8. Green Jay

HOT SPOT: Quinta Mazatlan, Texas

Super common within their range, the green jay might be the easiest bucket list bird to see. The key is traveling to extreme south Texas where their range and population have slowly increased from 1966 to 2015. Partners in Flight estimates about 4 percent of breeding pairs call the U.S. home, and the rest live in Central or South America. Nature offers no guarantees, but there’s a good chance of finding so many green jays in south Texas that your friends will be green with jay envy.