At a recent bird walk Dave Matthis wondered this question out loud as he was counting birds seen on the walk. Well for the past seven or so years I have been keeping track of birds seen on bird walks as a custom quiz in my bird software. I have 66 lists that I have created over the years. I will able to compile this data and came up with an unoffical total.
300 Species
Following is a list of the birds seen in order of how many of the 66 lists a species appeared. Otherwords, most common to rarest:
House Finch | 65 | Mourning Dove | 65 |
Anna’s Hummingbird | 64 | American Crow | 63 |
Black Phoebe | 63 | Song Sparrow | 62 |
European Starling | 61 | Red-tailed Hawk | 60 |
Mallard | 58 | Bushtit | 57 |
Cassin’s Kingbird | 57 | Lesser Goldfinch | 57 |
California Towhee | 54 | Common Yellowthroat | 54 |
Nuttall’s Woodpecker | 54 | American Coot | 52 |
Common Raven | 52 | Double-crested Cormorant | 51 |
House Wren | 51 | Pied-billed Grebe | 51 |
Western Scrub-Jay | 51 | American Kestrel | 50 |
Red-shouldered Hawk | 50 | Cooper’s Hawk | 49 |
Great Blue Heron | 49 | Northern Mockingbird | 49 |
Orange-crowned Warbler | 49 | Snowy Egret | 49 |
Great Egret | 48 | Bewick’s Wren | 47 |
Red-winged Blackbird | 46 | Say’s Phoebe | 46 |
Spotted Towhee | 45 | Rock Pigeon | 44 |
Turkey Vulture | 44 | Wrentit | 44 |
House Sparrow | 42 | Yellow-rumped Warbler | 41 |
Black-crowned Night-Heron | 38 | Northern Rough-winged Swallow | 38 |
Ring-billed Gull | 38 | Ruddy Duck | 38 |
Tree Swallow | 37 | Western Bluebird | 37 |
Green Heron | 36 | White-crowned Sparrow | 36 |
White-tailed Kite | 36 | Killdeer | 35 |
Northern Flicker | 35 | Osprey | 35 |
California Thrasher | 34 | Northern Shoveler | 34 |
California Quail | 32 | Cliff Swallow | 32 |
Western Gull | 32 | Brown-headed Cowbird | 31 |
Belted Kingfisher | 30 | Gadwall | 30 |
Northern Harrier | 30 | Savannah Sparrow | 30 |
Yellow Warbler | 29 | Downy Woodpecker | 28 |
Eurasian Collared-Dove | 28 | Hooded Oriole | 28 |
Marsh Wren | 28 | Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 28 |
Western Kingbird | 28 | Brewer’s Blackbird | 27 |
California Gnatcatcher | 27 | Common Gallinule | 27 |
Forster’s Tern | 27 | Sora | 27 |
American Goldfinch | 26 | Eared Grebe | 26 |
Great-tailed Grackle | 26 | Black-headed Grosbeak | 25 |
Cinnamon Teal | 25 | Oak Titmouse | 25 |
Pacific-slope Flycatcher | 25 | Spotted Sandpiper | 25 |
Black-necked Stilt | 24 | American Wigeon | 23 |
Western Meadowlark | 23 | White-throated Swift | 23 |
Acorn Woodpecker | 22 | Blue-winged Teal | 22 |
Least Sandpiper | 22 | Peregrine Falcon | 22 |
Western Grebe | 22 | White-breasted Nuthatch | 22 |
Ash-throated Flycatcher | 21 | Barn Swallow | 21 |
California Gull | 21 | Phainopepla | 21 |
Wilson’s Warbler | 21 | Green-winged Teal | 20 |
Lark Sparrow | 20 | Violet-green Swallow | 20 |
Willet | 20 | Black-chinned Hummingbird | 19 |
Bufflehead | 19 | American Avocet | 18 |
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 18 | Bullock’s Oriole | 18 |
Caspian Tern | 18 | Costa’s Hummingbird | 18 |
Western Sandpiper | 18 | Western Tanager | 18 |
White-faced Ibis | 18 | American White Pelican | 17 |
Black-bellied Plover | 17 | Greater Yellowlegs | 17 |
Long-billed Curlew | 17 | Marbled Godwit | 17 |
American Pipit | 16 | American Robin | 16 |
Merlin | 16 | Northern Pintail | 16 |
Warbling Vireo | 16 | Wood Duck | 16 |
Brown Pelican | 15 | Chipping Sparrow | 15 |
Lesser Scaup | 15 | Long-billed Dowitcher | 15 |
Ring-necked Duck | 15 | Short-billed Dowitcher | 15 |
Townsend’s Warbler | 15 | Virginia Rail | 15 |
Western Wood-Pewee | 15 | Whimbrel | 15 |
Cedar Waxwing | 14 | Dark-eyed Junco | 14 |
Hutton’s Vireo | 14 | Sharp-shinned Hawk | 14 |
Black-throated Gray Warbler | 13 | Greater Roadrunner | 13 |
Mountain Chickadee | 13 | Rufous-crowned Sparrow | 13 |
Semipalmated Plover | 13 | Allen’s Hummingbird | 12 |
Bell’s Vireo | 12 | Clark’s Grebe | 12 |
Loggerhead Shrike | 12 | Royal Tern | 12 |
Yellow-breasted Chat | 12 | Blue Grosbeak | 11 |
Clapper Rail | 11 | Elegant Tern | 11 |
Least Bittern | 11 | Redhead | 11 |
Canada Goose | 10 | Golden-crowned Sparrow | 10 |
Great Horned Owl | 10 | Hermit Thrush | 10 |
Lawrence’s Goldfinch | 10 | Little Blue Heron | 10 |
Rufous Hummingbird | 10 | Bonaparte’s Gull | 9 |
Lazuli Bunting | 9 | Red-breasted Merganser | 9 |
Tricolored Blackbird | 9 | Barn Owl | 8 |
Black Skimmer | 8 | Cassin’s Vireo | 8 |
Cattle Egret | 8 | Dunlin | 8 |
Greater White-fronted Goose | 8 | Sanderling | 8 |
Vaux’s Swift | 8 | Least Tern | 7 |
Lesser Yellowlegs | 7 | Purple Finch | 7 |
Wilson’s Snipe | 7 | Band-tailed Pigeon | 6 |
Brandt’s Cormorant | 6 | Brown Creeper | 6 |
Heermann’s Gull | 6 | Herring Gull | 6 |
Lincoln’s Sparrow | 6 | Nashville Warbler | 6 |
Olive-sided Flycatcher | 6 | Red-necked Phalarope | 6 |
Rock Wren | 6 | Snow Goose | 6 |
Snowy Plover | 6 | Steller’s Jay | 6 |
Swainson’s Thrush | 6 | Wild Turkey | 6 |
Bald Eagle | 5 | Burrowing Owl | 5 |
Canvasback | 5 | Ferruginous Hawk | 5 |
Hairy Woodpecker | 5 | Horned Grebe | 5 |
Horned Lark | 5 | Prairie Falcon | 5 |
Red-breasted Sapsucker | 5 | Reddish Egret | 5 |
Red-naped Sapsucker | 5 | Ross’s Goose | 5 |
Summer Tanager | 5 | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | 5 |
Zone-tailed Hawk | 5 | American Bittern | 4 |
Black-chinned Sparrow | 4 | Cactus Wren | 4 |
Common Loon | 4 | Common Tern | 4 |
Golden Eagle | 4 | Mountain Bluebird | 4 |
Mountain Quail | 4 | Pine Siskin | 4 |
Purple Martin | 4 | Pygmy Nuthatch | 4 |
Red Knot | 4 | Red-crowned Parrot | 4 |
Vermilion Flycatcher | 4 | Black Turnstone | 3 |
Brant | 3 | Canyon Wren | 3 |
Chestnut-sided Warbler | 3 | Common Merganser | 3 |
Hermit Warbler | 3 | Pacific Golden-Plover | 3 |
Plumbeous Vireo | 3 | Ruddy Turnstone | 3 |
Black Tern | 2 | Black-tailed Gnatcatcher | 2 |
Common Goldeneye | 2 | Common Ground-Dove | 2 |
Eastern Phoebe | 2 | Fox Sparrow | 2 |
Gambel’s Quail | 2 | Grasshopper Sparrow | 2 |
Greater Scaup | 2 | Gull-billed Tern | 2 |
Hooded Merganser | 2 | Hooded Warbler | 2 |
Lewis’s Woodpecker | 2 | Parasitic Jaeger | 2 |
Pomarine Jaeger | 2 | Red-breasted Nuthatch | 2 |
Ring-necked Pheasant | 2 | Short-eared Owl | 2 |
Solitary Sandpiper | 2 | Surf Scoter | 2 |
Swainson’s Hawk | 2 | Tricolored Heron | 2 |
Verdin | 2 | Vesper Sparrow | 2 |
Willow Flycatcher | 2 | Wilson’s Phalarope | 2 |
Abert’s Towhee | 1 | American Redstart | 1 |
Baltimore Oriole | 1 | Black Scoter | 1 |
Black-throated Sparrow | 1 | Black-vented Shearwater | 1 |
Brewer’s Sparrow | 1 | Brown-crested Flycatcher | 1 |
Cackling Goose | 1 | Cassin’s Auklet | 1 |
Crissal Thrasher | 1 | Dusky-capped Flycatcher | 1 |
Eurasian Wigeon | 1 | Gila Woodpecker | 1 |
Glaucous Gull | 1 | Glaucous-winged Gull | 1 |
Gray Flycatcher | 1 | Green-tailed Towhee | 1 |
Hammond’s Flycatcher | 1 | Hepatic Tanager | 1 |
Ladder-backed Woodpecker | 1 | Lapland Longspur | 1 |
Long-eared Owl | 1 | MacGillivray’s Warbler | 1 |
Mountain Plover | 1 | Mute Swan | 1 |
Neotropic Cormorant | 1 | Northern Cardinal | 1 |
Pacific Loon | 1 | Pelagic Cormorant | 1 |
Red Phalarope | 1 | Red-eyed Vireo | 1 |
Red-faced Warbler | 1 | Red-throated Loon | 1 |
Ruff | 1 | Sage Sparrow | 1 |
Sandhill Crane | 1 | Sooty Shearwater | 1 |
Sprague’s Pipit | 1 | Stilt Sandpiper | 1 |
Tropical Kingbird | 1 | Wandering Tattler | 1 |
Western Screech-Owl | 1 | White-collared Seedeater | 1 |
White-throated Sparrow | 1 | White-winged Scoter | 1 |
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 1 | Yellow-headed Blackbird | 1 |