Oregon Birds: Common Birds in Oregon (With Pictures)

Last Updated on February 22, 2022 by Lily Aldrin

Have you ever wondered what those birds in your garden in Oregon are? Do you require assistance in recognizing common backyard birds in Oregon?

Putting up bird feeders and seeing what comes to visit is a lot of fun, but it’s much more fun if you know who they are. Now you can learn about the most frequent birds that visit your feeders or hop across your yard in Oregon.

In the summer, American Goldfinches and Swainson’s Thrushes are more frequent, while Dark-eyed Juncos and Golden-crowned Sparrows are more prevalent in the winter.

If you’re ready to go yard birding in Oregon, keep reading to learn how to recognize birds and attract more to your yard.

Image	Name
	Song Sparrow
	American Crow
	American Robin
	Spotted Towhee
	Black-capped Chickadee
	European Starling
	Anna’s Hummingbird
	Steller’s jay
	Ruby-crowned Kinglet
	Western Meadowlark
	White-crowned Sparrow
	Downy Woodpecker
	Lesser Goldfinch
	Cedar Waxwing
	Swainson ’s thrush
	American Goldfinch
	Golden-Crowned Sparrow
	California Scrub-Jay
	Red-winged Blackbird
	Dark-eyed Junco
	Northern Flicker
	Chestnut-backed Chickadee
	Common Yellowthroat

Here is a list of some of the most frequent Oregon birds that may be found in and around your home. Pictures of the birds are included, as well as details on how to recognize them.

If you’re looking for brown birds or more colorful birds, the list below will help you discover them.

1. Song Sparrow

Song sparrows aren’t as noticeable as other backyard birds, but in the spring and summer, these mostly brown-streaked birds utilize their almost continuous song to attract mates.

Habitat

They’re typically perched on a low shrub singing in open, shrubby, and damp environments. They’re frequently seen at backyard feeders.

Food

Beetles, caterpillars, midges, spiders, and earthworms are among the insects and plants that Song Sparrows consume.

They’ll eat sunflower, wild cherries, wheat, and rice, among other things. Use black oil pumpkin seeds and nyjer on stage feeders to bring more song sparrows to your yard feeders.

2. American Crow

Crows in the United States are big black birds that produce a loud cawing sound. They may be found in a variety of environments, including trees, woodlands, fields, beaches, and cities.

Food

They consume a wide variety of foods and like to graze on the ground, where they eat earthworms, insects, seeds, and fruit. They also consume fish, young turtles, mussels, and clams, as well as eggs and nestlings from a variety of bird species.

Huge groups of approximately two million American Crows assemble in communal roosts throughout the winter. If you sprinkle peanuts in your backyard, you can attract more American Crows, but if you leave rubbish or pet food out, they can become a problem.

3. American Robin

American Robins which eat earthworms are a regular sight. Their heads and backs are black, while their breasts are crimson or orange. Because they like to roost in trees throughout the winter, you’re more likely to see them in your backyard starting in the spring.

Habitat

American Robins may be found in a variety of environments, including woods, forests, and mountains, as well as fields, parks, and lawns.

Food

Their preferred meals are earthworms, snails, and fruit. You may bring many American Robins to your garden by using sunflower seeds and mealworms. Platform feeders or food was strewn on the ground are ideal. They like Plant juniper, sumac, hawthorn, and dogwood, as well as other natural plants that yield berries.

4. Spotted Towhee

Spotted Towhees are big sparrows with blackheads, throats, and backs in males and brown heads, throats, and backs in females. Males and females both have reddish-brown sides, white bellies, and white patches on their wings and backs. They are approximately the size of a Robin and have lengthy tails.

Habitat & Food

Spotted Towhees can be observed on the ground among dense tangles of shrubs, scratching for insects such as beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, and bees. Acorns, berries, and seeds are also eaten by them.

They are native to the Pacific coast, but after mating, they migrate to the northern central states and emerge in a swath from north to south throughout the whole central states in the winter.

If you allow overgrown borders in your yard more Spotted Towhees will flock to platform or ground feeders for Black Oil Sunflower seeds and Milo.

5. Black-capped Chickadee

The Black-capped Chickadee has a small body and a round head. These birds will cheerfully eat from your garden feeders and examine everything, including you!

They have black beaks and capes, white cheeks, and grey backs, wings, and tails.

Habitat

Forests, open woodlands, and parks are all good places to look for them.

Food

Seeds, berries, insects, spiders, and suet are eaten by black-capped chickadees.

To bring more Black-capped Chickadees to your garden try seeds and nut butter. They’ll even eat from your hand, and they’re usually the first to explore new feeders. They’ll utilize nest boxes as well, especially if they’re filled with wood shavings.

6. European Starling

Despite the fact that European starlings are not native to North America, they have become one of the most frequent songbirds. They’re stocky black birds with purple, green, and blue iridescent tones.

These birds which some consider pests owing to their aggressive nature, fly in big, loud flocks and may be observed sitting in groups on the tops of trees or soaring over fields in flocks.

Food

Starlings mostly consume insects such as beetles, flies, and caterpillars, as well as earthworms and spiders. Fruit, such as cherries, mulberries, Virginia creeper, and blackberries, as well as grains and seeds, are consumed.

To attract more European Starlings to your yard feeder, try using suet, cracked corn, or peanuts.

7. Anna’s Hummingbird

Anna’s Hummingbirds are little birds that are green and grey in hue. The female’s neck is grey with paint splotches while the male’s skull and neck are iridescent reddish-pink.

Anna’s Hummingbirds are the most frequent hummingbird throughout the Pacific Coast, despite the fact that they do not migrate. During courting, the males ascend up to 130 feet in the air before plunging back to the earth with a blast of noise from their tail feathers.

During the spring, they may be seen near huge colorful flowers and frequently visit hummingbird feeders, which you can fill with homemade hummingbird food and which they may visit throughout the year.

8. Steller’s jay

Big songbirds with black triangular crests that protrude from their heads, Steller’s Jays are large songbirds. The remainder of their heads, chests, and backs are all black, while the rest of their bodies are blue.

Habitat

They may be found in the mountains’ evergreen woods, as well as at picnic tables, campsites, and home feeders. They build their nests out of the mud.

Food

Insects, seeds, nuts, berries, eggs, and nestlings are among the foods Stellar’s Jays consume, but they can make a nuisance of themselves around rubbish and your unprotected picnic! Peanuts and suet can be used to attract Stellar’s Jays to your yard.

9. Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglets are little olive-green songbirds with a beautiful red crown on the males that is generally flat and difficult to notice, but fantastic if you do.

Before wintering in the southern and southwestern states of the United States and Mexico, they breed in Canada and the western Rockies. They’re also visible during migration when they’re in large numbers.

Ruby-crowned Kinglets are fast-moving, silent birds that flutter among the foliage of lower branches, bushes, and trees in search of spiders and insects. For hulled seed oil and mealworms, they approach suet feeders or platforms feeders.

10. Western Meadowlark

Western Meadowlarks may brighten your day with their brilliant yellow bellies and melodic singing. This is most likely why they are so popular, to the point that they are the official bird of six states.

Western Meadowlarks have brownish and white upper parts with a black V-shaped band across the dazzling yellow breast that becomes grey in the winter.

These birds breed in the northern United States and Canada before migrating to the southern United States. Those who reside in the west and central parts of the nation spend the full year there.

Food

Western Meadowlarks can be found foraging on insects and seeds from weeds and seeds in grassy meadows, either alone or in small groups.

Fill ground feeders with hulled sunflower seeds and broken maize to attract more Western Meadowlarks to your yard.

11. White-crowned Sparrow

Huge grey sparrows with long tails and small bills and prominent black and white stripes on their heads, White-crowned Sparrows are large greyish sparrows with long tails and short bills.

Range

They reproduce in Alaska and northern Canada before traveling to the lower states and Mexico for the wintertime. Some may stay throughout the entire year near the Pacific Coast and west.

Food

In weedy fields and yards, White-crowned Sparrows can be observed searching for plant and grass seeds as well as fruit such as elderberries and raspberries.

Sunflower seeds and a variety of other seeds dropped by other birds at feeders might attract additional White-crowned Sparrows to your yard.

12. Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpeckers are little birds that eat from backyard feeders. They’re commonly confused for chickadees and nuthatches, among other species. They have a red patch on the back of their skulls and are monochrome in appearance. They resemble the Hairy Woodpecker but are smaller.

Habitat & Food

Downy woodpeckers may be found in woodlots, along streams, municipal parks, and backyards and they consume berries, acorns, and grains in addition to insects beetle larvae.

Downy Woodpeckers will consume black oil sunflower seeds and peanuts from platform feeders.

13. Lesser Goldfinch

Lesser Goldfinches are little songbirds with long hooked wings and short pointed tails that are bright yellow and black in color. Females have a dull yellow underbelly and olive backs. They are Residents in the extreme southwest, with those in their area to the north breeding and moving south.

Habitat & Food

Large flocks of Lesser Goldfinches can be found in open environments such as thickets, weedy fields, woodland clearings, and gardens. They forage on seeds, particularly sunflower seeds, as well as elderberry and coffee berry fruits, as well as cottonwood, willow, sycamores, and alder buds.

Sunflower seeds and nyjer in tube feeders or podium feeders may attract extra Lesser Goldfinches to your garden.

14. Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwings are graceful sociable birds with a light brown head, breast, and crest that fades to grey on the back, wings, and tail. The tip of their tail is brilliant yellow, and their belly is pastel yellow. Their eyes are hidden under a thin black mask, and their wingtips are brilliant red.

Habitat

They pass most of the year in the northern and the winters in the southern areas. They may be found in berry bushes, woods, and streams, and have a high-pitched cry.

You should Plant natural trees and shrubs with tiny fruit, such as dogwood, juniper, and hawthorn, to attract Cedar Waxwings to your yard. Fruit can also be used in platform feeders.

15. Swainson’s Thrush

Swainson’s Thrushes are moderate thrushes with brown underbelly and speckled chests.

Habitat & Food

Swainson’s Thrushes can be spotted hunting on insects in the leaf litter along the forest floor during the breeding season, primarily red fruits like blackberries, huckleberries, and sumac. Their diet also includes ants, and the egg sacs will be fed various insects.

Range

Swainson’s Thrushes spend the winter in Central and South America after breeding in Canada and Alaska. Except for migration in the spring and fall, they are rarely seen in the lower 48.

Ground-level birdbaths and tree and shrub cover might help to attract more Swainson’s Thrushes to your yard.

16. American Goldfinch

American Goldfinches are brightly cultured in yellow and black. Males and females are both drab brown in the winter.

Before traveling to the southern states, American Goldfinches breed in the far northern states and Canada. In the remainder of the United States, they are present all year.

Habitat & Food

They forage for sunflower, thistle, and aster plants in weedy fields and overgrown places. They’re also prevalent in parks, backyards, and suburbia.

To attract more American Goldfinches plant thistles and milkweed in your yard. They are attracted to most bird feeders and prefer sunflower and nyjer seed.

17. Golden-Crowned Sparrow

Golden-crowned sparrows have a grayish-brown underbelly and a streaked brown back. Their heads feature a brilliant yellow forehead and a black crown. The hues are duller in the winter, with brown on the crown and a duller yellow forehead.

Food

Before traveling to the West Side for the wintertime, they spawn in Norway and far westward. They may be seen scraping for seeds such as sumac and geranium in weedy fields in the winter, and they also consume fruit such as apple, grape, and olives. Ants, butterflies, and termites are among the insects that they consume.

You may attract more Golden-crowned Sparrows to your yard by putting seeds in ground feeders or planting fruit-bearing native plants.

18. California Scrub-Jay

Long-tailed songbirds with pale undersides, rich blue, and grey backs, and a brilliant blue breast band, big songbirds with long tails, rich blue and grey backs, and a brilliant blue breast band, California Scrub-Jays are large songbirds with long tails and rich blue and grey backs. They’re bigger than a robin but not as big as a crow. They have a similar appearance to Wood house’s Scrub-Jay, but with more vibrant colors.

Habitat & Food

They can be found in brush, residential yards, and parks throughout the Pacific Coast. Insects and fruit are consumed by California Scrub-Jays in the spring and summer, followed by seeds and nuts, particularly acorns, in the fall and winter.

To lure more California Scrub-Jays to your yard, fill your feeders with sunflower seeds and peanuts.

19. Red-winged Blackbird

The all-black coloration of red-winged blackbirds, save for the brilliant red and yellow shoulder patches makes them simple to recognize. The ladies are quite drab in comparison to the streaky brown coloring of the males.

Habitat

They are frequently seen perched on telephone lines, and during the mating season, the males will fiercely protect their territory even attacking humans who come too close to nests. During the winter, they roost in huge flocks, numbering in the millions.

Food

Scatter mixed grain and seeds on the ground to attract more Red-winged blackbirds to your yard. They’ll eat huge tube feeders or platform feeders as well.

20. Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Juncos are sparrows that come in a variety of hues depending on where they are found. In the east, they are slate-colored, whereas, in the west, they are black, white, and brown.

They are ubiquitous over the continent and may be found in open and somewhat forested regions, typically on the ground. Some individuals live year-round in the west and the Appalachian Mountains. Those who breed in Canada and Alaska travel south to the United States in the winter.

Food

Use black oil sunflower seeds or peanuts to attract more Dark-eyed Juncos to your garden feeders. The ideal feeders are platform feeders or those that are spread on the ground.

21. Northern Flicker

Northern Flickers are large woodpeckers approximately the size of a robin or a crow, with brownish coloring, black patches, and crescents, and red on the throat. Eastern birds’ tails and wing feathers are brilliant yellows, whereas western birds’ are red.

In woodlands and forest borders, they can be seen on the ground searching for ants and beetles. Those who breed in Canada or Alaska migrate to the southern states, but they can be observed all year in the lower 48.

Northern Flickers will flock to your garden feeders if you use suet and black oil sunflower seeds.

22. Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Chestnut-backed Chickadees are little birds with black and whiteheads, a rich chestnut back, grey wings, and a grey belly.

Food

They use home feeders and live in flocks in the Pacific Coast’s wet evergreen forests. The bulk of their diet consists of caterpillars, spiders, wasps, and aphids, with seeds, berries, and fruit accounting for the balance.

Use black-oil sunflower seeds, peanuts, or suet cages to attract Chestnut Chickadees to your yard. They’ll also make use of nest boxes.

23. Common Yellowthroat

Yellowthroats are little songbirds with brownish backs and brilliant yellow bellies and long tails. The guys wear a black mask that covers their entire faces. The intensity of the yellow varies by location, and certain areas beneath the surface may seem more olive.

Habitat & Food

They spawn over much of North America, and in the spring and early summer, they may be found in marshy or wetland areas, as well as thick, tangled vegetation. They consume mostly insects and can be found in vast, densely vegetated backyards.

Conclusion

In Oregon, these are the most frequent backyard birds, and they may visit your garden or feeders. The very first thing you should know about a bird is its size. In guidebooks, birds are frequently measured in inches or millimeters. It’s important to make a mental note of the bird’s size, whether it’s little, medium, or huge, so you can find it later.

A sparrow is approximately the size of a little bird, a pigeon is about the size of a medium bird, and a goose is around the size of a large bird.

Take notice of the bird’s silhouette and jot it down or sketch it out. Examine the length of the tail, the form of the beak, the shape of the wings, and the overall body shape. Also make a mental note of the primary color of the head, back, belly, wings, and tail, as well as any secondary colors or patterns.

FAQ

What is Oregon’s most common bird?

The American Robin is the most frequent bird in Oregon, appearing in 37 percent of all bird checklists for the state throughout the year.

How to say what sort of bird I saw?

A new smartphone app might assist you in locating it. The Merlin Bird Photo ID smartphone app can detect hundreds of North American species in images and then present you with a selection of birds that match your description and are likely to be seen in your region.

Which is Oregon state bird?

The Western Meadowlark has been named the official state bird of Oregon. Nearly 80,000 young people from around the state cast ballots, with the Meadowlark garnering more than half of the votes.