Most of Canada is a paradise for birds with its woodlands and mountains, but most of these unique birds are usually not seen in Canadian backyards. However, the southern part of Canada, in this case the Prince Edward Island, display a similar set of birds compared to the Northern US – especially Maine!

Sometimes, we need a break from the hustle and bustle of daily life. For many people, this means going outdoors to take in the beauty of nature. With all the different types of birds across the world, there’s plenty of beauty to be seen with a feeder in your backyard.

Prince Edward Island is one of the places in the world where the Blue Jay is most likely to visit your backyard!

Whether you live in Canada or any other country, bird feeders are an easy way to start enjoying nature without leaving home! Here’s how to get started!

Top 30 backyard birds of Prince Edward Island

No	Bird	% of all counted birds	% of total visits	Avg. Group size
1	Blue Jay	17	94.3	7
2	Black-capped Chickadee	9.4	83.8	4
3	American Crow	6.4	73.1	3
4	Mourning Dove	11.5	71.7	6
5	American Goldfinch	15.8	57.2	11
6	European Starling	12.7	55.6	9
7	Dark-eyed Junco	6	48.5	5
8	Downy Woodpecker	1.3	42.1	1
9	Hairy Woodpecker	0.8	29	1
10	Red-breasted Nuthatch	0.8	25.6	1
11	Song Sparrow	0.9	15.8	2
12	Common Redpoll	3.6	13.5	11
13	Evening Grosbeak	6.4	12.8	20
14	Common Grackle	1.7	12.1	6
15	Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)	0.7	8.1	4
16	American Tree Sparrow	0.4	7.4	2
17	Red-winged Blackbird	0.5	7.4	2
18	American Robin	0.3	6.4	2
19	Northern Flicker	0.2	5.7	1
20	White-breasted Nuthatch	0.1	4.7	1
21	Purple Finch	0.4	4.4	4
22	Gray Partridge	1.5	4	14
23	Sharp-shinned Hawk	0.1	3.4	1
24	Common Raven	0.1	3	2
25	Pine Siskin	0.1	3	2
26	Ruffed Grouse	0.1	2.4	2
27	White-throated Sparrow	0.1	2.4	1
28	Snow Bunting	0.6	2	11
29	White-crowned Sparrow	0	1.7	1
30	Brown-headed Cowbird	0	1	1

So these are the birds you are most likely to see at your bird feeder if you live in Charlottetown or any other city of Prince Edward Island!

Read on for much more detailed descriptions and statistics for each of the most common birds in the state of Prince Edward Island!

Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)

Family: Corvidae

Occurrence: Eastern United States. Southern Canada.  

Diet in the wild: Acorns, seeds, berries, insects, small animals.

Feeder type preferences:

• Ground feeder
• Large tube feeder
• Suet Cage

Feeder food preferences:

• Suet
• Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
• Hulled Sunflower Seeds
• Safflower
• Mealworms
• Fruit
• Whole peanuts
• Crushed peanuts
• Nyjer seeds
• Milo
• Millet

Endangered: No. 

The blue jay is a conspicuous garden bird throughout southern Canada, eastern and central United States. Cyanocitta, the first part of its Latin name, is derived from the Greek words “kyaneos”, which means blue, and “kitta”, which means chattering bird. Cristata, the last part of its name in Latin, is derived from the Latin word for “crested”.

In the northern regions, some will migrate south for the winter, depending on weather conditions and food abundance.

Blue jays belong to the Corvidae (crow) family and are related to crows, magpies, and nutcrackers. There are four subspecies of blue jays: the northern blue jay, the coastal blue jay, the Florida blue jay, and the interior blue jay. Their closest relative is Steller’s jay, and hybrids have been reported where their distributions overlap.

They are the official mascot of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, John Hopkins University (Maryland), Elmhurst University (Prince Edward Island), and Creighton University (Nebraska). They are the provincial bird of Prince Edward Island in Canada. They also feature in Cartoon Network’s Regular Show as the cartoon character Mordecai.

Identifying the blue jay

The blue jay is 9 to 12 inches, blue with a white face and underparts. They have a characteristic blue crest, which they raise when agitated. Their black collar extents up from their neck to frame the back of their crest.

Their wings and tail have black and white barring. The black markings on their face and neck vary between individuals. They have several calls and sounds, including a loud “jay! jay!”. They can mimic the calls of raptors to scare away other birds from food sources.

Of the four subspecies, the northern blue jay is the largest with the palest blue color. They occur in Canada and the northern United States.

The coastal blue jay is vivid blue and is found along the coast from North Carolina to Texas, except for south Florida, where the Florida blue jay is found. The Florida blue jay is smaller and paler than the coastal blue jay. The interior blue jay is found in inland USA and is dark blue with a contrasting white underside.

The closely related Steller’s jay has a black crest and head, their underparts are blue instead of white, and they lack the barring on their wings.

Other birds that can be confused with the blue jay include the Florida scrub-jay, Woodhouse’s scrub-jay, and the California scrub-jay.

However, these birds have no crest, no barring on their wings, no collar around their neck, and grey faces, instead of white.

Biology

Their natural habitat is deciduous and coniferous forests, but they are well adapted to suburban areas. They will eat almost anything, including seeds, nuts, fruits, insects, and occasionally the eggs and chicks of other birds, small rodents, and frogs.

They are aggressively territorial towards other birds, predators, and humans. Blue jays sometimes get mobbed by other birds because blue jays are known to raid nests. On the other hand, birds in the same area can benefit from the loud alarm call of the blue jays and their ability to chase away predators.

Their breeding season is from March to May. Their nest is an open cup between tree branches. Sometimes they steal the nests of other songbirds, such as the American robin. They will lay two to seven blueish-brown eggs with brown spots.

How to attract the blue jay to your garden

In your birdfeeder, you can place peanuts, sunflowers, cracked corn, millet, suet, and mealworms for the blue jay. Large trees like oak and beech can provide shelter, food, and potential nesting sites. Crabapple, red mulberry, and wild cherry will attract blue jays with their fruit. You can provide a large bird bath for them to wash in and drink from in your garden.

Conservation status and threats

The blue jay is listed as least concern and their numbers are stable. Recently, their population has been declining along the Atlantic coast, and increasing in the northern parts of its range in southern Canada. Climate change might lead to range retractions in its northwestern distribution. Their main threats are spring heat waves endangering their chicks and urbanization destroying suitable habitat.

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Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)

Black-capped Chickadee summary:

Family: Paridae

Occurrence: Canada, mostly Northern US and some central parts. 

Diet in the wild: Insects, seeds, berries.

Feeder type preferences:

• Large tube feeder
• Ground feeder
• Suet Cage
• Small hopper feeder
• Large hopper feeder
• Platform feeder
• Window feeder

Feeder food preferences:

• Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
• Hulled Sunflower Seeds
• Safflower
• Mealworms
• Crushed peanuts
• Whole peanuts
• Nyjer seeds
• Suet

Endangered: No. 

These curious little birds are quick to discover birdfeeders and habituate to human presence. They can even learn to eat from a person’s hand!

In winter they form large flocks mixed with other bird species. They prefer mixed and deciduous forests, especially along the edges. However, they also do well in suburban areas with sufficient tree cover.

Their distribution spans from southern Alaska to Newfoundland, and to the south from Oregon to New York and inland as far south as Colorado and Kansas. They are the state bird of massachusetts and Maine and the provincial bird of New Brunswick.

As birds with a more northerly distribution, they are especially cold tolerant. They survive cold winter nights by seeking cover in thick vegetation or cavities and by going into a hibernation-like state where they reduce their body temperature and metabolic rate to save energy. The presence of bird feeders increases their survival during winter months, especially in the northern parts of their distribution.

Black-capped chickadees belong to the Paridae family which also contains tits, and titmice. They can hybridize with Carolina chickadees or mountain chickadees where their ranges overlap. Other North American chickadees include the grey-headed chickadee, the chestnut-backed chickadee, the boreal chickadee, and the Mexican chickadee.

Identifying the black-capped chickadee

The black-capped chickadee is 5 to 6 inches with grey upper parts, light undersides, rusty flanks, white cheeks, and a black cap and bib. They can make many different sounds, including the distinctive call they were named after: “chick-a-dee-dee-dee”.

The Carolina chickadee looks similar but has a more southerly range and less white edging along its wing feathers. Even though the Carolina chickadee’s call is different, both birds can learn each other’s song, making it difficult to tell them apart where they co-occur. The mountain chickadee has a black eye stripe and a white brow. The boreal chickadee in Canada has a brown cap, instead of black and the chestnut-backed chickadee, as the name suggests, has a chestnut-colored back.

Mating and favorite foods of the black-capped chickadee

Their breeding season is from late April to June. They nest in nest boxes or cavities in larger garden trees. They will use natural cavities, abandoned Downy woodpecker nests, or excavate their own nest in dead wood. The nest is a cup-shaped structure of moss, bark, and other plant material, lined with animal fur. They can lay one to thirteen white eggs with fine reddish-brown spots.

They have a varied diet, consisting mostly of seeds, fruit, and insects. In summer months, they can be seen catching insects mid-air. Occasionally, they will pick bits of fat and meat from carcasses. They will stash food during autumn and winter and are exceptionally good at remembering the locations.

How to attract the black-capped chickadee to your garden

Black-capped chickadees are easy to attract to gardens. They will enjoy suet, sunflower seeds, peanuts, peanut butter, and mealworms at a birdfeeder.

Place feeders close to vegetation cover. Provide shelter for them with willow, alder, birch, and various shrubs in your garden.

You can plant sunflowers and watch them pick the seeds from the flower heads. They also enjoy the seeds of asters, black-eyed Susans, and coneflowers. Create an insect-friendly garden by providing mulch, dead wood, and indigenous vegetation.

To encourage them to breed, you can put up a nest box with sawdust inside, or a large dead tree stump for them to excavate.

Conservation status and threats

They are listed as least concern since their population is stable. Recently, their western populations have been declining, but, simultaneously, their eastern populations have been increasing. Climate change could cause a northward expansion and a southward contraction of their range. Raptors will prey on adults and squirrels are a threat to their chicks and eggs.

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Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)

Mourning Dove summary:

Family: Columbidae

Occurrence:  Widely across the United States and Canada. Native to Bermuda.  

Diet in the wild: Seeds.

Feeder type preferences:

• Large Hopper
• Platform feeder
• Ground feeder

Feeder food preferences:

• Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
• Hulled Sunflower Seeds
• Safflower
• Cracked Corn
• Crushed peanuts
• Millet
• Oats
• Milo
• Nyjer seeds

Endangered: No. 

The mourning dove is one of the most abundant land birds in North America, with an estimated population of 350 million. These birds are known and named for their mournful calls, sometimes confused with owls, and a sharp whistling sound made by their wings when taking off.

Identification of the mourning dove

It is a medium sized dove, (similar to a robin in size) has a long, pointed tail, with a plump body, tiny head, and distinctive dark spots on its wings. It is brownish with a tan head, gray wings with black spots, a black bill, pink feet, and a black dot on the side of the face.

Male doves can be distinguished from females, by a purple iridescence on the neck. The mourning dove may get confused with the Eurasian Collared-dove or the white-winged dove. The Mourning Dove species consists of four sub-specifies, two of which can be found in North America: Z. m. carolinensis, found east of the Mississippi River, and Z. m. marginella in the west.

Habitat and migration of the mourning dove

The Mourning dove has a huge range across North America, meaning there are a variety of breeding and migration patterns depending on where they originate.

Mourning doves who live in the northern end of the range (northern USA, southern Canada) migrate as far south as Mexico. While birds in the central and southern US, might migrate only a few hundred km or not migrate at all.

Mourning doves prefer open spaces, like residential suburbs, rural areas, woodland edges, and fields, but avoids thick forested areas. Most people might recognize the mourning dove from perching on telephone poles and eating from their bird feeder.

Nesting & Breeding of the mourning dove

Mourning doves typically nest from February through October and can have anywhere from 1-6 broods (depending on source) with 2 eggs. These birds mate for life, and work together to build the nest, hatch the eggs, and feed their young.

Over a span of 2-4 days, the male will bring the female materials, which she then weaves into a nest approximately 8 inches across. Males sit on the nest during the day, while the females take the night shift. Eggs incubate for 14 days and nestlings stay for 12-15 days.

Mourning doves will build their nests in a variety of locations – they are not picky and are mostly unbothered by humans.

Typical locations include branches of evergreen, vines, cottonwood, orchard tress and mesquite. In the west, nesting on the ground is common nests can also be found in gutters, abandoned equipment, hanging planters, and eaves.

Nests are made from twigs, pine needles, and grass stems and are described as flimsy in construction. They are unlined and don’t have much in the way of insulation for the young. It is quite common for mourning doves to reuse their own nests, or reuse the rests of other species of birds.

Diet of the mourning dove and how to attract it

Mourning Doves are primarily foragers, finding seeds on the ground to eat and they may eat up to 20% of their body weight per day.

Seeds make up 99% of its diet, which can include cultivated grains, peanuts, wild grasses, weeds, herbs, berries and even occasionally snails! The mourning dove typically gets its food quickly, stores it in their crop, and digests it later while roosting.

To attract the mourning dove to your own backyard, we recommend scattering seeds on the ground on platform feeders or in a large hopper feeder.

They prefer black and hulled sunflower seeds, safflower, nyjer, cracked corn, peanut hearts, millet, oats and milo. Since this bird spends so much time on the ground, try and keep prowling animals, like cats, inside.

Encourage nest building by planting dense shrubs or evergreen trees, or even put up a nesting cone in advance of the breeding season.

The mourning dove is a popular game bird

These birds are the most hunted game bird in North America, with around 20 million shot each year. The hunting season varies between regions, but can span from September-January. It is one of the only birds whose hunting season overlaps with its nesting season.

Despite the high volume of hunting, there isn’t a high level of concern for conservation according to the Continental Concern Score. There are some differing opinions around the degree to which hunting is impacting this species.

Game managers and conservationists monitor the species population numbers to set hunting limits for the mourning dove. However, some sources say that the breeding population cannot keep up their numbers with the pressure from hunting, especially since nesting doves can be hunted.

A unique side effect of hunting is the lead poisoning of mourning doves in hunting heavy areas. Due to being a ground forager, these birds consume spent lead shot, leading to 1/20 doves eating lead.  

Despite hunting of the Mourning Dove, it is still very abundant in American backyards and are frequent visitors of bird feeders.

In Maine, although visiting in fewer numbers per visit, the total number of Mourning Doves are stable throughout Maine backyards.

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American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)

American Goldfinch summary:

Family: Fringillidae

Occurrence: Southern Canada to California in the summer. Also Florida and Mexico in winter.

Diet in the wild: Seeds, insects.

Feeder type preferences:

• Large tube feeder
• Small tube feeder
• Ground feeder
• Large hopper feeder
• Small hopper feeder
• Platform feeder

Feeder food preferences:

• Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
• Hulled Sunflower Seeds
• Nyjer (Thistle) seeds

Endangered: No. 

The American goldfinch is a small garden bird commonly found in large flocks throughout the US, southern Canada, and central Mexico. As short-distance migratory birds, they move south during the winter to escape the cold.

During summer they are found from southern Canada to California and North Carolina. During winter, they can be found from Washington to Nova Scotia south into central Mexico. Their natural habitat is open meadows, but they often flock towards bird feeders in suburban areas. They are the official state bird of three US states: Iowa, New Jersey, and Washington.

The American goldfinch belongs to the Fringillidae (finch) family. There are four subspecies: the eastern goldfinch, the pale goldfinch, the northwestern goldfinch, and the willow goldfinch. Other closely related species include the lesser goldfinch, Lawrence’s goldfinch, and the siskins. Despite the similar sounding name, they are not related to the European goldfinch.

Identifying the American goldfinch

The American goldfinch is a 4 to 6-inch, brown to yellow bird with a white undertail. Their wings and tail are black with white markings. In summer, the male is easily distinguishable with his bright yellow plumage and black cap. The female has a pale-yellow underside in the summer months with an olive-colored head and back. In winter, both males and females are olive-brown with a yellowish head. Juveniles are a dull brown with pale yellow undersides. Their call is a chirpy “tsee-tsi-tsi-tsit”.

Subspecies can be distinguished by their distribution and small variations in coloration and size. The eastern goldfinch is the most common and most eastern subspecies. They occur from Colorado eastwards from southern Canada to central Mexico.

The slightly larger pale goldfinch, as its name suggests, has a paler body, stronger white markings, and a larger black cap in the male. They have a more western range stretching from British Columbia to western Ontario south to Mexico.

The northwestern goldfinch is darker and smaller compared to the other subspecies. They occur along the coastal slope of the Cascade Mountains from southern British Columbia to central California. The willow goldfinch has a browner winter plumage, and in summer, males have a smaller black cap. They are found to the west of the Sierra Nevada range in California southwards into Baja California.

The male lesser goldfinch could be confused with the male American goldfinch but their cheeks and back are olive to black instead of yellow and the black crown of the male covers its entire head. In both males and females, the lesser goldfinch has a yellow undertail, instead of white. The Lawrence’s goldfinch male has a black face and yellow breast, but the rest of its body is grey. Females of Lawrence’s goldfinch have a grey head and back, whereas the American goldfinch has a yellow head and olive back.

Breeding and feeding of Goldfinches

The American goldfinch’s diet consists entirely of seeds. Their breeding season starts in June, when seeds are in greatest supply. Monogamous pairs nest in trees or shrubs. Their nest is an open cup of three inches, woven from plant fibers, bound by spiderwebs and caterpillar silk, and lined with plant down. They will lay four to six eggs, each less than an inch long, pale bluish white, with occasional brown spots.

Attracting the American goldfinch to your backyard

To attract the American goldfinch, you can put out various seeds (especially sunflower and nyjer seeds), and beet greens. Use a feeder designed for smaller birds, because large birds at the feeder could discourage the American goldfinch. During the breeding season, you can put out 100% cotton for them as nesting material. Plant indigenous grasses, sunflowers, thistles, dandelions, coneflowers, milkweed, zinnias, and large trees in your garden. A bird bath or water feature would provide an additional attraction.

Is the american goldfinch endangered

The American goldfinch is listed as least concern since its population is generally increasing across the United States. However, climate change could cause southern contractions in their distribution with local extinctions in various states, due to the increased risks of heatwaves and heavy rainfall endangering their eggs and chicks. 

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European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

Family: Sturnidae (starlings)

Occurrence: Throughout North America. Mostly Central parts. Southern parts of Canada.

Diet: Omnivorous. Weeds, berries, seeds, insects.    

Feeder type preferences:

• Large tube feeder
• Large hopper feeder
• Platform feeder
• Ground feeder

Feeder food preferences:

• Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
• Hulled Sunflower Seeds
• Safflower
• Crushed peanuts
• Oats
• Fruits
• mealworms
• Suet
• Millet
• Milo

Endangered: No. 

The European Starling is also known as the Common Starling and is a very common medium-sized bird that can be found almost everywhere in the United States. It is a very adaptable species so it lives in both the country and in towns and roosts on roofs and telegraph wires as well as trees.

It is however a much-maligned bird as it steals breeding sites from other native birds and is very noisy. They like to form large flocks and they can devastate a farmer’s crop and their droppings can carry disease and invasive seeds making the European Starling one of the most destructive species to native wildlife.

Where does European Starling come from

The European Starling is a non-native species. In the 1890s, 100 birds were brought to the United States and released in Central Park, New York. This was an initiative undertaken by the American Acclimatization Society whose members wanted to introduce many different European species of birds to the United States. They also introduced House Sparrows and Java Finches at the same time. Today, the descendants of those first European Starlings now number in their millions.

How and where to spot the European Starling

European Starlings can be easily spotted in all types of habitat and can often be seen raiding trash cans for food.

The European Starling is 8.5 inches (21 cm) long and has a wingspan measuring 16 inches (41 cm) – similar in size to a blackbird. It has a short tail and pink legs. Both sexes look similar and in the summer have a glossy black plumage with a green/purple metallic sheen and yellow beak.

In the winter, its plumage turns to brownish/ black and is often speckled with white and its bill turns brown in color. It is a noisy and aggressive bird and the male makes the most noise with a repertoire that includes whooshing sounds- even in flight- as well as clicking sounds. The European Starling likes to mimic other birds and even man-made sounds like telephones.

Habitat and mating of the European Starling

As well as living in many different areas, the European Starling will nest in any natural or artificial cavity that it has managed to take from another bird. Because the starling is aggressive it will fight hard to win the nesting spot and is not frightened to take on larger birds such as woodpeckers and owls. Their breeding season is March-July and during this time, they will have 1-2 broods of four eggs.  Their nest is really untidy. The eggs are pale blue and take two weeks to hatch. The young starlings remain in the nest for just three weeks. The adults feed their young on larvae and insects.

What does the European Starling eat and how do I attract it

This species is omnivorous and eats a wide variety of foods. They happily visit bird feeders but because of their aggressive nature, they push other birds away so most people don’t want to encourage them

The preferred foods of European Starlings include:

• spiders
• cranes
• moths
• mayflies
• bees
• wasps
• spiders
• beetles
• seeds
• fruit
• nectar
• sprouting crops

The European Starling is one of the most numerous birds in the United States, so it is not endangered in any way.

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Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)

Dark-eyed Junco summary:

Family: Emberizidae

Occurrence: Canada, entire US but mostly northern and central parts. 

Diet in the wild: Insects, seeds, berries.

Feeder type preferences:

• Large Hopper
• Platform feeder
• Window feeder
• Ground feeder

Feeder food preferences:

• Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
• Hulled Sunflower Seeds
• Safflower
• Cracked Corn
• Crushed peanuts
• Millet
• Oats
• Milo
• Nyjer seeds
• Suet

Endangered: No. 

Dark-eyed Juncos are one of the most abundant and widespread forest birds in North America, with populations estimated to be anywhere from 200-630 million. They are part of the New World Sparrows family, Passerellidae. “Dark-eyed Junco” actually refers to a broad group of birds in the sparrow family, with 16 identified sub-groups that live broadly across North America. Many of these sub-groups were at one point considered different species.

Juncos are small birds, weighing 18-30 g (5/8-1 1/16 oz) with a wingspan of only 15-17 cm. They live in flocks and are generally dark gray or brown, with a pink bill and white outer tail.

Their appearance and colouring vary depending on geographic location. Across Canada and northeast US, you can find “slate-coloured” populations, and “white-winged” birds nest in the Black Hills mountains in South Dakota.

“Pink-sided” juncos can be found in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, and “Red-backed” populations live in the mountain regions of Arizona and New Mexico. The “Gray-headed’ Junco live in the geographic areas between the “Pink-sided” and “Red-backed” ranges. Finally, the “Oregon” Junco resides (unsurprisingly) in Oregon! It can be found along the majority of the West coast of North America, from Mexico to Alaska.

Whereas the appearance varies greatly among sub-species, the female Juncos tend to be paler and more brown, almost to the point where they may be confused with tree- or house sparrows.  

Where to find the Dark-eyed Junco

They prefer open spaces like backyards, parks, roadsides, fields, and forest. Juncos are ground birds, so look for them hopping between shrubs, low branches, and lawns. The different colour varieties have separate ranges in the summer, but winter migration to new ranges can cause them to flock together.

In the winter, Dark-eyed Juncos migrate south, ranging from southern Canada to northern Mexico, but they tend to avoid Florida. While most Juncos are migratory, some of the populations in the southwest and on the southern Pacific coast may not migrate. Females tend to winter in slightly more southern locations than males.

The Dark-eyes Junco is known casually as ‘snowbirds’ due to arriving at birdfeeders during winter snowstorms.

Feeding the Dark-eyed Junco

Seeds make up about 75% of Dark-eyed Junco’s diet, but will also eat insects and berries, particularly during the breeding season. If you want to attract them to your yard, they are very comfortable going to feeders.

You can use a large hopper, a platform feeder and scatter seeds on the ground. They definitely prefer millet to sunflower seeds. You can see them hopping on the ground as they forage.

Breeding & Nest Building

Despite a wide variety in range, the Dark-eyed Junco consistently breeds in forests, preferring coniferous or mixed woodlands on the edges of clearings or other open spaces. 

Dark-eyed Juncos breed from May-August, hatching 1-3 broods with 3-6 eggs per brood. Females will choose the nest location and build the nest in 3-7 days. Nests are generally on the ground, in well-hidden locations and are rarely more than 10 feet off the ground. In more populated areas around humans, they sometimes make their nests in buildings, window ledges, light fixtures and hanging flower pots.

Females weave the materials together to form an open cup, which can include twigs, grasses, leaves, moss, ferns, and hair. Juncos don’t reuse nests, preferring to build new ones each season. The female incubates the egg, which takes 11-13 days.

The male will protect his nesting territory by singing from a high perch. Both parents will feed the nestling, which leaves the nest 9-13 days after hatching.

Occasionally, a Dark-eyed Junco will mate with a White-throated Sparrow, leading to a hybrid bird that looks like a more gray White-throated Sparrow with white outer tail feathers.

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Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)

Downy Woodpecker summary:

Family: Picidae (woodpeckers)

Origin: Southeastern US.

Diet in the wild: Insects, seeds, berries.

Feeder type preference:

• Large Hopper
• Platform feeder
• Suet Cage
• Small Hopper

Feeder food preferences:

• Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
• Hulled Sunflower Seeds
• Safflower
• Peanuts
• Crushed peanuts
• Mealworms
• Suet

Endangered: No. 

The Downy Woodpecker is the smallest and most recognizable of the North American woodpeckers in the Picidae family. It is native to North America, spanning a huge range from the East to West Coast, as far north as Alaska and into the southern US. It avoids the southwestern US as the climate is too arid and does generally not migrate much in winter Except in the very northern parts.          

Identification & Confusion with the Hairy Woodpecker

The Downy Woodpecker is a small woodpecker, weighing around 30g (1 1/16 oz), with a length of 6-7 inches. Downy Woodpeckers have distinctive plumage, with crisp black-and-white markings. They have a black back with a white stripe up the middle, white belly and white outer tail feathers barred. Males have a distinctive red spot at the rear of the crown, while the female’s crown is only black. They have a short, stubby bill they use to excavate wood.

The Downy Woodpecker is often mistaken for the Hairy Woodpecker, as it has similar black and white markings, with a white stripe on the back. The Hairy woodpecker is bigger, has a much longer bill that is nearly half as along as its head, and only have white outer tail feathers. 

Unique Behaviours of the Downy Woodpecker

While Downy Woodpeckers are not songbirds, they do have a unique way of making noise with their beaks. They will drum their beaks against wood or metal to create the loud drumming sound we are familiar with. A common misconception is that the drumming is related to the Downy Woodpeckers’ feeding habits or excavation, but they actually make very little noise while foraging or excavating. Downy Woodpeckers drum to find mates and to signal to other woodpeckers that this is their territory.  

The Downy Woodpecker will typically stay in the same area after breeding, but will range through different habitats, like suburbs and gardens, looking for food.

Downey woodpeckers participate in some unique behaviours in the winter season. They are the only North American woodpecker that uses the reedbed as a winter habitat. They are also frequently found in mixed-species flocks, alongside chickadees and nuthatches – especially at backyard bird feeders! While Downy Woodpeckers are usually solitary birds, flocking in the winter allows them to spend less time watching for predators, as the flock provides safety in numbers and better opportunities for foraging.

Downy Woodpeckers Nesting and favorite habitats

The Downy Woodpecker can breed in a variety of habitats, including deciduous, mixed deciduous-coniferous forests, suburban woodlands, parks, and areas near rivers. Downy Woodpeckers make their nest in dead trees or branches, which both males and females excavate using their bills, to create a nest hole. They can also nest in man-made objects, such as fenceposts, a nest box mounted on a tree or a pole, or even inside the walls of buildings. 

Downy Woodpeckers will often choose deciduous trees or wood infected with fungus, as this softens the wood and makes excavating easier. The entrance holes are round and 1-1.5 inches across, but widens near the bottom to 6-12 inches to fit the eggs and the incubating bird. Excavating the nest takes 1-3 weeks, and they do not add any material to their nest once excavated.

The nesting season runs from May-July, where they may have 1 brood with 3-8 eggs. Both male and female will incubate the egg for about 12 days and fledglings leave the nest after 18-25 days.

What do Downy Woodpeckers eat

Downy Woodpeckers are foragers, primarily eating insects from the surfaces and crevices of both dead and live trees, including food too small for larger woodpeckers. This includes spiders, ants, caterpillars, beetle larvae that live inside wood, and tree bark. The Downey Woodpecker is a very helpful bird, as it also eats many pests and invasive species, like tent caterpillars, bark beetles, apple borers, and corn earworms. They are also known to eat fruits, seeds, and vegetable matter depending on the seasonal availability.

During winter, the male woodpecker dominates the best foraging spots, like small branches and weed stems, actively keeping females out of these areas. The females are left to forage on tree trunks and larger branches, which are less food dense. A research study demonstrated that when the male Downy Woodpecker is removed, the females move to foraging on the smaller branches.  

If you want to attract the Downy Woodpecker, they prefer pick on suet blocks to mimic their natural feeding behaviour. They also like black oil and hulled sunflower seeds, safflower, peanuts, peanut hearts, chunky peanut butter, and mealworms. You can use a suet cage, or feeders like large or small hopper and platform feeders.

You can also find the woodpecker drinking out of oriole and hummingbird feeders, but at feeders the Downy Woodpecker will give way to its larger family member, and lookalike, the Hairy Woodpecker.

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Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus)

Family: Picidae (Woodpeckers)

Occurrence: Throughout North America, Canada (mostly Western parts) and Mexico.

Natural diet: Insects, nuts and seeds.     

Feeder type preferences:

• Suet Cage
• Large hopper feeder
• Platform feeder

Feeder food preferences:

• Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
• Hulled Sunflower Seeds
• Safflower
• Mealworms
• Crushed peanuts
• Whole peanuts
• Suet

Endangered: No. 

Fifty-seven species of woodpecker, divided into fourteen genera, occur in North America. Most woodpeckers in North America live among the tree trunks of larger forest, although some species, such as the Gila woodpecker, live in the desert and use cacti as breeding grounds.

The Hairy Woodpecker can be found in most places in North America and Canada. The Hairy Woodpecker was first described and illustrated in a hand-colored plate by the British naturalist Mark Catesby in the 1730s.

The Hairy Woodpecker is one of three closely related species of woodpeckers that visit bird feeders most often and they all share the same characteristics and mannerisms. Hairy Woodpeckers resemble the downy woodpecker but are smaller and have a shorter bill.

Unlike the spotted woodpecker, they are more common, shy, and restricted to areas with large trees. They have large fluffy black spots on their shoulders, have a straight posture, hang on tree trunks, and never feed on weed stalks. The Hairy Woodpecker gets its strange name from the thin white feathers than run down its back, lying on top of the black feathers.

How and where to spot the Hairy Woodpecker

This woodpecker is 9- 11 inches (23-28 cm) in length with a wingspan of 15-16 inches (38-41 cm). There are slight differences in this species in the different regions and generally the birds are larger in the north than in the south.

The Hairy Woodpecker can live up to 16 years.

The male bird in the interior west is black and white in color with a black stripe along its face, a long thin bill and distinctive red flash towards the back of its head. The female has the same facial stripes, nearly black wings but no red flash. Woodpeckers of both sexes from the Rockies have broader facial stripes and the male has white spotting on its wings. Birds from the Pacific northwest are brown and black in color like a cup of coffee. Interestingly, the Hairy Woodpecker has very long stiff tail feathers which helps them balance against tree trunks.

The Hairy Woodpecker lives in woodlands comprising of both coniferous and deciduous trees and actual prefers mature woodland areas but may visit densely wooded backyards and parks. You are most likely to hear the loud pecking and drumming of the woodpecker first and then spot it at work on a tree truck or branch foraging for its favorite insect bark beetles.

The Hairy Woodpecker is a noisy bird! Its pecking is low in tone but loud and its drumming even louder! It is often mistaken for a Downy Woodpecker as the two do look similar, the Hairy Woodpecker is larger than the Downy Woodpecker and has a much longer bill. The noises it makes are lower pitched too.

Habitat and mating of the Hairy Woodpecker

The Hairy Woodpecker is monogamous and pairs for life. They love to nest in a cavity they have created in the trunk of a dead tree. They have one brood each year in May, which usually comprises of four eggs. Both the male and female take turns to feed their young with soft insects. Whilst they are incubating the eggs and raising their young, the woodpeckers are remarkably silent.

What does the Hairy Woodpecker eat and how do I attract it

The Hairy Woodpecker has a long chisel-like bill for probing tree bark for larvae and insects. The preferred foods of Hairy Woodpeckers include:

• insects
• larvae
• beetles
• ants
• caterpillars
• berries
• nuts
• seeds

Hairy Woodpeckers can be found in most North American suburban areas, visiting parks, backyard bird feeders and cemeteries with larger trees.

If you want to attract them to your bird feeder, make sure you have suet and sunflower seeds!

Although still common to see and not currently threatened by extinctions, the future of the Hairy Woodpecker may be compromised if more of its natural habitats are being lost to forest clearing and increase in forest fires.

As seen from the graphs below, the Hairy Woodpecker is not threatened in Minnesota. It has been more widely present at bird feeders, but the overall numbers are increasing. The number of simultaneous is an average, but this year most Hairy Woodpeckers visited Minnesota backyards alone, however, it may also often show up in couples.

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Red-Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)

Family: Sittidae

Occurrence: Throughout United States, and southern/mid parts Canada.  

Diet in the wild: Insects in the summer, seeds in the winter.

Feeder type preferences:

• Large tube feeder
• Small tube feeder
• Suet Cage
• Large hopper feeder
• Small hopper feeder
• Platform feeder

Feeder food preferences:

• Suet
• Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
• Hulled Sunflower Seeds
• Mealworms
• Crushed peanuts
• Whole peanuts

Endangered: No. 

The Red-Breasted Nuthatch is a small songbird that is full of energy, very curious and sometimes aggressive towards other birds- particularly in the mating season. The Nuthatches got their name due to their red colored chest and because of the way they fasten nuts into small cracks and peg them open with their bill.

Where does the Red-Breasted Nuthatch come from

The Red-Breasted Nuthatch is mostly observed at bird feeders in the northern parts of the US and least observations have been made in the South. The populations have fluctuated over time, but mostly for the central and southern parts, and may be due to the increased migration of the Red-Breasted Nuthatch towards the south in years of sparse food supply in the north.

The Red-Breasted Nuthatch can be found in the conifer forests that stretch across North America and most of Canada. It is native to the northern parts of the US but can be seen throughout the country, especially in the mountains of the west, the rolling hills of the eastern states, the Appalachians and the immense forests of Alaska.

How and where to spot the Red-Breasted Nuthatch

These birds measure just 11 cm (4.3 inches) in height with a wingspan of 22 cm (8.6 inches) but they have distinctive markings. They have blue/grey wings and a cinnamon-colored underside, with a white face and throat and a black cap. What is distinctive is the black stripe that passes through their eyes and their long-pointed bill which they use for digging food our of wood and carving holes in the tree trunks where they can build their nests. Their tails are relatively short the female birds are not so brightly colored and their eye stripe is brown rather than black. Both sexes have plumage, but females and young have a duller head and a lighter underside.

The Red-Breasted Nuthatch can be confused with a Black-capped Chickadee, but a second glance will show that they have a longer tail, a smaller bill, and are larger than nuthatches. If you watch them for a while, another tell-tale sign is that they don’t climb up and down tree trunks like nuthatches do looking for insects to eat.

The most likely place you will spot them is in a conifer forest as they are fond of spruce and fir trees.  You can spot them in small flocks with chickadees, kinglets and woodpeckers and they can often be seen on tree trunks and branches as they forage for food. The Red-Breasted Nuthatch is monogamous and also remains in its main territory for most of the year, which they guard jealously.

This species is prey to larger birds including hawks, Merlin and spotted owls as well as squirrels and weasels.

The Red-Breasted Nuthatch has a very distinctive call which is a single note repeated several times that has been likened to a tin trumpet!                                                                                          

Habitat and mating of the Red-Breasted Nuthatch

The Red-Breasted Nuthatch loves pine trees and when it comes to nesting time, these birds use their sharp bills to carve out a hollow in the trunk of a pine tree. They build their nest in the hollow by lining it with grass and they then add a layer of feathers for comfort. It is not unusual for the Red-Breasted Nuthatch to steal nesting material from other birds’ nests.

The male also smears pine resin around the entrance to the nest for protection from predators and the female smears pine resin in the nest itself. The birds have just one brood each year, usually in May-July when the female usually lays 5-7 eggs. At this time, the male will be particularly aggressive and chase other birds away from his nest.

The Nuthatches that live in more northern areas often migrate south in September/October if they feel there are not adequate supplies of cone seeds in the forest. If they do stay put and the temperature drops significantly, they will roost communally in a hole in an evergreen tree to try and keep warm. There can be as many as 100 birds in the roost.

What does the Red-Breasted Nuthatch eat and how do I attract it

The nuthatch uses its long sharp bill to probe in bark to find beetle grubs and insect larvae. In the winter months when these foods are scarce, the Nuthatch eats seeds. Nuthatches are a bit shy at backyard bird feeders, but will gladly visit if there is suet, sunflower seeds, or peanuts on the menu. 

Red-Breasted Nuthatches are not considered endangered at all and in the last five years their general numbers throughout the US have been steadily increasing.

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Backyard birds in other states

Are you interested in how the backyard birds in your state compare to other states?

Then check out my other blog posts below:

• Backyard birds of Alabama
• Backyard birds of Colorado
• Backyard birds of Delaware
• Backyard birds of Georgia
• Backyard birds of Hawaii
• Backyard birds of Illinois
• Backyard birds of Iowa
• Backyard birds of Kentucky
• Backyard birds of Louisiana
• Backyard birds of Maryland
• Backyard birds of Massachusetts
• Backyard birds of Missouri
• Backyard birds of Nebraska
• Backyard birds of New York
• Backyard birds of North Carolina
• Backyard birds of Oklahoma
• Backyard birds of Rhode Island
• Backyard birds of South Carolina
• Backyard birds of Tennessee
• Backyard birds of Texas
• Backyard birds of Virginia
• Backyard birds of West Virginia
• Backyard birds of Wisconsin
• Backyard birds of Wyoming

And in Canada:

• Backyard birds of Ontario
• Backyard birds of Prince Edward Island
• Backyard birds of Saskatchewan
• Backyard birds of Quebec
  

Not on the list? Check out the rest of my posts on backyard birds here!

Maybe you would like to know if the Blue Jay or Cardinal dominates in the bird feeder hierarchy or how birds such as seagulls sleep at night? Or why mourning doves poop so much and whether most birds can poop and fly at the same time!

A lightweight handy pair of binoculars is a must for your backyard bird watching! Check out my recent post on the best small lightweight binoculars for birdwatching etc.

My Favorite Backyard Birding Gear:

If you are interested in posters and other wall arts etc. with drawings of all the backyard birds you have just read about, check out my portfolio over at Redbubble:

Acknowledgements

I want to thank the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University and the Birds Canada organization as well as all the citizens who have been involved in the FeederWatch project for providing the data of this article. The data I have used to generate the prevalence numbers for this article is provided by the FeederWatch project. The FeederWatch project is an initiative by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University and the Birds Canada organization. The data is collected through an immense crowdsourced citizen science program, where citizens of the United States and Canada are invited to count birds at their bird feeders, identify the species, and report back to the scientists at Cornell University. The birds are counted from November to April and always in two consecutive days including only one area with a bird feeder, typically a piece of the backyard, observed from one vantage point. The two-day watch is then repeated throughout the season. The data is collected each year and is freely available to the public at https://feederwatch.org/.

References

https://feederwatch.org/

American Museum of Natural History Birds of North America. DK; Revised edition (September 6, 2016). ISBN: 978-1465443991

National Geographic Backyard Guide to the Birds of North America, 2nd Edition. National Geographic; 2nd edition (October 15, 2019)

Birds of North America. National Audubon Society. (Knopf April 6, 2021). ISBN: 978-0525655671

https://celebrateurbanbirds.org/

https://www.birds.cornell.edu/