American goldfinch
Spinus tristis
American goldfinch is a bright, active finch that follows seedheads and open weedy or meadow-like plantings through the growing season.
Wildlife guide
Wildlife
Wildlife observed around Fairview in Salem, Oregon, from garden pollinators to birds and other species moving through the former Fairview Training Center site.
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Showing 18 wildlife entries that match these filters.
American kestrel
Falco sparverius
American kestrel is the smallest North American falcon, a compact predator of open country and edges that sometimes uses neighborhood perches, wires, and snags to hunt insects and small vertebrates.
Anna’s Hummingbird
Calypte anna
A year-round resident hummingbird of the Pacific Northwest, known for its iridescent pink throat, adaptability to urban gardens, and early-season breeding.
Barred owl
Strix varia
A large, dark-eyed woodland owl increasingly associated with mixed suburban edges, barred owl is a powerful nocturnal hunter whose presence is often detected first by voice rather than sight.
Black-capped chickadee
Poecile atricapillus
Black-capped chickadee is a small, energetic songbird that moves constantly through branches, gleaning insects and using neighborhood trees and shrubs for cover.
Cackling goose
Branta hutchinsii
Cackling goose is a small goose often seen moving through open lawns, wetlands, and seasonal migration corridors around urban and suburban landscapes.
American crow
Corvus brachyrhynchos
American crow is one of the most visible and adaptable neighborhood birds, combining intelligence, social behavior, and a remarkable ability to use human-shaped landscapes.
European starling
Sturnus vulgaris
European starling is a highly adaptable flocking bird that exploits cavities, lawns, fruit, and urban edges with great efficiency.
House finch
Haemorhous mexicanus
House finch is a common neighborhood finch that uses small trees, feeders, seedheads, and eaves with ease across the year.
Dark-eyed junco
Junco hyemalis
Dark-eyed junco is a familiar small sparrow of cool seasons and quiet garden edges, usually noticed as a flicker of slate, brown, and white moving beneath shrubs or across open ground.
Mallard
Anas platyrhynchos
Mallard is the most familiar neighborhood duck, readily using ponds, drainage features, and sheltered water edges when they are available.
Mourning dove
Zenaida macroura
Mourning dove is a gentle ground-feeding dove that uses wires, fences, trees, and open patches for resting, nesting, and foraging.
Northern flicker
Colaptes auratus
Northern flicker is a large woodpecker often seen on the ground as well as in trees, linking open lawns, trunks, and nesting cavities in one adaptable bird.
Red-winged blackbird
Agelaius phoeniceus
Red-winged blackbird is a striking marsh and field-edge bird whose song carries well across open wet ground, reeds, and nearby gardens.
California scrub-jay
Aphelocoma californica
California scrub-jay is a bold, intelligent, blue-and-gray corvid of oak edges, neighborhood gardens, and semi-open habitats, known for curiosity, memory, and constant visual presence.
Song sparrow
Melospiza melodia
Song sparrow is a familiar, adaptable sparrow that uses shrubs, edges, and damp or sheltered ground while singing persistently from low exposed perches.
Spotted towhee
Pipilo maculatus
Spotted towhee is a bold ground-foraging sparrow that scratches through leaf litter and shrubs at the edges of gardens, paths, and thickets.
Steller's jay
Cyanocitta stelleri
Steller's jay is a conspicuous crested corvid whose voice and bold movements make it one of the most noticeable birds in Pacific Northwest neighborhoods.