The Bay Area may be a sea of ever-expanding suburbs and traffic-clogged streets, but we’re surrounded by wild creatures that visit our yards and parks more than you think. This series aims to help you recognize the animals that share our spaces and learn more about them — starting with this two-parter about the 10 most common Bay Area birds.
You can find many species of birds around your yard, depending on where you live, what trees and plants you have, and how bird-friendly the neighborhood is. Here are five of the most commonly seen birds around the Bay Area.
Nuttall’s woodpeckers
The Bay Area is home to several species of woodpeckers, but if you hear one rapping on a tree or, unfortunately, the side of your house, it’s probably the Nuttall’s.
These birds prefer stands of oaks, and we have a lot of those. They do not, however, eat acorns. They prefer insects that are known to live in oaks, willows and cottonwoods — beetles, larvae, ants, termites and millipedes. They sometimes eat fruit, including the berries of poison oak as well as blackberries and elderberries.
The birds and the bees
The male is in charge of creating the nest, chipping away at a tree limb or trunk to dig out a cavity. Wood chips line the bottom of the nest hole, and the monogamous pair raise only one clutch a year with three to six eggs.
California towhees
Do you hear a bird tap, tap, tapping on your window? Chances are good it’s a California towhee. The matte brown birds are known for constantly attacking their reflections, which they see as interlopers, in windows and car side mirrors. They will tap off and on all day, day after day, until something changes to eliminate the reflection.
The California towhee is considered a larger, beefier sparrow, with a preference for chaparral and scrub bushes. They eat a variety of foods, including grass and herb seeds, beetles, grasshoppers, spiders and snails. They also like berries.
The birds and the bees
Towhees often build their nests in stands of poison oak, which gives them a ready supply of berries. Compared to other birds, the towhee nest is built lower — 3 to 12 feet above the ground. The male watches while the female works her magic, weaving a cup of twigs, grasses, dried flowers and bits of plastic ribbon and other trash. The nest is lined with animal hair, strips of bark and downy seeds. It’s about 8 inches across and just 1 to 2 inches deep.
Clutch size is 3 to 5 eggs, and the mated pair can have up to three broods a season.
Crows and ravens
Those large black birds sitting on your fence or flocking in your trees are probably crows, although the Bay Area is home to a smaller population of ravens.
Ravens are larger than crows and have a thicker beak. They’re usually seen in pairs, while crows travel in crowds. The call of the crow is a loud caw, while the raven’s call is more of a croak.
You won’t find either of these birds at your backyard feeders, but they do like peanuts and will grab them from a dish. Crows tend to stick to seeds, fruits, insects and some sea creatures. Ravens eat those things along with carrion.
Both crows and ravens raid the nests of other birds, which doesn’t make them popular with some bird-lovers.
The birds and the bees
Male and female crows both work on building the nest, while the female does most of the work for the raven family. Crows lay 3 to 9 eggs, and can have up to two broods a season. Ravens have only one brood a year, consisting of 3 to 7 eggs.
California scrub-jays
The scrub-jay is one of the more common visitors to Bay Area yards, although they often are mistakenly called bluebirds. That fits as a descriptor — they are birds and they are blue — but they are all scrub-jay.
The scrub-jay, along with crows, are considered bully birds, dominating yards and feeders, and sometimes raiding nests to steal eggs or kill young birds.
The birds and the bees
Both the male and the female look for nesting sites before settling on one. They locate the nest 6 to 14 feet up in an oak tree, laurel, bay and sometimes in poison oak. It will be well hidden.
The finished nest is about 6 inches across and is made of twigs and lined with plant fibers, animal hair and rootlets. The female lays one to five eggs, and although she might have two broods, one is more typical.
Northern mockingbirds
If you like snippets of music — and car alarms, strange calls and weird sounds — you’ll love the Northern mockingbird.
What this bird lacks in coloring, it makes up for in sound. The male mockers use various calls and songs to attract mates and warn off territorial rivals. The more songs the bird knows, the more attractive he is to a mate.
Unfortunately, males having trouble finding love will often sing through the night or start at the crack of dawn, which can make him a noisy neighbor. But you have to admire his versatility and persistence. Could you perform such a serenade?
Mockingbirds are not known to visit backyard feeders, but they do like fruits and berries on landscape shrubs. They also eat a lot of insects and the occasional lizard or two.
The birds and the bees
The male picks out several nesting sites and begins building nests in each one. Before any are finished, the female picks the one she likes, finishes it off and lays two to six eggs. The pair can have up to three broods a season. The female often will pick one of the other nests to start a second family, leaving the male to take care of the first brood.
Discover five common backyard birds in Part I. And meet the most annoying neighbors.
