Life List – In Order	Life List – Alphabetically
Pied-Billed Grebe Brown Pelican Double-Crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Green Heron Common Egret Snowy Egret Black Crowned Night Heron American Bittern Glossy Ibis Tundra Swan (Whistling Swan) Canada Goose Mallard Black Duck American Widgeon Wood Duck Redhead Lesser Scaup Common Goldeneye Barrow’s Goldeneye Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Common Merganser Red-Breasted Merganser Turkey Vulture Sharp-Shinned Hawk Red-Tailed Hawk Broad-Winged Hawk Bald Eagle Marsh Hawk (Kestrel) Osprey Sparrow Hawk (Harrier) Ruffled Grouse Bobwhite Ring-Necked Pheasant Turkey American Coot Semi-Palmated Plover Killdeer Black-Bellied Plover Willet Greater Yellowlegs Dunlin Semi-Palmated Sandpiper Black-Necked Stilt Great Black-Backed Gull Ring-Billed Gull Bonaparte’s Gull Caspian Tern Rock Dove Mourning Dove Black-Billed Cuckoo Great Horned Owl Common Nighthawk Chimney Swift Ruby-Throated Humming Bird Belted King Fisher Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Red-Bellied Woodpecker Red-Headed Woodpecker Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker Hairy Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Eastern Kingbird Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher Easter Wood Pewee Horned Lark Tree Swallow Rough-Winged Swallow Barn Swallow Cliff Swallow Purple Martin Blue Jay Common Crow Black-Capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-Breasted Nuthatch Red-Breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper House Wren Long-Billed Marsh Wren Mockingbird Catbird Brown Thrasher Robin Wood Thrush Hermit Thrush Swainson’s Thrush Veery Eastern Bluebird Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher Cedar Waxwing Willow Flycatcher Starling White-Eyed Vireo Philadelphia Vireo Black And White Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Magnolia Warbler Yellow Warbler Black-Throated Blue Warbler Myrtle Warbler Black-Throated Green Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Chestnut-Sided Warbler Yellow-Throated Warbler Mourning Warbler Yellowthroat Hooded Warbler Wilson’s Warbler American Redstart House Sparrow Bobolink Meadowlark (Eastern) Redwing Blackbird Orchard Oriole Northern Oriole (Baltimore Oriole) Boat-Tailed Grackle Common Grackle Brown-Headed Cowbird Scarlet Tananger Cardinal Purple Finch House Finch American Goldfinch Rufous-Sided Towhee Slate-Colored Junco Tree Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow White Crowned Sparrow White-Throated Sparrow Song Sparrow Clark’s Nutcracker Western Meadowlark Magpie- Blackbilled Yellow-Headed Blackbird Western Grebe American White Pelican White Ptarmigan Calliope Hummingbird Shoveler Audubon Warbler Cassin’s Kingbird Western Bluebird Lark Bunting Swainson’s Hawk Bullock’s Oriole Northern Pintail Cinnamon Teal Violet-Green Swallow Stellar’s Jay Raven Bendire’s Thrasher Herring Gull Long-Billed Curlew American Avocet Clapper Rail Common Tern Forster’s Tern Marbled Godwit California Gull Common Moorhen Surf Scoter Bushtit Bay-breasted Warbler Connecticut Warbler Palm Warbler Black Skimmer Anhinga Carolina Wren	American Avocet American Bittern American Coot American Goldfinch American Redstart American White Pelican American Widgeon Anhinga Audubon Warbler Bald Eagle Barn Swallow Barrow’s Goldeneye Bay-breasted Warbler Belted King Fisher Bendire’s Thrasher Black And White Warbler Black Crowned Night Heron Black Duck Black Skimmer Black-Bellied Plover Black-Billed Cuckoo Blackburnian Warbler Black-Capped Chickadee Black-Necked Stilt Black-Throated Blue Warbler Black-Throated Green Warbler Blue Jay Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher Boat-Tailed Grackle Bobolink Bobwhite Bonaparte’s Gull Broad-Winged Hawk Brown Creeper Brown Pelican Brown Thrasher Brown-Headed Cowbird Bufflehead Bullock’s Oriole Bushtit California Gull Calliope Hummingbird Canada Goose Cardinal Carolina Wren Caspian Tern Cassin’s Kingbird Catbird Cedar Waxwing Chestnut-Sided Warbler Chimney Swift Chipping Sparrow Cinnamon Teal Clapper Rail Clark’s Nutcracker Cliff Swallow Common Crow Common Egret Common Goldeneye Common Grackle Common Merganser Common Moorhen Common Nighthawk Common Tern Connecticut Warbler Double-Crested Cormorant Downy Woodpecker Dunlin Easter Wood Pewee Eastern Bluebird Eastern Kingbird Eastern Phoebe Field Sparrow Flicker Forster’s Tern Glossy Ibis Great Black-Backed Gull Great Blue Heron Great Crested Flycatcher Great Horned Owl Greater Yellowlegs Green Heron Hairy Woodpecker Hermit Thrush Herring Gull Hooded Merganser Hooded Warbler Horned Lark House Finch House Sparrow House Wren Killdeer Lark Bunting Lesser Scaup Long-Billed Curlew Long-Billed Marsh Wren Magnolia Warbler Magpie- Blackbilled Mallard Marbled Godwit Marsh Hawk (Kestrel) Meadowlark (Eastern) Mockingbird Mourning Dove Mourning Warbler Myrtle Warbler Northern Oriole (Baltimore Oriole) Northern Pintail Orchard Oriole Osprey Palm Warbler Philadelphia Vireo Pied-Billed Grebe Pileated Woodpecker Prothonotary Warbler Purple Finch Purple Martin Raven Red-Bellied Woodpecker Red-Breasted Merganser Red-Breasted Nuthatch Redhead Red-Headed Woodpecker Red-Tailed Hawk Redwing Blackbird Ring-Billed Gull Ring-Necked Pheasant Robin Rock Dove Rough-Winged Swallow Ruby-Throated Humming Bird Ruffled Grouse Rufous-Sided Towhee Scarlet Tananger Semi-Palmated Plover Semi-Palmated Sandpiper Sharp-Shinned Hawk Shoveler Slate-Colored Junco Snowy Egret Song Sparrow Sparrow Hawk (Harrier) Starling Stellar’s Jay Surf Scoter Swainson’s Hawk Swainson’s Thrush Tree Sparrow Tree Swallow Tufted Titmouse Tundra Swan (Whistling Swan) Turkey Turkey Vulture Veery Violet-Green Swallow Western Bluebird Western Grebe Western Meadowlark White Crowned Sparrow White Ptarmigan White-Breasted Nuthatch White-Eyed Vireo White-Throated Sparrow Willet Willow Flycatcher Wilson’s Warbler Wood Duck Wood Thrush Yellow Warbler Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker Yellow-Headed Blackbird Yellowthroat Yellow-Throated Warbler

---

How I got started…I know that people who like to watch birds tend to prefer “birding.” I’m trying to get the hang of that, but I still lean towards using “birdwatching” instead. I’ve been birding for about 10 years now.

A boyfriend got me started; he was from central Pennsylvania and belonged to a family of hunters. They were the kind of people who realized that if they wanted to keep hunting, they had to support nature. Some people think that is contradictory. Personally I have nothing against hunting for those who eat what they shoot. I find that preferable to acquiring our meat the usual way: wrapped in nice clean plastic at the grocery story. Hunting, done properly, is more humane and responsible.

So the boyfriend introduced me to birdwatching, and I liked it. I liked how it was easier to find birds if you understood their behavior and habitat. I liked how they seemed to have personalities, like the little curious and bold yellowthroats, the fat, waddling mourning doves who get surprisingly pushy at a small feeder, and the friendly chickadees who never seem to cause any trouble.

I bought myself some little binoculars, received “Birds of North America” as a gift, and started a life-list that I was eager to expand. The foundation I’d received was a good one, enabling me to build on it after the boyfriend was long gone.

Now I birdwatch mostly closer to home, taking advantage of any trips I have, and sometimes making trips whose primary purpose is to birdwatch. The birds at my balcony are some of my favorites, though, because over time you tend to feel as if you know them.