Spark the love of birds with your family
Plain-English bird ID, feeder guides we’d actually buy, and easy weekend projects that bring cardinals, chickadees and hummingbirds to your yard.
Start here
Three doors into the site. Pick the one that matches what’s outside your window.
What bird is that?
Small gray bird with a crest? Black bird with white wings? Start with color and size.
Feeders & seed that work
Honest buying guides for cardinals, finches, woodpeckers and winter flocks.
Birding with kids
Ten-minute backyard activities, first binoculars, and how to start by age.
Latest from the yard
New guides five days a week, written for people who watch birds from the kitchen window.
What Bird Is That? Bird ID Chart by Color
48 common backyard birds sorted by color and size, with one field mark each. Two-page PDF.
When Do Hummingbirds Leave? Dates for All 50 States
Last-sighting and feeder-down dates for every state, plus which species you’ll see on the way out.
Are Hawks Dangerous to Humans?
What a hawk will and won’t do near your yard, your kids and your pets, and when to actually worry.
Gray Birds With Red Heads: How to Identify Them
House finch, purple finch, red-bellied woodpecker or pyrrhuloxia? Here’s how to tell in ten seconds.
Small Gray Bird With a Crest? Titmouse, Bushtit or Something Else
The little gray bird with the pointed crest and the big black eyes, and the birds it gets confused with.
What Bird Lays a Blue Egg?
Robins, bluebirds, starlings and more. Match the egg in your nest box to the bird that laid it.
Buying guides we stand behind
Every pick is rated 4 stars or better and in stock the week we publish. How we choose products →
Best Bird Feeders for Cardinals
Wide perches, big seed ports and squirrel-proofing that survives a Midwest winter.
Read the guide →Best Window Bird Feeders
Suction-cup feeders that hold in cold weather and put chickadees six inches from your coffee.
Read the guide →Best Suet Feeders
Upside-down and cage styles that bring woodpeckers and keep starlings out.
Read the guide →The Best Bird Seed
Black-oil sunflower, safflower, nyjer, and the mixes that are mostly filler.
Read the guide →Birds are easier to love when you know their names.
Spark Lark is a family bird-watching site: short, specific guides for the birds in your yard, the feeders that bring them, and getting kids outside to see them.
Meet Spark Lark
Spark Lark started with one feeder, two kids and a lot of “what’s that bird?” Every guide is written to answer that question fast, in plain English, with photos from U.S. wildlife refuges.