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592* Species in 24 Hours: Big Day 2018 in California, Honduras, and Colombia

By Hugh Powell
Stilt Sandpiper by Melissa James
Shorebirds like this Stilt Sandpiper were the focus of Big Day 2018. Photo by Melissa James/Macaulay Library.

The first minutes of May 5, 2018, found Team Sapsucker spread out into three squads for a Big Day that spanned North, Central, and South America. The day saw an incredible range of habitats, from dry California desert to misty Honduran pine forest to chilly Colombian highlands—and all three teams finished the day at the beach, rounding up the shorebirds that were the focus of this year’s event. By nighttime, the 17 birders had identified an amazing 592 bird species (including 37 shorebird species) for the Cornell Lab’s annual fundraiser. (You can still donate to Big Day here.)

The birds ranged from fancifully named tropical specialties like the Flammulated Treehunter to beloved North American birds like Greater Roadrunner and Downy Woodpecker. Team Colombia even picked up one species, the Santa Marta Screech-Owl, that was only formally described to science last October. (Hence the asterisk in this post’s title—it’s officially only 591 species until the next eBird taxonomy update, in August!) Listen to the team’s recording of the owl calling. The combined checklist (see below) is a kaleidoscopic cross-section of the birds of the Americas, including 25 species of hummingbirds, 6 types of trogons, 30 kinds of raptor, and 59 flycatcher species.

But above all, it was the shorebirds that highlighted how migratory pathways stitch together North, Central, and South America. Among the 37 species of shorebirds Team Sapsucker saw, birds like Sanderling, Whimbrel, Least Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, and Short-billed Dowitcher turned up on all three team lists. Thousands of these world travelers are scattered across the Western Hemisphere right now. All of them are on their way to the far North to breed, relying on productive stopover points like coastal wetlands and mangroves along the way. One of the goals of this Big Day is to raise awareness about the urgent need to restore and protect key coastal sites for shorebirds.

Here’s how the day went for each of the teams. Thanks to LOWA Boots LLC for sponsoring Team Sapsucker.

California: Phainopeplas to Alabatrosses

Phainopepla bird by Brian Sullivan
Phainopepla was one of the dry-country birds that Team California saw just after sunrise. Photo by Brian Sullivan/Macaulay Library.

Team California, led by Brian Sullivan, amassed 203 species without ever leaving Monterey County. The team started in total darkness, picking up eight owl species before dawn. Then it was a sprint out to dry California valleys by dawn to pick up birds like Phainopepla, Rock Wren, and Lesser Nighthawk before the birds went quiet in the heat. The team, including Sullivan, Steve Kelling of the Cornell Lab, plus Grant Van Horn of Cal Tech and local birder Cooper Scollan, worked their way westward toward the Pacific, picking up California specialties like Hooded Oriole and Lawrence’s Goldfinch along the way.

Most of Team California: Brian Sullivan, Cooper Scollan, Steve Kelling. Photo by Grant Van Horn.
Most of Team California: Brian Sullivan, Cooper Scollan, Steve Kelling. Photo by Grant Van Horn.

The day’s main challenge was the tides, according to Sullivan. At the shorebird mecca of Elkhorn Slough, high tides meant there were few mudflats within scope range to scan, making shorebird identifications a challenge. The day ended with a seawatch on a beach swarming with 500 breeding-plumaged Sanderlings. A Black-footed Albatross and tens of thousands of Sooty Shearwaters slanted across the sun as it sank into the Pacific.

“It’s so amazing to think about those Sanderlings departing in a couple of days to go breed in the Canadian Arctic,” Sullivan said, “Meanwhile those Sooty Shearwaters have just arrived from islands in the South Pacific. Birds use our planet in such a different way than we do.”

Honduras: A Long-tailed Manakin Show and a New Big Day Record

Team Honduras, led by Chris Wood, started in the dark with a Buff-collared Nightjar and then saw the dawn break in cool, high-elevation pine-oak forest near the capital, Tegucigalpa. The site was called Las Moras, named for copious wild blackberries that the team ate as they birded, Wood said. Migrant songbirds were still on the move, including birds like Canada Warbler, Philadelphia Vireo, and Olive-sided Flycatcher. A soft, descending whistle turned out to be a rare Ocellated Quail, one of the team’s hoped-for species—and, as an often hunted bird, an indication that the land’s protected status was working.

Along a boulder-strewn creekbed, the team heard a whistled to-le-do, turned a corner, and happened on the display of an adult male and an immature male Long-tailed Manakin—adult males are stunning black birds with scarlet caps, brilliant blue backs, and long streamer tails.

Team Honduras: John Van Dort, Roselvy Juarez, Jessie Barry, Norman Espinoza, Kathi Borgmann, Chris Wood. Selfie by Chris Wood.
Team Honduras: John Van Dort, Roselvy Juarez, Jessie Barry, Norman Espinoza, Kathi Borgmann, Chris Wood. Selfie by Chris Wood.

By mid-morning it was time for the six team members—Wood, Jessie Barry, and Kathi Borgmann of the Cornell Lab, along with ace local birders John van Dort, Roselvy Juarez, and Norman Espinoza—to cram into their vehicle and head south toward the Gulf of Fonseca. Along the way they picked up raptors like Gray, Zone-tailed, and Broad-winged Hawks by craning their heads to scan the sky out their windows. Fueled solely by comida chatarra (junk food)—the team took no meal breaks—they arrived at a shorebird hotspot called Punta Raton known for hosting thousands of shorebirds during migration. The hot wind howled off the sand dunes and shook their scopes, making viewing difficult but also, with any luck, keeping down the sandflies (infamous for carrying the tropical disease leishmaniasis). As night fell and a downpour threatened, the team heard a Pacific Screech-Owl. They made it to their hotel mostly dry, where a Barn Owl was the last bird for the day. Their result: an amazing 244 species and a new record for a Honduras Big Day.

Throughout the days leading up to the event, the team had run into other Honduran birders—many of whom were using eBird to record birds and Merlin Bird ID as a way to narrow down IDs and learn about their country’s incredible avian riches. “To be in the role where the Lab is providing these resources and enabling new communities to get into birds, it’s what I enjoyed more than anything,” Barry said.

Santa Marta Warbler by Drew Weber.
Santa Marta Warbler was one of nearly 20 endemic species found by Team Colombia on their Big Day. Photo by Drew Weber.

Colombia: Birding Through Nine Thousand Vertical Feet

With some 1,900 species on offer and a burgeoning enthusiasm for birding sweeping the country, Colombia was a natural choice for Team Sapsucker’s Big Day. The group, led by Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez of the Lab’s Conservation Science program, chose the Santa Marta region in the extreme north of the country. For many migrant songbirds and shorebirds, it’s the last jumping-off point before the long flight across the Caribbean. Birds like Gray-cheeked Thrushes and Red-eyed Vireos—insect-eaters in North America—spend days gorging on berries before they leave.

The high, isolated Santa Marta mountains are home to two dozen endemic species, so Team Sapsucker started as high as they could go on the region’s narrow, rocky dirt roads. At 9,000 feet elevation, they fought the chill and searched out birds so unique that the place has become part of their name: Santa Marta Warbler, Woodstar, Antpitta, Bush-Tyrant, Antbird, Foliage-Gleaner, and others.

Most of Team Colombia: Tim Lenz, Lina Sanchez, Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, Marshall Iliff, Drew Weber, Andres Cuervo. Photo by Nick Bayly.
Most of Team Colombia: Tim Lenz, Lina Sanchez, Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez, Marshall Iliff, Drew Weber, Andrés Cuervo. Photo by Nick Bayly.

For this stretch, the team’s seven members—Ruiz-Gutierrez, Marshall Iliff, Tim Lenz, and Drew Weber of the Cornell Lab, along with Andrés Cuervo and Lina Sanchez of Colombia’s Humboldt Biodiversity Research Institute, and Nick Bayly of SELVA Association of Colombia—traveled in two four-wheel-drive trucks operated by expert drivers. As the team passed through the hyper-diverse middle elevations, an hourlong downpour set in and shut down their birding. They had to make it to the coast by sundown, so they had no choice but to keep moving.

Sparkling Violetear by Drew Weber.
Sparkling Violetear by Drew Weber.

Finally they made it to the tropical heat of Ciénaga, which is better known as a beach town than a birding hotspot—but it still offered up Tropical Mockingbird and American Kestrel. On the other side of town, they found a flock in the mangroves, and things started picking up.

“We were all hot, sticky, and miserable, but running around as fast as we could, knowing we were way behind schedule, and then a Peregrine flies over and everyone screams, but then someone’s got to run back and see the Peregrine,” Iliff recalled. “It was a good kind of craziness.” (View the team’s checklist from this spot.)

After leaving the mangroves, the team headed straight to an extensive marsh bordering the Salamanca National Park, which they’d scouted earlier in the week. As the sun dipped and they strategized where to find the best light, thousands of Fulvous Whistling-Ducks, Tricolored Herons, Snowy and Great Egrets came slowly streaming in to roost.  (View the team’s checklist from this spot.) A Red-breasted Meadowlark poked its head above the grasses, and a large tern flock produced Large-billed, Yellow-billed,  Gull-billed, and Black Terns. Among the last birds were two rarities: Stilt Sandpiper and Long-billed Dowitcher (one of very few South American records).

By the end of the day, the team’s list stood at 279, spanning everything from the humble Rock Pigeon to the newly described Santa Marta Screech-Owl. It also highlighted the incredible elevational diversity of tropical South America. The team’s morning checklist, from 9,000 feet, had zero species overlap with their sea-level evening checklist. (There’s still time to donate to the team.)

Global Big Day 2018

Global Big Day Breaks Last Year’s Record

While Team Sapsucker was scouring their patches for nearly 600 species, some 28,000 Global Big Day birders across the world were hard at work on a much loftier list. After all was said and done, the world’s birding community had banded together to report more than 6,800 species—surpassing the record set in 2017 both in terms of species and number of participants. The species total represents almost 7 out of every 10 species in the entire world, found and reported in a single day.

In addition to Team Sapsucker’s Colombia effort, the country mounted an all-out blitz for Global Big Day. The country is proud of its status as the highest bird diversity of any nation on Earth, and on this day some 4,000 Colombian birders fanned out over 730 routes to tally as many of their country’s species as possible. In the end, they found 1,545 species, edging out rival Peru by some 50 species for the #1 spot in the world—and hitting #3 in the world in terms of number of checklists filed.

The record-breaking turnout for Global Big Day really highlights the ideals that eBird was first founded on, Wood says. “If you get a bunch of people all around the world going out birding, we can really find most of the species of birds and then really start to understand them. And along the way, it’s a great way to expose people to birds, and start what for many people will become a lifelong passion.”

Full Species List

TINAMOUS

Gray Tinamou

SCREAMERS

Northern Screamer

WATERFOWL

White-faced Whistling-Duck
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
Canada Goose
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Mallard
White-cheeked Pintail
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Surf Scoter
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck

CHACHALACAS, GUANS, AND CURASSOWS

Plain Chachalaca
Chestnut-winged Chachalaca
Band-tailed Guan
Sickle-winged Guan

GROUSE, QUAIL, AND ALLIES

Mountain Quail
Buffy-crowned Wood-Partridge
Crested Bobwhite
California Quail
Ocellated Quail
Black-fronted Wood-Quail

LOONS AND GREBES

Red-throated Loon
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Clark’s Grebe

ALBATROSSES, PETRELS, SHEARWATERS, AND DIVING-PETRELS

Black-footed Albatross
Pink-footed Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater

STORKS

Wood Stork

FRIGATEBIRDS, BOOBIES, AND GANNETS

Magnificent Frigatebird
Blue-footed Booby

CORMORANTS AND ANHINGAS

Brandt’s Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant

PELICANS

Brown Pelican

HERONS, IBIS, AND ALLIES

American Bittern
Least Bittern
Bare-throated Tiger-Heron
Great Blue Heron
Cocoi Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Striated Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Bare-faced Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill

VULTURES, HAWKS, AND ALLIES

Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture
King Vulture
Osprey
Pearl Kite
White-tailed Kite
Swallow-tailed Kite
Golden Eagle
Snail Kite
Plumbeous Kite
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Common Black Hawk
Savanna Hawk
Roadside Hawk
Harris’s Hawk
White-rumped Hawk
Gray Hawk
Gray-lined Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk

RAILS, GALLINULES, AND ALLIES

Ruddy Crake
White-throated Crake
Mangrove Rail
Sora
Purple Gallinule
Common Gallinule
American Coot

LIMPKIN

Limpkin

SHOREBIRDS

Double-striped Thick-knee
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
American Oystercatcher
Black Oystercatcher
Black-bellied Plover
Southern Lapwing
Collared Plover
Snowy Plover
Wilson’s Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Northern Jacana
Wattled Jacana
Whimbrel
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Black Turnstone
Surfbird
Stilt Sandpiper
Sanderling
Dunlin
Least Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson’s Snipe
Wilson’s Phalarope
Red-necked Phalarope
Spotted Sandpiper
Wandering Tattler
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs

SKUAS AND JAEGERS

Parasitic Jaeger

ALCIDS

Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot

GULLS, TERNS, AND SKIMMERS

Bonaparte’s Gull
Laughing Gull
Franklin’s Gull
Heermann’s Gull
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Western Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Iceland Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Least Tern
Yellow-billed Tern
Large-billed Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Common Tern
Forster’s Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Elegant Tern
Black Skimmer

PIGEONS AND DOVES

Rock Pigeon
Pale-vented Pigeon
Scaled Pigeon
Bare-eyed Pigeon
Red-billed Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Ruddy Ground-Dove
Scaled Dove
White-tipped Dove
Lined Quail-Dove
White-winged Dove
Eared Dove
Mourning Dove

CUCKOOS

Greater Ani
Smooth-billed Ani
Groove-billed Ani
Striped Cuckoo
Lesser Ground-Cuckoo
Greater Roadrunner
Squirrel Cuckoo

OWLS

Barn Owl
Western Screech-Owl
Pacific Screech-Owl
Whiskered Screech-Owl
Santa Marta Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Northern Pygmy-Owl
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Burrowing Owl
Mottled Owl
Black-and-white Owl
Spotted Owl
Long-eared Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl

NIGHTJARS

Lesser Nighthawk
Band-winged Nightjar
Common Pauraque
White-tailed Nightjar
Common Poorwill
Rufous Nightjar
Buff-collared Nightjar
Mexican Whip-poor-will

SWIFTS

Chestnut-collared Swift
White-collared Swift
Vaux’s Swift
Short-tailed Swift
Gray-rumped Swift
White-throated Swift
Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift
Great Swallow-tailed Swift

HUMMINGBIRDS

White-necked Jacobin
Brown Violetear
Lesser Violetear
Sparkling Violetear
Green-breasted Mango
Tyrian Metaltail
White-tailed Starfrontlet
Plain-capped Starthroat
Santa Marta Woodstar
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Anna’s Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Allen’s Hummingbird
Red-billed Emerald
Coppery Emerald
White-vented Plumeleteer
Crowned Woodnymph
Azure-crowned Hummingbird
Blue-tailed Hummingbird
Steely-vented Hummingbird
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Cinnamon Hummingbird
Sapphire-throated Hummingbird
Blue-throated Goldentail
White-eared Hummingbird

TROGONS AND QUETZALS

White-tipped Quetzal
Black-headed Trogon
Gartered Trogon
Elegant Trogon
Mountain Trogon
Masked Trogon

MOTMOTS

Lesson’s Motmot
Whooping Motmot
Turquoise-browed Motmot

KINGFISHERS

Ringed Kingfisher
Belted Kingfisher
Amazon Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher

PUFFBIRDS AND JACAMARS

Russet-throated Puffbird
Rufous-tailed Jacamar

BARBETS AND TOUCANS

Southern Emerald-Toucanet
Groove-billed Toucanet
Collared Aracari
Keel-billed Toucan

WOODPECKERS

Acorn Woodpecker
Red-crowned Woodpecker
Hoffmann’s Woodpecker
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Nuttall’s Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Smoky-brown Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Golden-olive Woodpecker
Spot-breasted Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Lineated Woodpecker

FALCONS AND CARACARAS

Crested Caracara
Yellow-headed Caracara
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon

PARROTS, PARAKEETS, AND ALLIES

Orange-chinned Parakeet
Red-billed Parrot
Blue-headed Parrot
White-fronted Parrot
Orange-winged Parrot
Scaly-naped Parrot
Orange-fronted Parakeet
Brown-throated Parakeet
Scarlet-fronted Parakeet

ANTBIRDS

Black-crested Antshrike
Barred Antshrike
Black-backed Antshrike
Santa Marta Antbird

GNATEATERS AND ANTPITTAS

Santa Marta Antpitta
Rufous Antpitta
Rusty-breasted Antpitta

TAPACULOS

Santa Marta Tapaculo
Brown-rumped Tapaculo

LEAFTOSSERS AND MINERS

Strong-billed Woodcreeper
Cocoa Woodcreeper
Ivory-billed Woodcreeper
Straight-billed Woodcreeper
Montane Woodcreeper
Pale-legged Hornero
Montane Foliage-gleaner
Santa Marta Foliage-gleaner
Flammulated Treehunter
Streak-capped Spinetail
Yellow-chinned Spinetail
Pale-breasted Spinetail
Rusty-headed Spinetail

TYRANT FLYCATCHERS: ELAENIAS, TYRANNULETS, AND ALLIES

Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet
White-throated Tyrannulet
Greenish Elaenia
Yellow-bellied Elaenia
Mountain Elaenia
Olive-striped Flycatcher
Ochre-bellied Flycatcher
Sooty-headed Tyrannulet
Black-capped Tyrannulet
Paltry Tyrannulet
Golden-faced Tyrannulet
Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant
Northern Bentbill
Black-throated Tody-Tyrant
Common Tody-Flycatcher
Yellow-olive Flycatcher
Yellow-breasted Flycatcher
Cinnamon Flycatcher
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Greater Pewee
Western Wood-Pewee
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Tropical Pewee
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Acadian Flycatcher
Alder Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
White-throated Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Hammond’s Flycatcher
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Yellowish Flycatcher
Buff-breasted Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Say’s Phoebe
Streak-throated Bush-Tyrant
Santa Marta Bush-Tyrant
Pied Water-Tyrant
Yellow-bellied Chat-Tyrant
Bright-rumped Attila
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Nutting’s Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Lesser Kiskadee
Great Kiskadee
Boat-billed Flycatcher
Social Flycatcher
Golden-crowned Flycatcher
Streaked Flycatcher
Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
Piratic Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Cassin’s Kingbird
Western Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

COTINGAS

Golden-breasted Fruiteater

MANAKINS

Lance-tailed Manakin
Long-tailed Manakin
White-bearded Manakin

BECARDS, TITYRAS, AND ALLIES

Black-crowned Tityra
Masked Tityra
Cinnamon Becard
Rose-throated Becard

SHRIKES

Loggerhead Shrike

SHRIKE-BABBLERS AND ERPORNIS

Rufous-browed Peppershrike
Scrub Greenlet
Lesser Greenlet
Golden-fronted Greenlet
Mangrove Vireo
Hutton’s Vireo
Cassin’s Vireo
Plumbeous Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Brown-capped Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Yellow-green Vireo

JAYS, MAGPIES, CROWS, AND RAVENS

White-throated Magpie-Jay
Black-chested Jay
Bushy-crested Jay
Steller’s Jay
California Scrub-Jay
Yellow-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven

LARKS

Horned Lark

MARTINS AND SWALLOWS

Blue-and-white Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Southern Rough-winged Swallow
Purple Martin
Gray-breasted Martin
Brown-chested Martin
Tree Swallow
White-winged Swallow
Mangrove Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow

TITS, CHICKADEES, AND TITMICE

Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Oak Titmouse

PENDULINE-TITS AND LONG-TAILED TITS

Bushtit

NUTHATCHES

White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch

TREECREEPERS

Brown Creeper

WRENS

Rock Wren
House Wren
Rufous-browed Wren
Pacific Wren
Sedge Wren
Marsh Wren
Bewick’s Wren
Band-backed Wren
Rufous-naped Wren
Stripe-backed Wren
Bicolored Wren
Rufous-breasted Wren
Banded Wren
Rufous-and-white Wren
Cabanis’s Wren
Gray-breasted Wood-Wren
Hermit Wood-Wren

GNATCATCHERS

Long-billed Gnatwren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
White-lored Gnatcatcher
Tropical Gnatcatcher

KINGLETS

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

PARROTBILLS, WRENTIT, AND ALLIES

Wrentit

THRUSHES

Eastern Bluebird
Western Bluebird
Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush
Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush
Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Swainson’s Thrush
Mountain Thrush
Pale-eyed Thrush
Yellow-legged Thrush
Pale-breasted Thrush
Clay-colored Thrush
Black-hooded Thrush
Great Thrush
White-necked Thrush
Rufous-collared Robin
American Robin

CATBIRDS, MOCKINGBIRDS, AND THRASHERS

Blue-and-white Mockingbird
California Thrasher
Tropical Mockingbird
Northern Mockingbird

STARLINGS AND MYNAS

European Starling

WAXWINGS

Cedar Waxwing

SILKY-FLYCATCHERS

Phainopepla

OLIVE WARBLER

Olive Warbler

WOOD-WARBLERS

Northern Waterthrush
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Gray-crowned Yellowthroat
MacGillivray’s Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Tropical Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Grace’s Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Townsend’s Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Fan-tailed Warbler
Rufous-capped Warbler
Santa Marta Warbler
White-lored Warbler
Canada Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Painted Redstart
Slate-throated Redstart
Yellow-crowned Redstart

TANAGERS AND ALLIES

White-lined Tanager
Crimson-backed Tanager
Black-cheeked Mountain-Tanager
Blue-gray Tanager
Yellow-winged Tanager
Palm Tanager
Blue-capped Tanager
Black-headed Tanager
Black-capped Tanager
Bay-headed Tanager
Swallow Tanager
Blue Dacnis
Purple Honeycreeper
Red-legged Honeycreeper
Bicolored Conebill
White-sided Flowerpiercer
Plushcap
Blue-black Grassquit
Ruddy-breasted Seedeater
Thick-billed Seed-Finch
White-collared Seedeater
Yellow-bellied Seedeater
Bananaquit
Yellow-faced Grassquit
Dull-colored Grassquit
Buff-throated Saltator
Black-headed Saltator
Grayish Saltator
Streaked Saltator

NEW WORLD SPARROWS

Common Chlorospingus
Stripe-headed Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Sierra Nevada Brushfinch
Golden-winged Sparrow
Chestnut-capped Brushfinch
Dark-eyed Junco
Rufous-collared Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Bell’s Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln’s Sparrow
California Towhee
White-faced Ground-Sparrow
Rusty Sparrow
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Spotted Towhee
White-naped Brushfinch
Santa Marta Brushfinch

YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT

Yellow-breasted Chat

CARDINALS, GROSBEAKS, AND ALLIES

Hepatic Tanager
Western Tanager
Flame-colored Tanager
Red-throated Ant-Tanager
Golden Grosbeak
Black-headed Grosbeak
Blue Bunting
Blue Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting

BLACKBIRDS

Yellow-headed Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Eastern Meadowlark
Red-breasted Meadowlark
Crested Oropendola
Black-vented Oriole
Hooded Oriole
Yellow-backed Oriole
Orange-crowned Oriole
Streak-backed Oriole
Bullock’s Oriole
Yellow Oriole
Spot-breasted Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Tricolored Blackbird
Shiny Cowbird
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Melodious Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Carib Grackle
Yellow-hooded Blackbird

FINCHES, EUPHONIAS, AND ALLIES

Blue-naped Chlorophonia
Scrub Euphonia
Thick-billed Euphonia
House Finch
Purple Finch
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
Black-headed Siskin
Lesser Goldfinch
Lawrence’s Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
Andean Siskin

 OLD WORLD SPARROWS

House Sparrow
The Cornell Lab

All About Birds
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American Kestrel by Blair Dudeck / Macaulay Library