Abra was notoriously hard to catch given its ability to “teleport” away from you, so its matched with the flighty sparrow family (I also needed a group of three). The Song Sparrow is the most common sparrow in the country and earns its name through loud, stuttering singing. The White-Crowned Sparrow and Golden-Crowned Sparrows are noticeably larger, and only find their way down to California in the winter months.

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Hawks are tough fighters, so they’re paired with the gym rat humanoid Machop family. Cooper’s Hawks are smaller hawks, renown for agile flying that allows them to pursue prey through dense forests. The Red-Shouldered Hawk is medium-sized, while the larger Red-Tailed Hawk is the nation’s most widespread raptor. Chances are if you see a hawk in the sky, it’s a Red-Tail!

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Bellsprout and co. are Pokemon Blue-only insect-eating plants, and they’ve been paired with three fly-catching birds native to the West Coast. The Black Phoebe is a common resident of California backyards, while Say’s Phoebe is a rarer sighting. The larger Western Kingbird can be found during the summer, and is the title bird of Kingbird Highway, a true story about how the famous birder Ken Kaufman hitchhiked around the country at the age of 17 to try and set a “Big Year” record. Yes, there are famous birders.

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Jellyfish float along the water’s surface, and so do Grebes! The Pied-Billed Grebe is a demure presence of lakes and freshwater marshes, while the Western Grebe can be found inland or out off the coast. Both birds are prodigious divers.

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Wrens are brown, kind of circular, and the last one on the list has rock in its name. The House Wren is the most widespread wren in the U.S., but the Bewick’s Wren may be the more frequent presence in California backyards. Look for its bright white supercilium (that’s bird for eyebrow). The Rock Wren is harder to find, but is fairly common in arid habitats.

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