What follows is my "Top Ten List of Favorite Birds." It's entirely subjective and arbitrary—at any given moment I may add birds or shift rankings. The tie for seventh place puts a total of 20 species in the "Top Ten." There were a bunch of "First Runners-Up," setting my list of all-time favorites at 57, again entirely subject to change. Within each ranking, birds are listed in taxonomic order.
1. Black-capped Chickadee
2. Pileated Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Evening Grosbeak
Rufous Hummingbird
Limpkin
Piping Plover
Black-capped Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Boreal Chickadee
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Pine Grosbeak
Common Redpoll
LeConte’s Sparrow
Brown Thrasher
Winter Wren
Northern Cardinal
There's a tie for First Runner-Up, also very much subject to change, mostly as I realize other species deserve to be here, too.
Sora
Sandhill CraneAmerican WoodcockRazorbillAtlantic PuffinBlack TernWood StorkGreat Blue HeronCalifornia CondorBoreal OwlNorthern Saw-whet OwlResplendent QuetzalCuban TodyRed-headed WoodpeckerRed-bellied WoodpeckerNorthern FlickerEastern KingbirdScissor-tailed FlycatcherAmerican CrowTufted TitmouseTree SwallowRuby-crowned KingletRed-breasted NuthatchBohemian Waxwing
Cedar WaxwingBrown CreeperHouse WrenVeeryHermit ThrushAmerican Robin
House Sparrow
Fox SparrowWhite-throated SparrowSong SparrowAmerican RedstartBlackburnian Warbler
Rose-breasted Grosbeak