Birds of North America checklist (part one)

Check all the waterfowl. (Ducks)

Mallard (the green-headed duck you usually see in parks)

American Black duck (northeast only)

Mottled duck (gulf coast area only)

Northern pintail

Gadwall

American wigeon

Eurasian wigeon

Green-winged Teal

Blue-winged Teal

Cinnamon teal

Garganey (rare)

Northern shoveler

Lesser scaup

Greater scaup

Ring-necked duck

Tufted duck

Canvasback

Redhead

Common pochard

Long-tailed Duck (formerly called Oldsquaw)

Surf scoter

White-winged Scoter

Black Scoter

Harlequin duck

Common eider

King eider

Steller's eider

Spectacled eider

Common goldeneye

Barrow's Goldeneye

Bufflehead

Ruddy duck

Masked duck

Common merganser

Red-breasted merganser

Hooded merganser

Smew (rare)

Wood duck

Black-bellied whistling-duck (Southeast)

Fulvous Whistling-duck (gulf area only)

Muscovy duck

Geese and Swans.

"Gamebirds." Some are introduced; almost all have very restricted ranges, so if you're not sure of a bird, be sure to look up a photo of its range.

Loons and grebes.

Tubenoses. (You usually have to go on boating or sea birding trips to see them; many that are found in North America only on rare occasions aren't included.)

Storm-petrels and tropicbirds. Some have restricted ranges, and some are rarer than others; you usually have to go on sea birding trips to see these.

Frigatebirds, Boobies, Cormorants, and Pelicans. Boobies have restricted ranges; the northern gannet does not, and is widespread along the east coast.

Long-legged Waders. Includes cranes and storks, even though they aren't really related to any bird in the heron/ibis family. A good bit are only found in the southeast, but others are found continent-wide, so look up range maps if you're not sure. Typing in "______ range map" , the _ being the bird, is the easiest way.

Vultures, Kites, eagles, hawks, falcons, and other birds of prey.

Rails, Gallinules, Coots, and Limpkin. (A lot of them are only found along coasts or the east, so check range maps online.)

Plovers and relatives.

Sandpipers and relatives. (There are a lot of similarities and confusions in this category, so be careful and do your best.)

Gulls and Terns. There are a lot of similarities in this group, so beware; also, not all are found only on the coast. In fact, almost all gulls are found inland as well as along the coast.

Auks, murres, and Puffins. (Many have restricted ranges; a good bit are only found in Alaska or on the Aleutian Islands.)

Pigeons and Doves. Some have restricted ranges.

Rock Pigeon (just check, I know you've seen it!)

Band-tailed Pigeon (restricted range in west)

White-crowned Pigeon (South Florida Only)

Red-billed pigeon (rare; extreme south texas only)

Mourning Dove (the common dove of towns and farms)

White-winged Dove

Eurasian Collared-dove. Southeast only.

Inca Dove (southwest only)

Parrots, cuckoos, and allies

Carolina Parakeet (EXTINCT, but check if you've seen them in a museum)

Monk Parakeet

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Black-billed Cuckoo

Mangrove Cuckoo (coastal south Florida only)

Smooth-billed Ani (very restricted range)

Groove-billed Ani (very restricted range)

Greater Roadrunner

Owls.

Nighthawks and Nightjars. There's a lot of confusion in this category, so I narrowed the choices down to the most common.

Common Nighthawk

Lesser Nighthawk (southwest)

Common Pauraque

Whip-poor-will

Chuck-will's Widow

Common Poorwill

Swifts, hummers, trogons, and kingfishers.

Woodpeckers. I <3 the Ivory-billed! :) By the way, I will put an "E" for woodpeckers mostly found in the east, "W" for ones of the west, "T" for Texas/Arizona only, and "B" for most of the continent.

Last group; Swallows.

Purple Martin

Tree Swallow

Violet-Green Swallow

Barn Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Cave Swallow

Bank Swallow

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

You're done! But there's a part 2 to this checklist! I'll give you a break.

Phew! Glad that's over! That was the longest poll ever!

Okay, see ya. Good poll.

I was so confused! I'm not a good birder..

I am NOT doing a part 2! I'm sick of this!