I have been watching the show outside my kitchen window for over 40 years. I can tell you that our backyards are alive with the delightful antics of birds. Most of us see the bright red cardinal, but most people miss a whole variety of interesting birds that are putting on an amazing performance. Let's discover some of the underappreciated birds that you can see in your own backyard.

1. Cedar Waxwing – Nature’s Mini Masked Bandits

These fancy birds with their subtle brown feathers and beige underparts look like they are ready for a heist in the Prohibition era. They have a smooth look with a black mask across their face, and their wings even have what appear to be drops of wax sealing the tips. They also have sociable flocks making them one of the fastest thieves the berry bush. In fact, they are so good at stripping bushes of their berries, they are known to occasionally get tipsy from eating fermented berries. These are the only known under-the-influence flying birds. Cedar Waxwings are nature's fashionistas. You will likely see them working up an appetite by performing insect-catching aerial tricks.

2. The White Breasted Nuthatch- The Acrobat of Upside Down

Humorously, these little characters appear to think that gravity is just a suggestion. While other kinds of birds ascend trees, nuthatches do the daredevil thing. They spiral, head first, down the trunks of the trees, defying physics multiple times on the way down! They also have an unforgettable call that sounds like a miniature tin horn from the smallest clown car you've ever seen. The Audubon Society also states that this call is used to nuthatches' advantage when climbing down to access insects that other birds might miss.[2] These feeder birds are remarkably bold, grabbing seeds straight out of the feeder with the efficiency of a shoplifter in a store. It's a grab-and-go kind of thing, no time for browsing.

3. The Tufted Titmouse – The Curious Whistler

Titmice sport little mohawks and look like they are in a permanent state of surprise. Their calls sound like clear whistles and have been described as "peter-peter-peter." They wake suburban neighborhoods in the morning long before the first alarm clocks were ever invented. They are also a little peculiar. They are known to use of the hair of living mammals, including sleeping dogs and even humans. They are lined their nests with hair like barbers that have gone rogue! They are also social and like to travel in small groups. They seem to practice a "seed etiquette." At feeders, they each seem to take one sunflower seed and go off to hammer it open in private, almost like they are trying to hide their manners.

4. The Carolina Wren – The Happy Singer

These small, brown packets filled with joy and positivity are loose are so loud they could make an opera singer jealous. There are no birds in your local area that are louder than these tiny, joy-filled birds. With their eyebrows made of white supercilia feathers, permanently upturned tails, and always ready to scold someone, Carolina Wrens look very ready to fight. The United States Fish & Wildlife Service has documented these birds nesting in the weirdest things, including old boots, mailboxes, and even abandoned coffee cans![4] I found a family in my shed's coffee can once, which explained why my coffee tasted like feathers.

5. The Dark-Eyed Junco- A Winter Visitor

Often referred to as “snowbirds” because they come at the first snowfall, these charming little guys seem to wear tuxedos year-round. Their gray and white boxy bodies make them look like tuxedos at a garden party. However, in a new study by Cornell, these birds were found to be altitude migrators, meaning the snowbirds actually breed in the nearby mountains and migrate back downhill for winter to go snowbirding in Florida. These birds prefer to eat on the ground and have a scratching and jumping method almost like tiny feathered chickens with a somewhat different two-footed kick that would make a line dancer proud. When these birds come, it’s a sure sign winter is on the way.

6. The Red-Bellied Woodpecker – The Misidentified Wonder

The person who gave a name to this bird obviously did not have a good pair of binoculars to spot the male birds bright red helmet. The birds do have a very faint pinkish wash to their belly, but it is incredibly easy to miss. Because these birds are very common visitors at suet feeders, they can be identified by their unique and distinctive call, which sounds like a mechanical toy winding down, and their call can be described as a rolling "churr-churr." These birds are one of the most, if not the most common, suet feeder visitors, and American Bird Conservancy states that these woodpeckers have a tongue that can extend almost 2 inches beyond the tip of their bill. Unlike the smaller and more nervous Downy Woodpecker, these birds, unlike the smaller and more nervous Downy Woodpecker, these birds, which are called the Hairy Woodpecker, possess an unusual amount of confidence, and they strut like birds that are twice their size, proclaiming to the entire neighborhood that this is their territory.

7. The Eastern Phoebe – The Tail-Wagging Flycatcher

They may not be the most beautiful birds, but their incredible ability to constantly wag their tails gives them an anxious appearance, like they just heard some bad news. One of the first birds ever to be banded in North America was banded by John James Audubon, founding them to be some of the first bird pioneers, according to The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. These birds are repeat builders of mud and moss nests. They build on the same porches, under the same eaves, and return to the same nesting sites every year. I’ve had the same pair of these birds over my garage door for almost ten years now – they’re more reliable than my tax audit!

8. The Brown Thrasher – The Garden Virtuoso

With their rusty brown feathers and speckled chests, these birds dress like they're off to some sophisticated garden party. Their unusually long tails are also quite classy. Their best features, however, are only visible when they open their mouths. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, who name them as their state bird, claim the Brown Thrasher has over 1,100 different types of song. This number is more than any other songbird in North America! Unlike other songbirds, they are known for their ability to mimic dozens of other birds and even human-made sounds. Watch for them to be the archaeological excavators of the forest floor as they thrash through the leaves. With their slightly curved bill, they flip debris like a chef turning pancakes.

9. The Pine Siskin: The Feisty Finch

If you look at these streaked finches at first sight, they may look boring. As they fly, their gold colored wing bars show off what looks like a secret sign from Mother Nature. Their gold wing bars are hidden beneath their plain exterior. According to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, these amazing birds survive extreme temperatures of -70°F by increasing their metabolic rate to about 40% more than other birds of the same species. They travel in flocks that argue and make a ton of noise. They will also storm your thistle feeder which is a lot like a group of teenagers raiding the fridge after school. Feeder visitors that are much bigger than they are, will back down from the finches as they are fearless, and have the attitude of birds that are three times bigger than them.

10. The Ruby-Crowned Kinglet – The Smallest Powerhouse

Weighing less than two quarters, these small birds are full of energy. Males have an excited ruby crown that they can take out, pop-up display style. These birds are’nt really pop up displays. They need to eat 3 times their body weight in insects everyday, making them a eating machines and they are in motio constantly. Their wings are rapidly moving. While they are hunting for insects in your trees and shrubs, you may see one of the small, olive colored birds with a ton of energy flying across your garden.

11. The Yellow-Rumped Warbler – The Winter Warbler

The distinct yellow patch above their tails is the reason why we used to call these gorgeous birds "butter-butts" (serious birders still do this on the down low). The Audubon Society has noted that these are the ONLY species of warblers that can digest bayberries and wax myrtles, enabling them to stay further North during the winter. Most warblers move South during the winter but because these birds have a different food source, they are able to remain North. In the winter time, their diet shifts from a specialty of insects to a preference for berries. One way to think of it is as if their food source have changed from steak to ice cream. Of the few warblers that come to your suet feeder during the winter months, they are one of the few that bring a splash of color to your drab winter days.

12. The Brown Creeper – The Bark Specialist

These wonderful little birds are a kind of nature's wallpaper and are quite remarkable! Their mottled brown colorations cause them to be almost fully camouflaged with the bark of trees. Creepers hitch and spiral up the face of tree trunks, with an almost mountaineer-like movement, as opposed to nuthatches who go down. Thin, curved bills of these birds are specially designed for slipping into the tiny crevices of the bark of trees to find food that other birds cannot get to. I have spent time watching them move on each individual tree, descend to the bottom of another tree, and repeat the process all over again! These birds are nature's original example of a rinse and repeat instruction.

13. The Eastern Towhee – The Garden Rummager

These beautiful birds are like the cleanup crew of your garden. Males have striking black colors on their upper parts while females have a rich brown color. Their call sounds like they are saying “drink-your-teeeea!” and that is how we used to name them “chewinks”. At quiet days, the Smithsonian National Zoo says we can hear their unique, two-footed, backward scratching behavior from 40 feet away. They move their feet backwards to do their little dance while more seeds and bugs than other birds can find go uncovered. This dance looks like they are doing the hokey-pokey in slow motion.

14. The Purple Finch – The Raspberry-Dipped Songster

The Purple Finch is a delightful bird that has been described by Roger Tory Peterson as a “sparrow dipped in raspberry juice“ and I can’t imagine a better description. The Purple Finch is often mistaken for the more common House Finch but if you look closely you can see the strong differences. The Purple Finch is a much deeper red color that can be described as red wine compared to the House Finch’s light chestnut color. The House Finch has a light brown color across the body and the chest and the head is very light in color compared to the body. The National Audubon Society has stated that the song of the Purple Finch is one of the most complex and has been known to imitate the calls of other species of birds. The call of the Purple Finch is often regarded as one of the sweetest sounds during spring and is also a frequent attraction to bird feeders as they love to eat sunflower seeds.

15. The Fox Sparrow – The Secret Treasure

It is always a pleasure to see Fox Sparrows in your yard as they are one of the largest type of sparrows. They are one of the most remarkably diverse North American birds. Frosted with a clean slate, they have 20 unique subspecies variations on color from regions of chocolate-brown to slate-gray. They have unique and highly skilled techniques when foraging. Using both of their feet, they kick backward as they ‘dozer’ through the leaves. This leaves distinguishable depressions in the snow and soil. Their shy nature would normally keep them hidden, but in the winter, they go uncharacteristically bold as they forage under the birdfeeders where they make finding them a lot easier. They are relatively rare and finding one is a nice surprise when your find one amongst the common scenery.