NWBirding Backyard

Living with the Birds

| Description of our Backyard | Pictures of the Birds | Backyard Bird List |
Other Backyard Visitors

Description of our Backyard

We’ve lived in our house for over 4 years and each year we see new birds. We are very fortunate to live adjacent to a large greenbelt near the Seattle area. The back of our house looks out on the greenbelt giving us the illusion we have an enormous backyard. The greenbelt has both coniferous and deciduous trees, which provide food and shelter for a variety of birds.

We’ve landscape our backyard to make it more natural – or “naturescaped” it to encourage our feathered friends as well as other wildlife. We planted native scrubs, such as Red Elderberry, Red-flowering Currant, Oceanspray, and Snowberry to name a few. We also have put in ponds to provide a place to drink and bathe. Unfortunately, the raccoons have taken a liking to using the pond and in the process trample the native garden.

Good sources of information for naturescaping are Russell Link's books: Landscaping for Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest and Living with Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest.

I have several feeders to further entice the birds into the yard and I also get a better look at them. I made starling-proof suet feeders, which I fill with my homemade suet, as well as black-oil sunflower seed feeders and hummingbird feeders. The birds love the suet. And I know I've "helped" several generations of chickadees, woodpeckers (4 types), and nuthatches on the suet. In the spring/early summer, I put out a feeder, which I fill with cotton, thread, and cat (indoors) hair. The birds seem to love using cat hair to line their nests; it sure is nice and soft!

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Pictures of the Birds

	We have 5 species of woodpeckers that visit our backyard. Four of the 5 breeds nearby and in the summer we watch them bring their young to the feeders for a good meal of homemade suet. Here a fledgling Pileated (right) is begging mom (left) for food.
	Fledgling Northern Flicker
	Hairy Woodpecker
	The Red Elderberry bush is very popular when the fruit is rip. It doesn’t take long for the local Band-tailed Pigeons, Swainson’s Thrushes, American Robins, and Western Tanagers to clean off all the fruit!

	The pond was built with a shallow shelf on one end to allow birds a safe place to bathe. I’ve seen Flickers, Chickadees, Sparrows, and Pigeons enjoy a good bath.
	Northern Flicker
	Hairy Woodpecker
	American Robin with only one leg?
	Fledgling Downy Woodpecker (on the top of the suet feeder) waiting for a bite as mom collects suet.
	We were surprised one evening by this male California Quail calling and running across our roof. The quail aren’t as common anymore due to loss of suitable breeding habitat, increase predation (e.g. people, cats, dogs) and fewer people releasing them.
	Our bird feeders are pretty busy. Anna’s and Rufous Hummingbirds are frequent visitors. The Anna’s stay year round and can be quiet aggressive when defending their territory (including the feeders).

Male Anna's Hummingbird

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Backyard Bird List

Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Mallard
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
California Quail
Glaucous-winged Gull
California Gull
Rock Dove
Band-tailed Pigeon
Barred Owl
Vaux Swift
Rufous Hummingbird
Anna’s Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Flicker (red-shafted & red-shafted/yellow-shafted hybrid)
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Pacific-sloped Flycatcher
Western Wood Pewee
Purple Martin
Violet-green Swallow
Barn Swallow
Steller’s Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick’s Wren
Winter Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Swainson’s Thrush
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Varied Thrush
Cedar Waxwing
European Starling
Hutton’s Vireo
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Townsend’s Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Western Tanager
Black-headed Grosbeak
Spotted Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
Pine Siskin
Red Crossbill
Evening Grosbeak
(no House Sparrow yet!)

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Other Backyard Visitors

Along with the usual urban dwellers (e.g. raccoons, opossum, rats, eastern gray squirrels, etc), we have discovered our share of less common backyard inhabitants.

	Ensatina
	Cardinal Meadowhawk
	Douglas Squirrel or Chickaree This squirrel was a short visitor. The eastern gray squirrel dominates urban areas such as our neighborhood, so it was a real treat to see this Douglas Squirrel in our backyard. Unfortunately the squirrel came down with a neurological disease and wasn't seen again.
	Pacific Forktail (Damselfly)
	Western Tiger Swallowtail

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