New York City is truly a spectacular and very popular place – in addition to over 8 million people, about 350 species of birds call our city home throughout the year (1,2). Which of our common native birds is your favorite? Vote here!
Below the poll, you’ll find fun facts about each of the 10 birds included in the poll, plus 5 more! In addition, you’ll get tips on how to identify these birds and similar species, and additional resources to hone your id skills and bird knowledge. Let’s start meeting our birds!
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Before looking at specific bird species, it’s important to review the nomenclature for different parts of a bird. The crown, throat, wing bars, rump and eye ring (color around the eye) are just some features that help bird watchers and scientists decipher between similar looking species. Refer back to this figure to determine which parts of a bird to focus on for proper identification.
1. American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
This medium sized bird (8″ – 11″ in length) is often found on the edges of our park woodlands singing varied songs, or ambling along on lawns and leaf littered under-story searching for worms and other invertebrates. The American Robin has a bright orange red breast, and gray-black head, back, wings and tail. When flying overhead, you can easily see the white on the bird’s lower belly and under the tail.
2. Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
The flash of red that just flew past you in the park was likely a Northern Cardinal. The male members of this medium sized (8″ – 9″ in length) songbird are bright red with a crest on the head, dark orange bill and a black mask of feathers on the face. The female has mostly brown feathers with some red, and also sports a black masked face with an orange bill. The birds hang out in mated pairs during the breeding season, and eat primarily fruits and seeds with some invertebrates thrown in for extra protein. These birds communicate with a loud metallic chirp when announcing their territory.
3. Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
That long song made up of a mix of various other bird songs and human sounds is probably coming from a Northern Mockingbird. Look for this slender, grey, long tailed medium sized (8″ – 10″ in length) bird sitting up high. It will likely be singing non-stop throughout the day, and sometimes into the night. You can easily identify a mockingbird in flight by the white vertical bars on both sides of its long tail and the white patches on its wings. Northern Mockingbirds prefer to feast on insects in the summer and berries and fruit in the fall and winter.
4. Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
This medium-sized bird (9″ – 13″ in length) is the native and more slender relative of the pigeon, with a characteristically long, pointed tail. Mourning doves have a mix of grey, brown and pink plumage, with black spots and lines on their wings. Their call sounds like a sorrowful lament, and their flight produces a low-pitched whistle. These birds are often found feeding on the ground, and their diet consists of 99% seeds.
5. Pigeon or Rock Dove (Columba livia)
Exotic introduced species. This larger relative of the Mourning Dove is one of the best known birds in the world, and is found in cities throughout the world. Drawings of pigeons have been found on Egyptian hieroglyphics and suggest that they have lived among humans for more than 5000 years. They were introduced into North America in the 1600s. This medium sized bird (12″ – 14″ in length) has a plump body, short tail and relatively small head. The plumage of the bird varies considerably depending but frequently includes shades of grey, brown, with black wing bars, wing tips and tail. Pigeons like to live and fly in large flocks and you’ll often see many of them circling overhead. Pigeons are primarily seed eaters, but have also become accustomed to eating human food such as bread, and various discarded scraps.
6. Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
Another common bird sporting bright colors in New York City is the Blue Jay. This large social songbird (10″ to 12″ in length) has plumage that is various shades of blue on the back and wings, a black ring that outlines its head, and a conspicuous blue crest that it sticks up while expressing bouts of emotions with its wide variety of loud, boisterous calls that carry long distances. Blue Jays are great imitators and can mimic the call of a Red-tailed Hawk to confuse and scare competitors. They eat nuts, seeds, insects, and small animals, including baby birds and eggs.
7. American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
This large ( 16″ – 20″ in length) all-black bird is a relative of the Blue Jay. American Crows are gregarious, intelligent animals that can form flocks in the hundreds to thousands. They are great problem solvers and can use objects to create tools that they use to give them access to food and other resources. Crows eat a wide variety of food including nuts, seeds, insects, small birds, carrion and garbage.
8. Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)
These robin sized (11″ – 13″ in length) birds appear all black from afar, but close up the males have iridescent purple heads and bronze-colored bodies. Females have similar coloration, but less iridescence. They have long, wide tails and large bills. These birds are also highly gregarious and can travel and feed in flocks that number in the thousands. In New York City, you’ll often see them travel and roost with European Starlings, and forage among leaf litter in parks. Grackles prefer to eat seeds, and can also eat nuts, acorns, invertebrates, small mammals and garbage. Although they are a common bird in NYC, they are a species of concern; their population numbers have decreased by almost 60% in the last 50 years.
9. European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Exotic introduced species. Those chatty iridescent black birds with short tails and yellow bills you see all over the city are European Starlings. Brought over from Europe in the 1850’s by Shakespeare fans, these medium sized birds (8″ to 9″ in length) have spread throughout the United States and have out-competed many native species, including the Eastern Bluebird. The European Starling is another expert of mimicry and can learn an array of sounds, often interspersing their songs with car alarms, whistles and the calls of up to 20 other species of other birds. Starlings are generalists, but prefer invertebrates, including insects, snails and earthworms. They also eat fruit, seeds, and garbage.
10. House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Exotic introduced species. This chatty, rambunctious, chunky little bird (6″ – 7″ in length) with a short tail is another species associated with humans, and you’ll find this bird along with many others of it’s kind in bushes and low trees throughout the city. It was introduced to Brooklyn, NY in 1851 from Europe, and is now found throughout North American cities. These birds have displaced native birds such as Eastern Bluebirds and Tree Swallows by pushing them out of nest boxes and nesting cavities. They are distant cousins of our native sparrows. House Sparrows are sexually dimorphic. The male displays a prominent black goatee, a chestnut neck and a grey crown. He has a grey breast and brown striped wings. The female has a grey-brown body and wings that are brown with tan and black stripes. House Sparrows prefer seeds and grains, and discarded human food. They also eat various insects during the warmer months, which they feed to their young.
11. White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)
This wide-spread native sparrow is a small, rotund little bird (6″ – 7″ in length) with a long tail compared to its body length and a small bill. Like most sparrows, this one also has mostly brown wings with black lines and a grey body. Its identifying characteristics are the white throat, black stripes on the head, and yellow spot along the eyes. Although some of these sparrows live year round in NYC, many of them migrate here in the winter and move further north to breeding grounds. You can easily spot large groups of them foraging in leaf piles in densely planted parks, jumping back and forth to shift leaves under their feet and access food. These birds primarily eat seeds and fruit, but also love to feast on invertebrates, and the tender buds and blossoms of trees.
12. Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
That large grey-brown bird with the maroon colored tail soaring overhead, circling slowly while scanning the streets below for food is the Red-tailed Hawk. This large bird (17″ – 22″ in length, with ~5′ wingspan) is our city’s most common bird of prey. The species is also the continent’s most widespread hawk, living throughout the contiguous United States and Canada. You might have heard of our world famous Fifth Avenue resident hawk – Pale Male. He made headlines when the large nest he and his mate built on a high ledge of building on Fifth Avenue was dismantled by management and led to protests by concerned residents and local hawk lovers. The hawk and his mate were allowed to return to their prime real estate and continue raising their family there year after year. Red-tailed hawks are thought to control rodent populations and can eat rats, mice and squirrels. They have also been seen ripping apart pigeons, other birds, and lizards.
13. Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)
One of our six resident woodpeckers, the Red-bellied woodpecker is a medium sized bird (~9″ in length) and has the characteristic black and white striped wings that are common to all woodpeckers. Like other woodpeckers, it can also often be spotted moving up and down the trunks of trees. The Red-bellied woodpecker picks at the trunk, instead of the common continuous drilling of other woodpeckers. It also has a distinctive red crown and nape and a long black bill. Woodpeckers eat primarily insects, and this one is no exception. It also eats acorns, nuts, pine nuts, fruits, lizards and sometimes even baby birds.
14. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
That quack quack quack you hear while walking past the pond in your local park is likely common from the mallard. This duck is well known throughout the world and occurs naturally in North America, Europe and Asia. The Mallard is a relatively large bird (20″ to 26″ in length) with a large body, small rounded head and a tail that sticks above the water as the bird floats. The male of the species has an iridescent green head, a yellow bill and a brown chest. Females and juveniles are mottled and striped brown with an orange bill. The mallard is a type of dabbling duck – it sticks its head into the water, but does not submerge, feeding with its tail sticking up. Mallards are generalists and can eat seeds, grain, vegetation, insects, earthworms and shrimp.
15. Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
The large (16″ – 23″ in length) gray and white bird with the black ring around its yellow bill hanging out near you at the beach is the Ring-billed Gull. Adults have white bodies and grey wings with black tips, while juveniles are mottled tan and brown. Although these gulls are often found near the ocean’s edge, they nest inland and are more often seen inland than other gulls. They are a gregarious species and can often be found in the hundreds or even thousands. Ring-billed Gulls are generalists but prefer to feed on fish, insects, and small rodents. They also enjoy feeding on garbage; they can often be seen rummaging through garbage cans on the beach, and stealing food from unwary beach goers.
Other Resources
List of the Birds of New York City as of 2010 from NYC Audubon
How to Identify Birds with 8 Major Clues from the Audubon Society
Birding for Beginners Birding from the National Parks Service
Why We Need Birds from BirdLife International
References:
- 2020 Population. NYC Open Data (n.d.). Retrieved from https://data.cityofnewyork.us/City-Government/2020-population/t8c6-3i7b
- Our Conservation Work. (n.d.). Retrieved fromhttp://www.nycaudubon.org/conservation
- All About Birds Bird Guide. Cornell Lab. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/
