We live in the ever-expanding suburbs, with almost non-stop traffic and a fast food joint on every other corner, but we also live amid wild creatures that visit our yards more often than we may know. This Meet the Neighbors series is designed to help you recognize the animals that share our spaces and learn more about them.
Scores of different bird species call the San Francisco Bay Area home, even if for just a few months a year. Where you live — on the edge of the bay or in the foothills — helps determine what birds you see, of course, but here are the 10 you’re most likely to find hanging around your neighborhood.
Hummingbirds
Because of our comparatively mild summers and winters, several types of hummingbirds can be seen flitting around feeders and blooming plants at various times. The most common, Anna’s hummingbird, is a year-round resident while the others — Costa’s, Calliope, Allen’s, rufous and black-chinned hummers — live here part of the year.
They drink nectar from a variety of blooms and from backyard feeders, but they also eat lots of small insects and spiders.
The birds and the bees
It’s the female who chooses the place for the nest, and then builds it herself. The male hummer has nothing to do with the nest or the raising of the young, and the female prefers he keeps his distance — his bright coloring could lead predators to her eggs and babies.
Nests are placed in hidden, secluded and sometimes unusual places. They are small and cup shaped, just large enough to hold two eggs. Because the bird uses spider webs to hold materials in place, the nest expands when the eggs hatch and the babies grow.
Hummingbirds have two to three clutches a season.
Mourning doves
Mourning doves are typically seen in pairs, but you also can find them in large numbers. They mate for life, although like all monogamous animals, if something happens to one, the other will look for a new mate.
Their diet is almost exclusively seeds, which they peck off the ground. When startled, they make an odd thrumming sound, which is caused by air moving through their wings. If you listen, you’ll probably hear them cooing. Their call has a mournful tone, hence their name.
The birds and the bees
Mourning doves are considered game birds, and thousands are hunted and killed each year. Perhaps because of that, the doves are prolific. Although they typically lay two eggs at a time, they can have up to eight broods a season.
Both mom and dad build the nest, which typically is incredibly flimsy, sometimes consisting of just a few loosely arranged sticks. While they have a reputation as lousy nest builders, they are extremely good parents.
The male and female both take turns sitting on the nest, with the male usually taking the day shift and the female the night. When the eggs hatch, both parents take care of the squabs.
You’ll find mourning dove nests just about everywhere.
Finches
Most of the small twittering birds you see around your yard are a variety of finch, a house finch, perhaps, or purple finches and luxuriously colored gold finches.
Finches eat seeds, buds and fruits, and their coloring can change depending on what they’ve been eating. If you hang bird feeders with seed, you’ll like find a variety of finches visiting.
The birds and the bees
A house finch nest is cup shaped, 1 to 3 inches across and up to 2 inches deep. It’s made from leaves, roots, thin twigs, fine stems, strings, wood and feathers. The average clutch is two to six eggs, and the finches can nest up to six times a season.
If you find a nest in your front door wreath, it’s likely the work of a finch. They also like potted plants and the tops of windows and roof eaves, as well as trees and bushes.
American robins
Although many people associate the American robin with spring, the birds are year-round Bay Area. During the winter months, most of them retreat to forested areas where they can feast on berries.
In the warmer months, you’ll typically find robins in your yard after a rain or after you’re watered your lawn. They’re looking for worms. Experts believe their keen hearing helps them locate the worm actually moving underground.
Robins are immediately identifiable by their dark top coats and their red (males) or orange (females) breasts.
The birds and the bees
The female chooses the spot for the nest, and it’s usually found on horizontal branches, hidden from view by overhanging limbs and leaves. She builds the nest by pressing dried grass and twigs into a cup shape, then lining it with mud and worm castings to strengthen it. The nest is then usually lined with grass.
The average clutch size is 3 to 5 eggs, and a robin can produce up to three broods a season.
Cedar waxwings
You’ll most likely hear the high-pitched call of a cedar waxwing before you see it, but you’ll definitely want to see it. Its appearance has been described as a “silky, shiny collection of brown, gray and lemon-yellow, accented with a subdued crest, rakish black mask and brilliant-red wax droplets on the wing feathers.” It’s a handsome bird.
Waxwings are around all year, but they make themselves known in the fall, when hundreds will flock to berry-bearing trees and bushes. In the summer, they mostly can be found over waterways, chasing insects and showing off their superb flying skills.
The birds and the bees
The female does most of the nest building, although the male may build another nest for a second brood. She takes stringy materials and weaves them into a bulky nest, which is then lined with soft grasses. Clutch size ranges from 2 to 6 eggs, and up to two broods.
The nest is typically built in the fork of a tree, as low as 3 feet from the ground and as high as 50. Waxwings use many types of trees, but maples, pines, cedars, apple and pear trees and hawthorns are popular picks for them.
If you want the waxwings to feel at home in your yard, plant native trees and bushes that bear smaller fruit.
Read about five more common birds in Part II. And meet the most annoying neighbors.
