Contra Costa County, CA
Breeding Bird Atlas

Updated to include final 1998-2002 Data

The Contra Costa County breeding bird atlas has been completed. Below is an index map of the county with its atlas blocks. Each block is referred to by its coordinates, such as 625-215 for the block in the northeast corner of the map. The breeding status of each species in the county is included below the map.

Contra Costa County map generated by the really cool Tiger Map Server

For information about the Contra Costa County Breeding Bird Atlas, contact Steve Glover
If you have comments, suggestions, etc. for this web site, contact Joel Herr

Click on a species to see its breeding status in each of the county’s blocks. The breeding occurrence of 164 species is shown here, 144 of which were confirmed breeding in Contra Costa County. The display for each species is provided in part by BBA List software. For information about birds in Contra Costa County all year, refer to the Contra Costa County checklist or Steve Glover’s Guide to Finding Birds in Contra Costa County.

Water Birds

Pied-billed Grebe	Western Grebe	Clark’s Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant	Pelagic Cormorant	American Bittern
Black-crowned Night-Heron	Green Heron	Snowy Egret
Great Egret	Great Blue Heron	Canada Goose
Mallard	Gadwall	Green-winged Teal
Blue-winged Teal	Cinnamon Teal	Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail	Ruddy Duck	Wood Duck
Common Merganser

Vultures and Raptors

Turkey Vulture	Golden Eagle	White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier	Sharp-shinned Hawk	Cooper’s Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk	Red-tailed Hawk	Swainson’s Hawk
Osprey	American Kestrel	Prairie Falcon
Peregrine Falcon

Grouse and Quail

Ring-necked Pheasant

Wild Turkey

California Quail

Rails and Coots

Clapper Rail	Virginia Rail	Sora
Black Rail	Common Moorhen	American Coot

Shorebirds, Gulls and Terns

Black Oystercatcher	American Avocet	Black-necked Stilt
Killdeer	Spotted Sandpiper	Western Gull
California Gull	Forster’s Tern	Least Tern
Caspian Tern

Pigeons and Doves

Band-tailed Pigeon

Rock Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Owls and Nightjars

Barn Owl	Short-eared Owl	Long-eared Owl
Great Horned Owl	Western Screech-Owl	Northern Pygmy-Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl	Burrowing Owl	Lesser Nighthawk
Common Poorwill

Swifts and Hummingbirds

White-throated Swift	Black-chinned Hummingbird	Anna’s Hummingbird
Allen’s Hummingbird

Kingfishers and Woodpeckers

Belted Kingfisher	Acorn Woodpecker	Northern Flicker
Downy Woodpecker	Hairy Woodpecker	Nuttall’s Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker

Flycatchers

Olive-sided Flycatcher	Western Wood-Pewee	Say’s Phoebe
Black Phoebe	Pacific-slope Flycatcher	Ash-throated Flycatcher
Western Kingbird

Shrikes and Vireos

Loggerhead Shrike	Cassin’s Vireo	Hutton’s Vireo
Warbling Vireo

Jays, Crows, etc.

Western Scrub-Jay	Steller’s Jay	Yellow-billed Magpie
American Crow	Common Raven

Larks and Swallows

Horned Lark	Tree Swallow	Violet-green Swallow
No. Rough-winged Swallow	Cliff Swallow	Barn Swallow

Titmice, Bushtit, Nuthatches and Creepers

Oak Titmouse	Chestnut-backed Chickadee	Bushtit
White-breasted Nuthatch	Red-breasted Nuthatch	Pygmy Nuthatch
Brown Creeper

Wrens

Winter Wren	House Wren	Bewick’s Wren
Marsh Wren	Canyon Wren	Rock Wren

Gnatcatchers, Thrushes, and Wrentit

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	Western Bluebird	American Robin
Swainson’s Thrush	Hermit Thrush	Wrentit

Thrashers, Starlings, and Phainopepla

Northern Mockingbird	California Thrasher	European Starling
Cedar Waxwing	Phainopepla

Warblers, Grosbeaks, and Buntings

Orange-crowned Warbler	Black-throated Gray Warbler	Yellow Warbler
MacGillivray’s Warbler	Wilson’s Warbler	Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-breasted Chat	Black-headed Grosbeak	Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting	Lazuli Bunting

Sparrows

Spotted Towhee	California Towhee	Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow	Black-chinned Sparrow	Lark Sparrow
Sage Sparrow	Song Sparrow	Savannah Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow	White-crowned Sparrow	Dark-eyed Junco

Blackbirds and Orioles

Western Meadowlark	Great-tailed Grackle	Yellow-headed Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird	Tricolored Blackbird	Brewer’s Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird	Bullock’s Oriole	Hooded Oriole

Tanager, Finches and House Sparrow

Western Tanager	Pine Siskin	American Goldfinch
Lesser Goldfinch	Lawrence’s Goldfinch	House Finch
Purple Finch	House Sparrow

Web space is provided by the Flying Emu Birding Pages of Alamo, CA