Identification This beautiful golden brown bird with a pointed crest and black mask is named for its red-colored wing tips and yellow-tipped tail, as if it had been dipped in colored wax. Common to Minnesota, this social bird travels in groups in search of berries. You’ll likely hear them (if you can hear high pitches) before seeing them—their voice…

  Identification The Black and White Warbler can be easier to identify than its more flitting warbler counterparts, as they tend to move headfirst down tree trunks, branches, or occasionally the side of buildings, in search of insect eggs. Their striking black and white streaked pattern is also a distinctive identifier. Males may also have a black chin (breeding) and…

Identification This warbler wears a striking orange and black color combination (male) with a contrasting white underside. Females are muted gray on their heads, backs and wings, with olive-brown and yellow patches on their wings and undersides of their wings. Look for these active birds to be flying acrobatically high up in the treetops, especially in trees with budding leaves.…

  Identification Distinct for its musically rich and bubbling song, the House Wren is a common and delightful bird to host in your backyard. A small bird, the House Wren comes in at just under 5″ long and is brown from beak to tail with slight markings on the tail and wings. It has a slightly curved beak and a…

  Habits During the breeding season, male White-throated Sparrows merrily sing all day long from brushy woods and lightly wooded thickets. Identification Delicate pink legs, a splash of bright yellow around the bill and a grayish beak, set the White-throated Sparrow apart from other sparrows. The yellow is more understated in the fall, but in the spring it’s a brilliant…

  Identification Common to Minnesota, the precocious White-breasted Nuthatch is a natural entertainer, darting quickly and accurately on and off feeders, and hanging headfirst while it feeds. Perhaps mistaken for a woodpecker by their tree-climbing habits, they are smaller and lack the brace of a woodpecker’s tail. Its black cap may be mistaken for a chickadee, but beady black eyes…

The tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbird easily captures the hearts of backyard birders with its bold, precise movements and bright iridescent colors. Summer visitors, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds complete a migration each spring and fall that seems impossibly far for such tiny creatures. Identification Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are only 3–3.5” long with a 4” wingspan. Both sexes sport a jewel-like green coat with a whitish…

  Identification Simply put, there is absolutely no other bird that looks like the male Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The striking color patterns are distinctive. The female Rose-breasted Grosbeak looks nothing like the male. She is brown with white streaks and a white eye stripe. Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are in the same family as the Northern Cardinal. Notice their similar beak shape. If…

  Habits Like other nuthatches, the Red-breasted Nuthatch moves quickly down trees searching for tasty grubs and insects. In fact, the Red-breasted Nuthatch, a winter-only visitor to Minnesota,  is much more agile than its cousins and often seems to “flit” through the trees. The male and female are vocal, but you need to listen closely to hear their constant chatter.…

  Identification The Red-bellied Woodpecker is a long-billed, heavy-bodied woodpecker, between 9–10″ in length. The head has a red “mohawk” on a cream-colored face. The male’s red cap extends all the way from the forehead at the base of the bill to the back of the neck, while the female only has red on the back of the head. The…

  Identification Most of the raspberry-colored finches we see are male House Finches. However, a few of us may see Purple Finches feeding in nomadic foraging flocks. Look for the lower sides and belly to be “clean” or white (not brown streaked) on the male Purple Finch. The female Purple Finch has a distinctive white eyebrow and white lower cheek…

  Identification These occasional winter visitors look a bit like a House Finch, minus the red and with a dab of yellow added to the wings. Both males and females have just a hint of yellow splashed on the outer edges of their wings (males tend to have a bit more yellow). Watch your flocks of winter finches carefully, they’re…

  Identification  The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest black and white woodpecker in the United States. These birds are nearly the size of a crow with a 30” wingspan. The most obvious feature of the Pileated Woodpecker is its large, red crest. On males the crest is totally red but on females the crest is dark on the forehead and…

Identification This medium-sized (12″) woodpecker is mostly brown with a black necklace and mustache, speckled breast and a bright red spot on the back of its neck. The Northern Flicker is the only brown-backed woodpecker found in Minnesota. Behavior Northern Flickers are the only ground-feeding woodpecker in the United States, but Karen Arrigoni, an Eagan customer, snapped this beautiful photo…

  Identification The brilliant red male Northern Cardinal is a splash of color in winter’s drab landscape. He flies from feeder to ground, to birdbath, and back to the feeder while calling a familiar, “chit, chit, chit.” Of all the non-migrating songbirds, the male cardinal stands out the most, with a stark contrast against a snowy background. In addition to…