Common Birds in California
Our list for California has 48 common birds recorded regularly there: 34 residents, 3 summer visitors, 10 winter visitors and 1 passage migrant
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in California in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 48, most common first
House FinchHaemorhous mexicanusResidentCommon13–15 cmRecorded all year
Yellow-rumped WarblerSetophaga coronataWinter visitorCommon12–15 cmRecorded all year
White-crowned SparrowZonotrichia leucophrysWinter visitorCommon15–16 cmRecorded all year
American CrowCorvus brachyrhynchosResidentCommon41–53 cmRecorded all year
Mourning DoveZenaida macrouraResidentCommon23–34 cmRecorded all year
Song SparrowMelospiza melodiaResidentCommon12–17 cmRecorded all year
Ruby-crowned KingletCorthylio calendulaWinter visitorCommon9–11 cmRegularly Sep–Apr
Common RavenCorvus coraxResidentCommon54–67 cmRecorded all year
Red-tailed HawkButeo jamaicensisResidentCommon45–65 cmRecorded all year
MallardAnas platyrhynchosResidentCommon50–65 cmRecorded all year
Turkey VultureCathartes auraResidentCommon62–81 cmRecorded all year
American RobinTurdus migratoriusResidentCommon20–28 cmRecorded all year
Common StarlingSturnus vulgarisResidentCommon21–23 cmRecorded all year
Barn SwallowHirundo rusticaSummer visitorCommon17–19 cmRegularly Mar–Oct
Northern FlickerColaptes auratusResidentCommon28–31 cmRecorded all year
Canada GooseBranta canadensisResidentCommon76–110 cmRecorded all year
Northern MockingbirdMimus polyglottosResidentCommon21–26 cmRecorded all year
Nuttall's WoodpeckerDryobates nuttalliiResidentCommon17–18 cmRecorded all year
Great White EgretArdea albaResidentCommon80–104 cmRecorded all year
Orange-crowned WarblerLeiothlypis celataResidentCommon11–14 cmRecorded all year
Great Blue HeronArdea herodiasResidentCommon91–137 cmRecorded all year
Acorn WoodpeckerMelanerpes formicivorusResidentCommon20–24 cmRecorded all year
Red-winged BlackbirdAgelaius phoeniceusResidentCommon17–23 cmRecorded all year
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made