Every bird watcher and nature observer has his or her "lists." Here are mine for Birds, Insects, Mammals, Plants, Reptiles, and Crustaceans, complete with pull down menus.
BIRDS
Categorized by genus/species, placed chronologically by common name
American Coot
American Crow
American Flamingo*
American Goldfinch
American Kestrel
American Robin
American Tree Sparrow
American White Pelican
Bald Eagle
Baltimore Oriole
Barn Swallow
Belted Kingfisher
Black-Capped Chickadee
Black-Headed Gull*
Black Vulture*
Blue Jay
Blue-Winged Teal
Bobwhite
Broad-Winged Hawk
Brown Creeper
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Brown Thrasher
Bufflehead
Canada Goose
Canvasback
Cedar Waxwing
Chipping Sparrow
Common Grackle
Common Goldeneye
Common Pochard*
Common Redpoll
Cooper's Hawk
Dark-Eyed Junco
Double-Crested Cormorant
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Goldfinch - See American Goldfinch
Eastern Kingbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Towhee
Eurasian Coot*
European Starling
Fox Sparrow
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Gray Catbird
Graylag Goose
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Greater Flamingo*
Hairy Woodpecker
Harlequin Duck
Hermit Thrush
Herring Gull
Horned Lark
House Finch
House Sparrow
House Wren
Indigo Bunting
Killdeer
Lesser Scaup
Lincoln's Sparrow
Mallard (Domestic)
Mallard (Wild)
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Northern Flicker
Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Northern Shoveler
Orange-Crowned Warbler
Palm Warbler
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Red-Breasted Nuthatch
Red-Headed Woodpecker
Red-Tailed Hawk
Red-Winged Blackbird
Ring-Billed Gull
Ring-Necked Duck
Rock Pigeon
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Scarlet Tanager
Solitary Sandpiper
Song Sparrow
Spotted Sandpiper
Swamp Sparrow
Tufted Duck*
Tufted Titmouse
Turkey Vulture
White-Breasted Nuthatch
White-Crowned Sparrow
White-Throated Sparrow
Wild Turkey
Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
INSECTS, ARACHNIDS, MYRIAPODS & GASTROPODS
Categorized by family, placed chronologically by common name
Feeding and housing our feathered friends can be quite expensive. While housing might be a one-time cost, feeding certainly is not. Keeping multiple feeders full, and full of different types of seed for different birds, is expensive! The bulk feed is great if you want a loud, gregarious mess of House Sparrows and European Starlings, but these birds are not wonderful at sharing the feeder. Plus, birds with little interest in bulk feed/cracked corn will not bother with the hassle of competing with noisy Sparrows and Starlings for food.
Thus, if you want to attract other types of birds, you need to vary your seed options. Looking to attract Northern Cardinals and Black-Capped Chickadees? You need black oil sunflower seeds. If you want American Goldfinches, House Finches, or other smaller birds, you will need nyjer thistle. Woodpeckers and other clinging birds will love you for putting out suet (especially in the winter months). All of this can be expensive!
Which is why it is much cheaper to learn to make many of these mixes yourself. Just like it is cheaper to buy ingredients at the local grocery store and put the final product together yourself (for your dinner), it is cheaper to make your own bird food. Plus, it can be a lot of fun.
I recommend the following cheap book (only $7.95, and available for download as an eBook, too). This book is so popular the “pitch page” for the book is in the Top 30 for nature websites!
The book makes a great gift for nature lovers, too!
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This blog is about: Iowa, Illinois, Midwest, United States, nature, wildlife, animals, birds, ornithology, insects, bugs, entomology, Davenport, Bettendorf, Rock Island, Moline, Quad, City, Cities
