitat: Yellow-Rumped Warblers are found in mature coniferous or mixed forests.
Months Present: Yellow-Rumped Warblers can be observed between May and November.
Fun Fact: Yellow-rumped Warblers consist of two sub-species, “Myrtles Warbler” which is found in Eastern North America and “Audubon’s Warbler” which is found in Western North American. Both sub-species are known the hybridize and have successful young.
Want to learn more about birds? Read our blogs!
