Arizona has quite a diverse range of backyard birds. And In this article, I’ll list all those backyard birds of Arizona.
Note: If you’re short on time I have compiled a table of all the backyard birds with identification and their Diet. You can also read about these birds in detail below.
| Backyard Birds in Arizona | Length | Weight | Identification(Color) | Diet/Favorite Food |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mourning Dove | 22-36 cm | 120 gm | Soft brown in color with hints of black on the wings. | Millet, black sunflower seeds, nyjer, cracked corn, peanut hearts. |
| House Finch | 14 cm | 19-22 gm | These birds have a redhead and breast in the males and a brown streak of colors in females. They are generally noisy and move in flocks. | Seeds, buds, and fruits like thistle, cactus, cherries, apricots, plums, blackberries, figs, and strawberries. |
| Gila Woodpecker | 8–10 in (20–25 cm) | 65gm (2.2 Oz) | The back and wings of this bird are black and white like zebra. The throat, neck, belly, and head have greyish-tan color. | They mostly eat insects, small vertebrates, and berries |
| Lesser Goldfinch | 9 to 12 cm (3.5 to 4.7 in) | 8 to 11.5 g (0.28 to 0.41 oz) | These birds have bright yellow underparts and big white patches on their tails and wings | Seeds, buds, and fruits like thistle, cactus, cherries, apricots, plums, blackberries, figs, and strawberries |
| Verdin | 4.5 in (11 cm) | 0.2-0.3 oz (5-8 g) | This bird has a gray body, and a bright yellow head and rufous shoulder patch | This bird mostly eats insects and small invertebrate. |
| White-winged Dove | 30 cm | 150 gm | Pale brown in color with a black line on their cheeks and a white stripe on the edge of their wings with a dark patch in the middle. | They feed on large seeds and grains like sunflower, corn, safflower, and milo along with berry-yielding shrubs. |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 3.9 to 4.3 in (9.9 to 10.9 cm) | 0.1 to 0.2 oz (2.8 to 5.7 g) | This bird has a bronze-green back, a pale grey chest, and green flanks | This bird mostly feeds on nectar and insects |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 14 cm | 12.5 gm | Gray with flashes of yellow, with slightly brownish tones in females. | Insects and fruits like wax myrtle and bayberry. |
| Great-tailed Grackle | 15.0-18.1 in (38-46 cm) | 3.7-6.7 oz (105-190 g) | This bird has an iridescent black body, bills, and legs with piercing yellow eyes | This bird’s diet majorly consist of insects with spiders, crayfish, millipedes, snails, tadpoles, small fish, lizards, eggs and nestlings of other birds. |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 5.9-6.3 in (15-16 cm) | 0.9-1.0 oz (25-28 g) | This bird has an overall pale gray color with black and white patches on the head. With pale pink and yellow bill. | This bird majorly eats seeds of weeds and grasses and also insects |
| Eurasian Collared-Dove | 32 cm | 150-260 gm | These birds are light brownish-gray with hints of white near their tails, which is square in shape. These birds are found wherever there are plenty of seeds. | These birds mainly eat a wide variety of seeds along with some insects and any edible berries, oats, corn, Black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds. |
| Abert’s Towhee | 8.3-9.1 in (21.2-23.1 cm) | 1.5-1.9 oz (42.5-54.9 g) | This bird has a grayish-brown upper body and pinkish brown lower body with a pale grayish bill. | This bird mostly eats small insects. |
| Western Tanager | 6.3-7.5 in (16-19 cm) | 0.8-1.3 oz (24-36 g) | This is a yellow bird with black wings and an orange-red head. | This bird mostly eats insects, some fruit, and berries |
Backyard Birds In Arizona In Different Seasons
Summer Birds
- Mourning Dove 46%
- House Finch 43%
- White-winged Dove 42%
- Lesser Goldfinch 31%
- Gila Woodpecker 26%
- Verdin 25%
- Black-chinned Hummingbird 20%
- Northern Mockingbird 19%
- Great-tailed Grackle 19%
Winter Birds
- House Finch 46%
- Mourning Dove 42%
- Gila Woodpecker 40%
- White-crowned Sparrow 38%
- Verdin 35%
- Yellow-rumped Warbler 34%
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet 31%
- Anna’s Hummingbird 26%
- Abert’s Towhee 24%
Year-round Birds
- House Finch 46%
- Mourning Dove 45%
- Gila Woodpecker 34%
- Lesser Goldfinch 31%
- Verdin 30%
- Anna’s Hummingbird 24%
- White-crowned Sparrow 23%
- Yellow-rumped Warbler 23%
- White-winged Dove 22%
- Great-tailed Grackle 21%
Backyard Birds Of Arizona In Detail
Mourning Dove
In the Lower 48 states of the United States, mourning doves are the most common and widespread backyard bird.
From bill tip to tail tip, it’s around 12 inches long. The Northern Flicker is around the same size. More than double the size of an American Robin. Smaller than the domestic city pigeon.
With a tiny round head and a plump appearance. This bird has slender legs with long and pointed tails. It’s a little skinny creature.
The body is a pale brown-pink color, with darker wings and tail. On the side of the tail, there are white borders.
Urban regions, farmlands, and woodlands are examples of semi-open spaces. Perched atop wires and fences, they are frequently observed.
It lives in the lower 48 states and Mexico, with limited winter migration out of northern locations.
Mourning Doves nearly solely consume seeds. You can use black oil sunflower seeds on a tray feeder or on the ground to attract these birds.
House Finch
Originally a Western bird, it may now be found across the United States. Other red finches exist, but these are the ones that are most likely to be found in residential settings.
From bill tip to tail tip, it’s around 6 inches. Goldfinches and chickadees are smaller. White-crowned Sparrows and Spotted/Eastern towhees are also smaller than this bird.
With a medium-long notched tail, this bird has a medium-sized physique. With a round head, Conical and short, Brown and grey on top, with pale underparts with stripes on the sides.
Males have a crimson head, breast, and rump (occasionally orange or yellow).
Small flocks can be seen on wires, on treetops, and in shrubs. They’re presently most frequent in rural and urban locations. Previously found throughout western North America and Mexico.
Then brought to the northeastern United States, it is now present in practically every state in the lower 48 and extreme southern Canada. Plains states (from Dakotas to Texas) and southern Florida are rare.
Male House Finches sing all year, a fast, wiry song finishing in a few buzzy notes. House Finches are not territorial, yet males sing all year.
Sunflower seeds and thistle-on-tube feeders are their favorites.
Gila Woodpecker
A saguaro desert common woodpecker that has gotten adapted to cities.
Approximately the size of a Starling. Smaller than a Robin from the United States. Bird with a huge head and a bulky body. This bird has a short tail with a tan body.
The back and wings are striped in black and white. In flying, white wing patches may be seen. Females lack the male’s red crest.
Larger trees near desert streams are also home to this species. Although this bird has adapted to living in cities and suburban settings. The range stretches from Arizona to western Mexico.
Food is gleaned from the bark through probing and gleaning. Many other woodpeckers excavate for food, but this one does not. In a saguaro cactus, excavates a nest hole.
Insects, as well as fruits and berries, are the preferred food of these birds. You can attract this bird to your backyard by placing some of its favorite food on a feeder.
Lesser Goldfinch
In the drier portions of the Southwest, this bird takes the place of the American Goldfinch.
This is a little bird smaller than the American Goldfinch, but not by much. Large head, no neck, and a short forked tail. The back is green, with yellow underparts and under tail coverts.
White markings on black wings and tail. On the forecrown, a male wears a black hat. Unlike the American Goldfinch, it maintains its beautiful yellow plumage all year.
In the summer, it may be found in the western and southwestern United States, as well as the Great Basin. It can be found all the way down to Middle America. They can congregate in large flocks to graze in weedy areas.
Preferences for food and feeders: They consume largely thistle seeds and a few insects. They will consume black oil sunflower seeds from a tube feeder, but Nyjer seeds from a “thistle sock” feeder are preferred.
Verdin
This chickadee relative may be found in arid settings throughout the Southwest United States.
It’s really little, It’s about the same size as a chickadee. Plump, with a rounded tail of medium length. The entire creature is grey with a yellow face.
Desert brush and prickly bushes are where you’ll find it. From California through Texas, then on to northern Mexico. In the manner of a chickadee, forages energetically on limbs and tops of foliage.
They consume mostly insects that they find in bushes. They don’t seem to be drawn to seed feeders, and they haven’t been observed drinking fresh water. Although sugar water from oriole nectar feeders may be consumed.
White-winged Dove
Approximately the same size as a Mourning Dove. But Mourning Dove has a more muscular neck. White-winged Dove has a square-shaped tail.
The physic of this bird can be described as slender and short. Brown with a large white tip and a black undertail base. In flying, white wing patches can be seen, as well as when perched.
The southern United States, Middle America, and the West Indies are all home to this species. In the mornings and afternoons, they frequently seek water.
The saguaro cactus provides them with seeds, grain, and fruit. A high platform feeder is more likely to attract them than a ground feeder. They’ll also consume broken maize and black oil sunflower seeds.
Anna’s Hummingbird
Hummingbirds such as the Ruby-throated Hummingbird in the east and the Rufous Hummingbird in the west are slightly bigger. Smaller than a chickadee or goldfinch.
Long wings cover the tail, making it plump. The bill is unmistakably long. Longer and rounder than the head, with a little down curve.
Male with shimmering metallic rose pink covering their whole head and neck. A pink neck spot is common in females.
They used to be limited to northern Baja and southern California but as winter flowering flowers and the popularity of putting up hummingbird feeders grew.
These hummingbirds moved to Arizona and all the way to southern Alaska along the Pacific coast. Even when they migrate north and meet snow in the winter, they nest early (December to February).
Their primary sources of nutrition are nectar and tiny insects. They’ll find hummingbird feeders that are loaded with sugar water as soon as possible.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
In the spring, the breeding plumage is blue-gray on top, black on the flanks and chest, yellow on the rump, and yellow on the sides.
Both varieties have grey-brown upper plumage and creamy cream lower plumage throughout the winter. In-flight, the rump is yellow, and the corners of the tail are white.
During the nesting season, they may be found mostly in coniferous or mixed woods in the western Alps. Open spaces with fruiting shrubs and scattered trees in the winter.
Breed in coniferous woods in the west, as well as Canada and Alaska. Winter may be found on both coasts, as well as in the southern states of the United States.
In Mexico and Guatemala, there are also nonmigratory variants. They forage in the outer branches of the tree, around halfway up.
In the summer, they eat mostly insects, but in the winter, they eat waxy berries and fruit. As a result, they can spend the winter further north than other warblers. Suet feeders are attractive to them.
Great-tailed Grackle
The male Great-tailed Grackles are long thin blackbirds with remarkable long tapering tails. Iridescent black males with piercing golden eyes.
Females are long-legged and slender as well, although they are darker brown on the back and lighter brown underside, with more slender tails and are roughly half the size of males.
They may be found in agricultural and urban regions across the west and mid-west, often where humans are present. They will also consume eggs and nestlings, as well as small animals and reptiles.
Great-tailed Grackles are attracted to seeds dropped from feeders. On platform feeders or huge hopper feeders, they will also consume black oil sunflower seeds, cracked maize, and millet.
White-crowned Sparrow
This bird is 7 inches in length. This huge sparrow is similar to the Spotted/Eastern towhee in size. The body is plumper, the head is rounded, and the tail is longer.
Back, wings, and tail are brown, with a grey underbelly and a black-and-white striped crown. Immature birds have tan and reddish-brown striped crowns for their first year.
These species prefer areas that are open and shrubby. Various species may be found breeding in the Arctic of Canada and Alaska, as well as in the mountains of western Canada and the United States. They sing as they migrate northward in the spring.
Weed seeds, grain, insects and black oil sunflower seeds, and other seeds on hopper and tray feeders are their favorite.
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Eurasian Collared-Doves resemble Mourning Doves. This bird first arrived in the United States in the 1980s and since then it spread across the country.
The color of this bird is light brownish-gray with white patches on the tail. This bird has a black half collar at the nape of the neck and a square tail.
They avoid dense forests, preferring habitats near humans where seeds are plentiful, like backyard feeders and farms. Eurasian Collared-Doves consume a range of seeds and grains, but they will also eat berries and insects.
Millet, oats, broken maize, and black oil or hulled sunflower seeds on the ground can attract Eurasian-Collared-Doves to your yard.
Abert’s Towhee
Abert’s Towhees are big grayish-brown sparrows with red tints under the tail, roughly the size of a robin.
They can be found on the ground in arid environments with extensive vegetation along desert creeks and riverbeds in a limited region in southern Arizona.
Abert’s Towhees eat beetles, ants, caterpillars, cicadas, and grasshoppers, among other insects. In the winter, they will consume certain seeds, particularly grasses.
Add a water feature, such as a birdbath, and native plants to your yard to attract Abert’s Towhees. They will also go to ground feeders in search of food.
Western Tanager
The head of a Western Tanager has a fiery orange-red color, with a yellow body and black wings. Breeding in the north and then migrating south for the winter, they may be found all throughout western states.
Despite their vivid colors, they grow in open conifer woods and remain concealed in the canopy. The red hue is most likely due to the Western Tanagers’ consumption of insects that create a pigment that they cannot make themselves.
Dried fruit, chopped oranges, and other fruits from bird feeders might attract Western Tanagers.
Related Articles You May Like