Bird encyclopedia · 12 reviewed profiles · 108 species
Backyard Birds A–Z
The backyard birds most people meet are a short list — cardinal, chickadee, titmouse, goldfinch, house finch, robin, blue jay, mourning dove, downy woodpecker, hummingbird, oriole — and each has a reviewed profile here built from the Cornell Lab's All About Birds accounts and eBird records 68.
Below them is an A–Z of the U.S. backyard and feeder species covered on this site — the hundred species people report most at feeders and in yards, plus yard regulars such as screech-owls, quail and cuckoos — named and ordered by the American Ornithological Society's checklist 7. Seabirds, rarities and tropical species are left out because they do not visit backyards.
Reviewed backyard birds
How to identify backyard birds
Start with the feeder, because feeders sort birds by food: black-oil sunflower brings cardinals, chickadees, finches and sparrows; nyjer brings goldfinches, siskins and redpolls; suet brings woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees; millet on the ground brings juncos, doves and sparrows 1. Then use size and shape against a bird you know — the profiles here give size in centimeters and the family — and finally color and field marks from the All About Birds accounts each profile cites 8.
Season matters too. Goldfinches molt twice a year and are olive-brown in winter; robins that stay north roost in trees and feed on berries rather than lawns; blue jays may migrate one year and not the next 8. The seasonal pages on this site cover spring, summer and fall for the commonest species.
Backyard birds by state
Which backyard birds you actually see depends on where you live. For nine states — Florida, Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Michigan and Rhode Island — this site computes the most-reported species, month by month, from eBird checklists reported 2020–2024 and retrieved through GBIF 6. The Black-capped Chickadee ranks third among all species reported in Michigan and has no records at all in Florida; the Northern Cardinal is the single most-reported bird in both Florida and Tennessee and has only a few hundred records in California 6. Each of the eleven reviewed profiles shows its own nine-state eBird summary.
Backyard birds by state and group
All 108 species A–Z
16 species
16 species
2 species
5 species
3 species
3 species
3 species
1 species
1 species
3 species
3 species
4 species
3 species
12 species
6 species
1 species
3 species
Frequently asked questions
What are the most common backyard birds?
In much of the East: Northern Cardinal, Black-capped or Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, American Goldfinch, House Finch, American Robin, Blue Jay, Mourning Dove and Downy Woodpecker — all profiled here; the state pages show local rankings from eBird 6.
Why aren't seabirds and rare species listed?
This is a backyard guide: the A–Z covers species that visit U.S. yards and feeders. Names and order follow the AOS checklist 7, but seabirds, tropical species and rarities that never come to a backyard are not included.
Sources
- Project FeederWatch (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) — Feeding Birds: feeders, foods, water, placement, cleaning and safety
- Project FeederWatch — Sick Birds and Bird Diseases
- All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) — Why Birds Hit Windows, and How You Can Help Prevent It
- National Audubon Society — How to Make Your Yard Bird-Friendly
- National Audubon Society — Why Native Plants Matter
- EOD – eBird Observation Dataset, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, via GBIF.org (CC BY 4.0); state records 2020–2024
- American Ornithological Society — Checklist of North and Middle American Birds (taxa list, accessed 2026-08-11)
- All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) — Bird Guide species accounts (cited on each profile)