Birds of Nevada

The Nevada Bird Records Committee had 491 species and two species pairs on the official state list as of March 2021, a lot for a desert, and the reason is water. Every spring, marsh and reservoir is a magnet, and the mountains stack habitats from sagebrush to bristlecone pine and bare rock.

For most Nevadans, though, the state is a neighborhood in Las Vegas or Reno: Mourning Doves on the wall, House Finches in the mesquite, ravens on the light poles and, in winter, White-crowned Sparrows whistling under the oleanders. The rest of the album is out where the pavement ends.

The Nevada album

These are the 100 birds people report most often in Nevada, ranked by how frequently they turn up. The common and uncommon ones are shown; the rare and legendary cards stay face down until you catch them in the game.

Backyard birds you will hear first

The Mourning Dove leads the album: a soft five-note coo from the roof and a whistle of wings when it takes off. The House Finch is second, a long, scratchy warble from a palm or a power line in every month. The Common Raven is the bird you hear at a gas station in Tonopah and on the Strip, a deep croak and a wooden knock.

The White-crowned Sparrow arrives in fall and winters in the yards and washes, a thin whistle that trails off into a buzz, with the Yellow-rumped Warbler chipping beside it. Mallards, American Coots and Canada Geese hold every park pond, and the Northern Flicker calls a loud kleer from the river cottonwoods. Gambel's Quail are the surprise for newcomers to Las Vegas: a covey clucking across the road at dawn, and a male on a wall calling chi-ca-go.

The regions, by ear

Las Vegas and the Mojave

Creosote, Joshua trees and washes. Cactus Wrens chug from the cholla, Verdins ping from the mesquite and Great-tailed Grackles whistle in the parking lots. Lake Mead National Recreation Area has recorded more than 240 species: the reservoirs pull in water birds that have no other business in the desert.

Reno and the Sierra front

Steller's Jays and Mountain Chickadees in the pines above Lake Tahoe, Western Tanagers in summer, and Black-billed Magpies chattering along the Truckee River through Reno.

The Lahontan Valley marshes

East of Reno the rivers end in shallow lakes. Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, 17 miles northeast of Fallon, is more than 80,000 acres of marsh, alkali beach, dunes and desert scrub with more than 250 species recorded: American Avocets and Long-billed Dowitchers on the flats, Tundra Swans and Canvasbacks on the open water.

The Great Basin and the ranges

Most of Nevada is sagebrush valleys between mountain ranges. Great Basin National Park near the Utah line climbs through five life zones, from Baker at 5,280 feet to the end of the Wheeler Peak road at 10,000 feet: Golden Eagles, Western Meadowlarks and sparrows in the sage, Mountain Chickadees and warblers in the ponderosa, Clark's Nutcrackers and Pine Siskins near the top, and Rock Wrens and the black form of the rosy-finch up past the bristlecones. The Mountain Bluebird belongs to this country, hovering over the sage meadows at first light.

Best months to listen

April and May are the peak: residents singing, winter sparrows not yet gone, migrants moving through the marshes and river cottonwoods. In the low desert start at first light, because by mid-morning in May the heat has closed everything down except the dove. June and July belong to the mountains, where bluebirds, tanagers and nutcrackers are still singing while Las Vegas bakes. Fall migration runs from August into October and is best at the marshes and springs. Winter is White-crowned Sparrows in the yards, swans on Stillwater, and ravens everywhere, always.

Places worth the drive

• Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, northeast of Fallon: avocets, dowitchers, swans and Canvasbacks on 80,000 acres of desert marsh, with an auto tour loop.
• Great Basin National Park, near Baker: five life zones on one road, from meadowlarks in the sage to rosy-finches at the glacier.
• Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Ruby Valley: a spring-fed marsh around 6,000 feet below the Ruby Mountains, established in 1938, one of the most remote refuges in the lower 48, and full of ducks.
• Lake Mead National Recreation Area, east of Las Vegas: more than 240 species around the reservoirs, with Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons and Burrowing Owls.

None of it is required. A backyard in Henderson or Sparks with a dripping hose and one tree hands you the first 15 cards in Warble.

Listen before you go

Three of the common Nevada birds, so the first songs you hear outside already ring a bell.

Canada Goose song

0:12

Recording by Chase Harris, CC0, via iNaturalist.

Mallard song

0:09

Recording by Fionn Ó Marcaigh, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist.

California Quail song

0:12

Recording by Anne Parsons, CC0, via iNaturalist.

Questions people ask

Nearby albums

Album data: public bird observations aggregated through GBIF, ranked by report frequency in Nevada. Updated September 30, 2026.