17 Beautiful Birds of Arkansas

List of Birds in Arkansas

• Northern Mockingbird
• Northern Cardinal
• Blue Jay
• Tufted Titmouse
• Carolina Wren
• American Robin
• Eastern Bluebird
• Carolina Chickadee
• European Starling
• American Goldfinch
• American Wigeon
• Greater Roadrunner
• Rivoli’s Hummingbird
• American Coot
• Black-crowned Night-heron
• Northern Harrier
• Pine Siskin

Northern Mockingbird

The northern mockingbird is the state bird of Arkansas. Slightly shorter than a thrush and with a longer tail, a medium-sized songbird. They have small heads, a long, thin beak with a little downward curve, and long legs. Its wings are small, rounded, and wide, which makes the tail appear especially long in flight.

In general, mockingbirds are grayish-brown in color, lighter on the chest and belly, with two white wing-bars on each wing.

In perching birds, a white patch is sometimes apparent on each wing, and they become large white flashes in flight. The outer white tail feathers often attract attention in flight.

Northern Cardinal

The northern cardinal, also known as redbird, common cardinal, or just cardinal, is a species of passerine bird in the Cardinalidae family that lives in Central and North America.

An interesting fact is that only the males of this species have this color since the plumage of the females is brown and gray, but this characteristic of the male is very important since the redder and brighter their plumage, the more possibilities they have to mate.

It inhabits from the South of Canada to the North of Guatemala, Belize, passing through the eastern part of the United States from Maine to Texas and through Mexico.

It can be found in forests, gardens, swamps, and much of Central America and the entire north of the continent, feeding on herbs, grains, seeds, fruits, and, to a lesser extent, plant sap.

Blue Jay

Songbird with a large crested head and a broad, rounded tail. Blue jays are smaller than crows, bigger than robins.
White or light gray below, various shades of blue, white and black above.

Blue Jays make a wide variety of calls that travel long distances. Most calls are made while the jay is perched inside a tree. It usually flies silently through open areas, especially during migration.

Keep food in the throat pouch to store elsewhere; when eating, it holds a seed or nut at its feet and opens it.
Blue jays are birds that border the forest.

Acorns are a favorite food and are often found near oak trees, towns, cities, parks, forests, and groves.

Tufted Titmouse

In the eastern United States, the common garden bird.

Silvery gray above and white below, with a rusty color on the sides, they have a black spot just above the bill.

Tufted Titmouses can be found throughout much of the eastern forest below two thousand feet in height. Tufted Titmice are also frequent visitors to feeders and can be found in parks, backyards, and orchards.

Carolina Wren

The Carolina Wren is a small but robust bird with a round body and a long tail that often slopes upward. The head is large with very little neck, and the distinctive beak marks it as a king: long, slender, and curved downward.

Both males and females are seamless and bright reddish-brown on top and a warm beige-orange below, with a long white stripe on the forehead, dark bill, and white chin and throat.

The Carolina Wren crawls through vegetated areas and glides up and down tree trunks in search of insects and fruit. Explore patios, garages, and woodpiles, which sometimes nest there. This wren often raises its tail while foraging for food and holds it when it sings.

Carolina Wrens defends her territories with constant songs; they aggressively scold and scare off intruders.

American Robin

The American robin is a large songbird with a large round body, long legs, and a long tail. Robins are the largest thrushes in North America, and their profile offers a good opportunity to learn the basic shape of most thrushes.

Robins are also a good benchmark for comparing the size and shape of other birds. American robins are grayish-brown birds with warm orange underparts and dark heads. In flight, a white patch on the underside of the belly and under the tail can be conspicuous.

Compared to males, females have paler heads that contrast less with the gray back.

Eastern Bluebird

The eastern bluebird is a small thrush with a large, rounded head, a large eye, a plump body, and an alert posture. The wings are long, but the tail and legs are quite short. The bill is short and straight.

Adult males are very conspicuous, royal blue on top with bright orange throat and chest and white belly. Females are generally paler; grayish orange on the chest and sides of the neck, and white belly.

It prefers grasslands and open forests. Often in small groups. It often perches on wire posts or fences. It nests in cavities. Listen to their soft, upbeat vocalizations.

Carolina Chickadee

With a short neck and a large head, this small bird has a distinctive spherical body shape, has a very thin and long tail. Its beak is slightly thicker than that of a warbler but thinner than that of a finch.

It has a black cap and a bib divided by white cheeks. There is light gray on the head, wings, and tail.

Acrobatic and inquisitive. It can be seen with other Carolina chickadees and other small species in feeding flocks that roam within a wide area, except during the breeding season.

Although it is an animal of flocks, when it feeds, they are usually very widely spaced.

European Starling

Starlings are stout and the size of a blackbird, but with a short tail and long, slender bill. In flight, their wings are short and pointed, making them look like small four-pointed stars (hence their name).

From a distance, the starlings appear black. In summer they are iridescent purple-green with a yellow bill; in cool winter plumage they are brown, covered with bright white spots.

Starlings are boisterous, noisy, and travel in large groups (often with blackbirds and rooks). They race across the fields, beaks down, feeling the grass for food; or they perch on top of cables or trees emitting a constant stream of bells, beeps and whistles.

Starlings are common in cities, suburbs, and the countryside near human settlements. They feed on the ground, in fields, lawns, sidewalks, and parking lots. They perch on top of cables, trees, and buildings.

American Goldfinch

Usually, goldfinches flock with Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls. The males in the spring are bright yellow and glossy black with a little white. Its strong sexual dimorphism characterizes them.

The male, which in winter has a green-blue to brown plumage, looks bright yellow in summer to attract females during the mating season, while in summer the females’ dull yellow-brown plumage becomes lighter.

With a conical beak to extract the seeds and agile feet to grip the stems of seedheads when feeding, the American goldfinch is a granivore and adapted for seedhead consumption.

This finch is known to eat garden vegetation as well and is particularly fond of beet greens. It is a social animal, and, when feeding and migrating, will gather in large flocks.

During nest building, it can act territorially, but this aggression is short-lived. Its breeding season is related to the peak supply of food, starting in late July, which is relatively late for a finch in the year.

Generally, this species is monogamous, and each year it produces one brood.

American Wigeon

American Wigeons are medium-sized ducks with a round head and a short bill. They sit on the water with their heads pulled down, giving them a no-necked appearance.

Males for breeding have a brownish gray head with a wide green stripe behind the eye and a gleaming white cap. The body is pale cinnamon in color, with white patches on the rump that contrast with the black undertail feathers.

Notice the white patch on the upperwing and the green patch on the secondary wings while flying. Females and nonbreeding males have a warm brown coloration with a brownish gray head and a dark smudge around the eye. The bill of both sexes is pale gray with a black tip.

Greater Roadrunner

Greater Roadrunners are large cuckoos with a distinct shape that includes long legs, a long, straight tail, and a long neck. The bill is long, heavy, and slightly downcurved, with a short crest on the head.

They are tan or brown in color, with blackish streaking on the upperparts and chest. They have a patch of bare, blue skin behind the eye and a black crown with small, pale spots. The wings are dark in color with white highlights.

Greater Roadrunners spend the majority of their time hunting lizards, small mammals, and birds on the ground. They are extremely fast runners, leaning over parallel to the ground and trailing their tails behind them.

Rivoli’s Hummingbird

A large hummingbird with a long, nearly straight bill, long wings, and a broad, forked tail.

Adult males are dark hummingbirds, with blackish underparts and green upperparts, and an all-dark tail. They have a purple crown and an emerald throat in good light (gorget). Females are mostly grayish beneath and greenish above, with a few pale tips in the tail corners. A small white mark behind the eye is present in both sexes.

Hovers at the flowers and inserts the bill in order to drink nectar. In addition, it collects insects from plants and catches flying insects in flight. Trapping is a foraging pattern in which the animal moves sequentially along a route between widely spaced patches of flowers.

American Coot

The American Coot is a chubby, chicken-like bird with a rounded head and slanted bill. On the rare occasions when they fly, their tiny tail, short wings, and large feet are visible.

Coots are dark-gray to black birds with a brightly colored bill and forehead. The legs are a yellow-green color. A small patch of red on the forehead may be visible at close range.

Coots can be found eating aquatic plants in almost any body of water. When swimming, they resemble small ducks (and frequently dive), but when on land, they resemble chickens, walking rather than waddling. The American Coot is an awkward and often clumsy flier that requires long running takeoffs to get airborne.

Black-crowned Night-heron

Black-crowned Night-Herons are small herons with squat, bulky proportions. Their necks are thick, their heads are large and flat, and their bills are heavy and pointed. The legs are short and barely reach the end of the tail in flight. The wings are broad and rounded in shape.

Adults are light gray with a well-defined black back and crown. Immatures have brown wings with large white spots and blurry streaks on the underparts. Adults have all-black bills, whereas immatures have a yellow-and-black bill.

Black-crowned Night-Herons spend much of their time perched on tree limbs or hidden among foliage and branches. They forage at night and in the evenings, in water, on mudflats, and on land.

Northern Harrier

Northern Harriers are medium-sized, slender raptors with long, broad wings and a long, rounded tail. Their face is flat and owl-like, and their bill is small and sharply hooked. Harriers frequently fly with their wings held dihedrally, or in a V-shape above the horizontal.

Males have gray upperparts and whitish underparts, with black wingtips, a dark trailing edge to the wing, and a black-banded tail. Females and immatures have brown bodies and black bands on their tails.

Adult females have buffy undersides with brown streaks, whereas immatures have buffy undersides with less streaking. Northern Harriers all have a visible white rump patch in flight.

Pine Siskin

Pine Siskins are tiny songbirds with pointed bills and short, notched tails. Their bill is more slender than that of most finches due to its unique shape. Look for their forked tails and pointed wingtips in flight.

Pine siskins are brown birds with yellow edgings on their wings and tails. Yellow flashes can appear as they take flight, flutter at branch tips, or display during mating.

Pine Siskins frequently visit feeders in the winter (especially for thistle or nyjer seed) or cling to the branch tips of pines and other conifers, hanging upside down to pick at seeds below them.