Hello ScienceWorks friends and Happy New Year!

I want to give a big thanks to everyone who is reading my posts. I have now been working at ScienceWorks for about one year and have really enjoyed watching the birds around the museum grounds and especially sharing what I find with all of you.

This post highlights some of the species and photos I didn’t get a chance to post about yet and is a brief recap of the birds I found this year.

Many common urban birds, like these battling European Starlings and this American Crow, can be found at ScienceWorks.

Adaptable birds such as these, along with goldfinches, House Finches, Brewer’s Blackbirds, and others, are common in towns throughout the Western U.S. and make up a large portion of the birdlife at ScienceWorks.

Common town birds at ScienceWorks:

• Canada Geese
• Common Raven
• American Goldfinches
• Eurasian Collared-Dove
• Lesser Goldfinch

Other sightings were more surprising, like the fearsome and cute Merlin, a tiny falcon that hunts small songbirds.

This Great Blue Heron was totally unbothered by cars and museum guests as it stalked the fields at ScienceWorks. While usually wading birds, Great Blues will also sometimes hunt small mammals, snakes, and frogs on dry land in open fields.

Spending so much time birding at ScienceWorks this year allowed me to document how the bird community changed throughout the shifting seasons. Many, such as an Orange-crowned Warbler, were observed just passing through on migration. House Wrens nested at ScienceWorks but left by late summer.

Many others, like the Song Sparrow, breed elsewhere, but are at ScienceWorks in winter. The birds I choose for the Bird of the Month all relate to the time of year they show up at ScienceWorks.

Birds of the Month in 2025. Check out the ScienceWorks eBird Hotspot for more photos.

• April: Say's Phoebe
• May: Tree Swallow
• June: Western Kingbird
• July: Northern House Wren
• August: Western Bluebird
• September: Chipping Sparrow
• October: Cedar Waxwing
• November: Oregon Junco
• December: Greater White-fronted Goose

This year, we ended up with 66 species at ScienceWorks. I’ll see if I can find more in 2026. My biggest surprises of 2025 were the Say’s Phoebe and a Lewis’s Woodpecker flyover. Stay tuned for more surprises in 2026!

• Greater White-fronted Goose
• Cackling Goose
• Canada Goose
• Mallard
• California Quail
• Rock Pigeon
• Band-tailed Pigeon
• Eurasian Colored Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Anna’s Hummingbird
• Rufous Hummingbird
• Killdeer
• Great Egret
• Great Blue Heron
• Turkey Vulture
• Osprey
• Golden Eagle
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Red-breasted Sapsucker
• Lewis’s Woodpecker
• Acorn Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Northern Flicker
• Merlin
• Black Phoebe
• Say’s Phoebe
• Western Kingbird
• Steller’s Jay
• California Scrub-Jay
• American Crow
• Common Raven
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Tree Swallow
• Violet-green Swallow
• Barn Swallow
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Brown Creeper
• Northern House Wren
• Bewick’s Wren
• European Starling
• Western Bluebird
• American Robin
• Cedar Waxwing
• House Sparrow
• Evening Grosbeak
• House Finch
• Pine Siskin
• Lesser Goldfinch
• American Goldfinch
• Chipping Sparrow
• Dark-eyed Junco
• White-crowned Sparrow
• Golden-crowned Sparrow
• White-throated Sparrow
• Savannah Sparrow
• Song Sparrow
• Lincoln’s Sparrow
• Spotted Towhee
• Bullock’s Oriole
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Brewer’s Blackbird
• Orange-crowned Warbler
• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• Western Tanager

Happy Birding!

And don't forget to add your own bird sightings to the ScienceWorks eBird Hotspot!