How to identify it:  Bold black line through eye, yellow/orange under chin and breast, bold chest stripe, gold bars on black wings..

This is a bird which migrates vertically down from the mountains in the late fall and leaves in May back up to its upper elevation nesting areas. It is often heard before it is seen, it has a unique minor whistle note which is enchanting on those foggy November days.  It forages on the ground, sometimes in small groups, often noisily flipping through the dead leaves in search of insects. They seem to prefer lowland areas with conifer trees nearby but do wander into suburban yards that have good shrub cover. 

How to Identify it:  Like a robin only soft brown with a noticable eye ring and breast spots

This is a bird often noted for its unique and beautifully flute-like ascending call, often as the summer dusk gathers in the shadows.  It also makes a inquiring Whit, call and a unseemly squawk which seems out of character for a bird with such an attractive song. They arrive in late May and immediately set up territories and build mud and grass nests in dense shrub or forest cover.  The young are raised in June and July and by early August the fledglings appear and the adults slowly quiet.  They hang around until September but their retiring nature and drab coloration hides them well and they quietly slip away sometime in September.

How to Identify it: Bold black around the eye, with a small crest, and yellow at the tip of the tail

This is a bird of berries, and it is most often seen in small groups, scarfing whatever berries are in season.  However they also eat insects and will fly out to nab a juicy bug and like all birds, mostly feed their young high protein insects.  They arrive in Late May but do not start nesting until well into June.  They may nest singly in pairs, or sometimes several birds will nest very close together.  The young fledge in August just before the termites hatch out and begin flying and the young birds readily feast upon them.  Waxwings will gather into groups during the early fall, often descending and stripping a berry laden bush.  They mostly leave in mid to late September but some have been seen as late as November.