This checklist contains 270 species that have been recorded in the Owens Lake area. The boundaries are Highways 395, 190, and 136 including towns, desert scrub, riparian woodlands, marshes, and Owens River from the highways to the lake bottom. The taxonomy and nomenclature used follows The AOU Check-list of North American Birds (1998), and all supplements through 2013.
Most of the data used in the checklist were collected by Tom and Jo Heindel, Mike Prather, Susan Steele, Debbie House, Judy Wickman, and Bob Hudson. Any species considered rare, casual, or accidental requires extensive documentation to be considered a county record and submitted for publication. Please send documentation, images, and/or audio files to Tom and Jo Heindel at tjheindel@gmail.com.
| WATERFOWL | RAILS/CRANE |
| _____Fulvous Whistling-Duck (E) (SS) | _____Virginia Rail |
| _____Greater White-fronted Goose | _____Sora |
| _____Snow Goose | _____Common Gallinule |
| _____Ross’s Goose | _____American Coot |
| _____Brant (SS) | _____Sandhill Crane (SS) (ST) |
| _____Cackling Goose | SHOREBIRDS |
| _____Canada Goose | _____Black-necked Stilt |
| _____Tundra Swan | _____American Avocet |
| _____Wood Duck | _____Black-bellied Plover |
| _____Gadwall | _____American Golden-Plover |
| _____American Wigeon | _____Pacific Golden-Plover |
| _____Mallard | _____Snowy Plover (SS) |
| _____Blue-winged Teal | _____Semipalmated Plover |
| _____Cinnamon Teal | _____Killdeer |
| _____Northern Shoveler | _____Mountain Plover (SS) |
| _____Northern Pintail | _____Spotted Sandpiper |
| _____Green-winged Teal | _____Solitary Sandpiper |
| _____Canvasback | _____Greater Yellowlegs |
| _____Redhead (SS) | _____Willet |
| _____Ring-necked Duck | _____Lesser Yellowlegs |
| _____Greater Scaup | _____Whimbrel |
| _____Lesser Scaup | _____Long-billed Curlew |
| _____Surf Scoter | _____Marbled Godwit |
| _____Long-tailed Duck | _____Ruddy Turnstone |
| _____Bufflehead | _____Black Turnstone |
| _____Common Goldeneye | _____Red Knot |
| _____Hooded Merganser | _____Ruff |
| _____Common Merganser | _____Stilt Sandpiper |
| _____Red-breasted Merganser | _____Sanderling |
| _____Ruddy Duck | _____Dunlin |
| QUAIL/LOONS/GREBES | _____Baird’s Sandpiper |
| _____California Quail | _____Little Stint |
| _____Chukar | _____Least Sandpiper |
| _____Ring-necked Pheasant | _____Buff-breasted Sandpiper |
| _____Pacific Loon | _____Pectoral Sandpiper |
| _____Common Loon | _____Semipalmated Sandpiper |
| _____Pied-billed Grebe | _____Western Sandpiper |
| _____Horned Grebe | _____Short-billed Dowitcher |
| _____Eared Grebe | _____Long-billed Dowitcher |
| _____Western Grebe | _____Wilson’s Snipe |
| _____Clark’s Grebe | _____Wilson’s Phalarope |
| CORMORANT/PELICANS | _____Red-necked Phalarope |
| _____Double-crested Cormorant | _____Red Phalarope |
| _____American White Pelican (SS) | JAEGER/GULLS/TERNS |
| _____Brown Pelican | _____Long-tailed Jaeger |
| BITTERNS/HERON/EGRETS/IBIS | _____Sabine’s Gull |
| _____American Bittern | _____Bonaparte’s Gull |
| _____Least Bittern (SS) | _____Franklin’s Gull |
| _____Great Blue Heron | _____Heermann’s Gull |
| _____Great Egret | _____Ring-billed Gull |
| _____Snowy Egret | _____Western Gull |
| _____Cattle Egret | _____California Gull |
| _____Green Heron | _____Herring Gull |
| _____Black-crowned Night-Heron | _____Thayer’s Gull |
| _____Glossy Ibis | _____Lesser Black-backed Gull |
| _____White-faced Ibis | _____Glaucous-winged Gull |
| VULTURES/BIRDS OF PREY | _____Least Tern (SE), (FE) |
| _____Turkey Vulture | _____Caspian Tern |
| _____Osprey | _____Black Tern (SS) |
| _____White-tailed Kite | _____Common Tern |
| _____Mississippi Kite | _____Arctic Tern |
| _____Bald Eagle (SE) | _____Forster’s Tern |
| _____Northern Harrier (SS) | PIGEON/DOVES/ROADRUNNER |
| _____Sharp-shinned Hawk | _____Rock Pigeon |
| _____Cooper’s Hawk | _____Eurasian Collared-Dove |
| _____Red-shouldered Hawk | _____White-winged Dove |
| _____Swainson’s Hawk (ST) | _____Mourning Dove |
| _____Red-tailed Hawk | _____Common Ground-Dove |
| _____Ferruginous Hawk | _____Greater Roadrunner |
| _____Rough-legged Hawk | |
| _____Golden Eagle | |
| OWLS/GOATSUCKERS/SWIFTS | GNATCATCHER/KINGLET/THRUSHES |
| _____Barn Owl | _____Blue-gray Gnatcatcher |
| _____Great Horned Owl | _____Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
| _____Burrowing Owl (SS) | _____Western Bluebird |
| _____Long-eared Owl (SS) | _____Mountain Bluebird |
| _____Short-eared Owl (SS) | _____Swainson’s Thrush |
| _____Lesser Nighthawk | _____Hermit Thrush |
| _____Common Nighthawk | _____American Robin |
| _____Common Poorwill | THRASHERS/MOCKINGBIRD/STARLING |
| _____Black Swift (SS) | _____Le Conte’s Thrasher |
| _____Vaux’s Swift (SS) | _____Sage Thrasher |
| _____White-throated Swift | _____Northern Mockingbird |
| HUMMINGBIRDS/KINGFISHER | _____European Starling |
| _____Black-chinned Hummingbird | WAXWING/PHAINOPEPLA/LONGSPURS |
| _____Anna’s Hummingbird | _____American Pipit |
| _____Costa’s Hummingbird | _____Cedar Waxwing |
| _____Rufous Hummingbird | _____Phainopepla |
| _____Belted Kingfisher | _____Lapland Longspur |
| WOODPECKERS | _____Chestnut-collared Longspur |
| _____Lewis’s Woodpecker | WARBLERS |
| _____Red-naped Sapsucker | _____Northern Waterthrush |
| _____Red-breasted Sapsucker | _____Prothonotary Warbler |
| _____Ladder-backed Woodpecker | _____Tennessee Warbler |
| _____Nuttall’s Woodpecker | _____Orange-crowned Warbler |
| _____Downy Woodpecker | _____Nashville Warbler |
| _____Northern Flicker | _____MacGillivray’s Warbler |
| CARACARA/FALCONS | _____Common Yellowthroat |
| _____Crested Caracara | _____American Redstart |
| _____American Kestrel | _____Northern Parula |
| _____Merlin | _____Yellow Warbler (SS) |
| _____Gyrfalcon | _____Yellow-rumped Warbler |
| _____Peregrine Falcon | _____Black-throated Gray Warbler |
| _____Prairie Falcon | _____Townsend’s Warbler |
| FLYCATCHERS | _____Hermit Warbler |
| _____Olive-sided Flycatcher (SS) | _____Wilson’s Warbler |
| _____Western Wood-Pewee | _____Yellow-breasted Chat (SS) |
| _____Willow Flycatcher (SE), (FE) | TOWHEES/SPARROWS |
| _____Gray Flycatcher | _____Green-tailed Towhee |
| _____Dusky Flycatcher | _____Spotted Towhee |
| _____Pacific-slope Flycatcher | _____Chipping Sparrow |
| _____Black Phoebe | _____Clay-colored Sparrow |
| _____Say’s Phoebe | _____Brewer’s Sparrow |
| _____Vermilion Flycatcher (SS) | _____Black-chinned Sparrow |
| _____Ash-throated Flycatcher | _____Vesper Sparrow |
| _____Western Kingbird | _____Lark Sparrow |
| _____Eastern Kingbird | _____Black-throated Sparrow |
| _____Scissor-tailed Flycatcher | _____Sagebrush Sparrow |
| SHRIKES/VIREOS | _____Bell’s Sparrow |
| _____Loggerhead Shrike (SS) | _____Savannah Sparrow |
| _____Northern Shrike | _____Fox Sparrow |
| _____Bell’s Vireo (SE), (FE) | _____Song Sparrow |
| _____Cassin’s Vireo | _____Lincoln’s Sparrow |
| _____Warbling Vireo | _____Swamp Sparrow |
| JAYS/MAGPIE/CROW/RAVEN | _____Harris’s Sparrow |
| _____Steller’s Jay | _____White-crowned Sparrow |
| _____Western Scrub-Jay | _____Golden-crowned Sparrow |
| _____Black-billed Magpie | _____Dark-eyed Junco |
| _____American Crow | TANAGER/GROSBEAKS/BUNTINGS |
| _____Common Raven | _____Western Tanager |
| LARK/SWALLOWS | _____Black-headed Grosbeak |
| _____Horned Lark | _____Blue Grosbeak |
| _____Purple Martin (SS) | _____Lazuli Bunting |
| _____Tree Swallow | BLACKBIRDS |
| _____Violet-green Swallow | _____Bobolink |
| _____Northern Rough-winged Swallow | _____Red-winged Blackbird |
| _____Bank Swallow (ST) | _____Western Meadowlark |
| _____Cliff Swallow | _____Yellow-headed Blackbird (SS) |
| _____Barn Swallow | _____Brewer’s Blackbird |
| CHICKADEE/NUTHATCH/WRENS | _____Great-tailed Grackle |
| _____Mountain Chickadee | _____Brown-headed Cowbird |
| _____Bushtit | _____Hooded Oriole |
| _____White-breasted Nuthatch | _____Bullock’s Oriole |
| _____Rock Wren | FINSHES/OLD WORLD SPARROW |
| _____Marsh Wren | _____House Finch |