Yes. No email, no account, no ads.

How does the "this month" prediction work?

It uses public bird-occurrence records, aggregated by ZIP code and month, so migrants and year-round residents both show up at the right time of year.

Where does the bird data come from?

GBIF and iNaturalist public observation records, filtered to license-clean sources.

How is this different from Merlin or eBird?

Merlin identifies a bird after you've seen or heard it. eBird tracks the checklists birders submit. This tool tells you what's likely at your house this month — before you've spotted anything.

Backyard Birds in California

Enter your California ZIP. See exactly which birds you're likely to spot in your yard this month.

California backyards are among the richest in the country, and they run nearly year-round. Anna's Hummingbirds hold feeders through winter, Spotted Towhees rummage the brush, and the coast-to-desert range means no two regions match.

Most 'backyard birds' lists are national and generic. This one is neither. It maps public, license-clean bird-occurrence records to your exact ZIP code and weights them by month, so you see what's realistically at your feeder in California right now — not a list of birds that might turn up somewhere in the country someday.

Enter your California ZIP code in the tool below. You'll get a ranked list of the birds most likely in your yard this month, common ones first. Free, no email, no account. The list shifts as the seasons turn.

Common backyard birds in California

These are the birds you're most likely to see in a yard in this region at some point in the year. Your ZIP-specific list will show which are near you and which are likely this month.

Anna's Hummingbird — Year-round on the West Coast. Males flash a hot-pink gorget.
Spotted Towhee — Black-and-rufous with a red eye. Scratches loudly in leaf litter.
Dark-eyed Junco — Year-round 'Oregon' form: dark hood, warm back. Feeder staple.
House Finch — Streaky, red-washed males. Year-round, cheerful warble.
American Robin — Lawn-hunting thrush, abundant west of the Cascades.
Chestnut-backed Chickadee — Rich chestnut back; the coastal Northwest chickadee.
Steller's Jay — Dark crested jay of conifer country. Bold and loud at feeders.
Northern Flicker — Ground-feeding woodpecker; red-shafted in the West.
Song Sparrow — Streaky brown, long tail. Sings from low cover year-round.
Bushtit — Tiny, plain, in twittering flocks that mob suet.
Bewick's Wren — Long white eyebrow, tail flicked side to side. Big song for a small bird.
American Crow — Big, smart, social. Family groups patrol yards year-round.

The tool will show which of these (and many more) are realistic at your exact ZIP, with a seasonal weight so you know what's likely right now.

This is a regional overview. For your exact yard:

Enter your California ZIP code. The tool ranks the birds actually likely at your feeder this month, where you live, not a generic national list.

What's your ZIP code?

We'll show you the birds you can expect near you right now, from feeder regulars to the ones that just pass through.

US ZIP code Month

Free. No email required. Works for any US ZIP code.

Better With Birds

Shop the birds you love

If you're already this into your California backyard birds, you're going to like the apparel, prints, and stickers we've designed around them.

Anna's Hummingbird, Spotted Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco, House Finch — all illustrated and designed by Jaymi at Better With Birds. Made-to-order, never mass-printed.