Birds

We love them. Now protect them and their habitats.

Photo: Haymar Lim

Birds at Our Sanctuary

Clark's Grebe

Latin: Aechmophorus clarkii

Great Egret

Latin: Ardea alba

Red-shouldered Hawk

Latin: Buteo lineatus

Bufflehead

Latin: Bucephala albeola

Ruddy Duck

Latin: Oxyura jamaicensis

Greater Scaup

Latin: Aythya marila

Western Grebe

Latin: Aechmophorus occidentalis

Great Blue Heron

Latin: Ardea herodias

Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary hosts a variety of habitats that support a large diveristy of birds throughout the year. No matter the season, a careful eye can spot both residents that call our Center home and visiting migrants here only for a short while. This list describes some of the migrants you might expect to find throughout the year at Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Santuary and around Marin County.

You can see what birds are singing at the Center in real time on the BirdWeather webapp!

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
Allen's Hummingbird	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Barn Swallow			X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Black Turnstone	X	X	X	X	X		X	X	X
Black-headed Grosebeak			X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Black-throated Gray Warbler			X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Bonaparte's Gull			X	X	X	X				X	X	X
Bufflehead	X	X	X	X						X	X	X
Bullock's Oriole			X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Canvasback	X	X	X	X	X					X	X	X
Caspian Tern			X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Cedar Waxwing	X	X	X	X	X			X	X	X	X	X
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
Cliff Swallow			X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Common Goldeneye	X	X	X	X	X						X	X
Dunlin	X	X	X	X	X				X	X	X	X
Eared Grebe	X	X	X	X	X	X		X	X	X	X	X
Elegant Tern						X	X	X	X	X	X
Fox Sparrow	X	X	X	X	X				X	X	X	X
Golden-crowned Sparrow	X	X	X	X	X				X	X	X	X
Green-winged Teal	X	X	X	X				X	X	X	X	X
Heermann's Gull	X				X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Horned Grebe	X	X	X	X	X			X	X	X	X	X
Least Sandpiper	X	X	X	X			X	X	X	X	X	X
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
Lincoln's Sparrow	X	X	X	X					X	X	X	X
Long-billed Dowitcher	X	X	X	X	X		X	X	X	X	X	X
Mew Gull	X	X	X	X						X	X	X
Norther Fulmar	X	X	X					X	X	X	X	X
Northern Rough-winged Swallow		X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Pacific-slope Flycatcher			X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Parasitic Jaeger								X	X	X	X
Red-necked phalarope				X	X		X	X	X	X
Ruby Crowned Kinglet	X	X	X	X	X				X	X	X	X
Sanderling	X	X	X	X	X		X	X	X	X	X	X
Say's Phoebe	X	X	X	X					X	X	X	X
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
Semipalmated Plover	X	X	X	X	X		X	X	X	X	X	X
Short-billed Dowitcher	X	X	X	X	X		X	X	X	X	X	X
Spotted Sandpiper	X	X	X	X	X		X	X	X	X	X	X
Swainson's Thrush				X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Townsend's Warbler	X	X	X	X	X			X	X	X	X	X
Wandering Tattler								X	X	X
Warbling Vireo			X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Western Sandpiper	X	X	X	X	X		X	X	X	X	X	X
Western Tanager				X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Western Wood-pewee				X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Wilson's Snipe	X	X	X	X					X	X	X	X
Wilson's Warbler			X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Yellow Warbler				X	X	X	X	X	X	X
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec

“Why do birds matter?” is one of those questions like “What is love?” or “Why are we here?” or even “Is there a God?” Unanswerable, I think, by logic. One could cite facts like, birds eat lots of harmful insects, charm us at our feeders, or challenge us to learn their field marks, molts, and names both common and scientific. But perhaps the answer lies deeper. Since the beginning birds have lifted our eyes to the skies. They’ve shown us we’re not gravity’s slave, that flight is possible and limitless. It can hover and soar, dive and display, and take us from one end of the planet to the other in a single, impossible burst of energy and purpose. Inspiration is the gift birds have given us from the start. But now they give us a question as well. Like the canary in the mine, they hold the planet up to us like a mirror and ask: “Can you not see that if we pass away, soon you will as well?” That’s a good question, and since birds pose it, they matter a lot.

—Wes Craven, Film director