Yard Bird List

Ever since we moved into our house in 2004, I have kept track of the different species of birds seen from my yard.  Actually, I stretched just a bit and basically said that if I can see my yard and see the bird then it counts in my yard bird list.  We live in a small corner lot in a 40 year old subdivision in southwest St. Louis County.  I have neighboring homes on the other 2 sides of my lot.  There are some woods nearby as well as a large turf grass area of common ground in the area as well.  However, generally speaking, it is not the best habitat to funnel in birds.

I have done a few things to attract birds to the yard, including the addition of water features and planting of native plants.  I always have a few bird feeders up, and enjoy watching the birds as they come and go.  The list is actually pretty dismal considering the time we have been here, but I blame that on the fact that we are usually coming and going, racing off to the next practice or the next job.  If we are in the yard we are probably doing yard work, so our attention is elsewhere.  Still fun to keep the list, and I don’t plan on moving so I am motivated to keep trying to improve the habitat and spend more time birding in my yard, especially during migration.  

1. Great Blue Heron
2. Greater White fronted Goose
3. Snow Goose
4. Canada Goose
5. Mallard
6. Turkey Vulture
7. Mississippi Kite
8. Bald Eagle
9. Sharp shinned hawk
10. Coopers Hawk
11. Red Shouldered Hawk
12. Red Tailed Hawk
13. Wild Turkey
14. Ring billed Gull
15. Rock Dove
16. Mourning Dove
17. Screech Owl (heard)
18. Great Horned Owl
19. Barred Owl (heard)
20. Common Nighthawk
21. Chimney Swift
22. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
23. Red-bellied Woodpecker
24. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
25. Downy Woodpecker
26. Hairy Woodpecker
27. Northern Flicker
28. Pileated Woodpecker
29. Eastern Phoebe
30. Tree Swallow
31. Barn Swallow
32. Blue Jay
33. American Crow
34. Fish Crow
35. Carolina Chickadee
36. Tufted Titmouse
37. White-breasted Nuthatch
38. Brown Creeper
39. Carolina Wren
40. Bewick’s Wren
41. House Wren
42. Golden-crowned Kinglet
43. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
44. Eastern Bluebird
45. American Robin
46. Northern Mockingbird
47. Brown Thrasher
48. Cedar Waxwing
49. Blue-headed Vireo
50. Nashville Warbler
51. Yellow Warbler
52. Yellow-rumped Warbler
53. Northern Cardinal
54. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
55. American Tree Sparrow
56. Chipping Sparrow
57. Song Sparrow
58. White-throated Sparrow
59. White-Crowned Sparrow
60. Dark-eyed Junco
61. Red-winged Blackbird
62. Rusty Blackbird
63. Brewers Blackbird
64. Common Grackle
65. Northern Oriole
66. Purple Finch
67. House Finch
68. Pine Siskin
69. American Goldfinch
70. House Sparrow
71. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
72. Whippoorwill – added 04-27-18 and heard again 04-28, calling at dusk across the road from my house.  Great sound while sitting around the fire pit making s’mores.  
73. Swainson’s Thrush – 05-05-18 and again for several days.  I have probably seen/heard this before in yard but failed to take the time to study it in order to ID properly.  I had 1 or several in my yard over the course of several days, and really learned that they have a different personality that the other thrushes.  
74. Hermit Thrush 05-06-18.  Just like the above, I probably have seen these before but just never took the time to properly ID.

Do you keep a yard bird list? If so, how many species are you up to?