Most commonly seen birds in Ontario
compiled a list of the most common birds seen near feeders in Ontario using data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's . Birds are ranked by the percent of sites visited from Jan. 3 to Jan. 16. Ties are broken by the average group size when seen, any further ties were not broken. Data was collected at 774 count sites in Ontario. Provinces with less than 10 count sites were not included in rankings for each bird.
Project FeederWatch, a citizen science project where participants collect data on birds at their feeders, was founded in Ontario by Erica Dunn and the Long Point Bird Observatory in 1976. The project partnered with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology after 10 years to scale the project across the U.S. and Canada and now has over 20,000 participants.
The data Project FeederWatch collects is used by scientists to understand trends in bird populations. If you would like to participate as a FeederWatcher you can learn more about the project .
Read on to see which birds are most commonly seen in your province.
#1. Black-capped Chickadee
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 87%
- Average group size: 3.22
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Manitoba: 97%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 96%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 95%
--- #4. Quebec: 94%
--- #5. Newfoundland and Labrador: 90%
#2. Dark-eyed Junco
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 82%
- Average group size: 5.41
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 90%
--- #1. British Columbia: 90%
--- #3. Ontario: 82%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 69%
--- #5. Quebec: 66%
#3. Northern Cardinal
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 70%
- Average group size: 2.19
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Ontario: 70%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 60%
--- #3. Quebec: 59%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 53%
--- #5. Prince Edward Island: 14%
#4. Downy Woodpecker
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 69%
- Average group size: 1.34
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Quebec: 75%
--- #2. Ontario: 69%
--- #3. Alberta: 68%
--- #3. Manitoba: 68%
--- #3. Saskatchewan: 68%
#5. American Goldfinch
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 68%
- Average group size: 5.12
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Nova Scotia: 92%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 86%
--- #3. Newfoundland and Labrador: 80%
--- #4. Prince Edward Island: 71%
--- #5. Ontario: 68%
#6. Mourning Dove
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 67%
- Average group size: 4.04
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Nova Scotia: 76%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 69%
--- #3. Ontario: 67%
--- #4. Prince Edward Island: 64%
--- #5. Quebec: 60%
#7. Blue Jay
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 61%
- Average group size: 3.01
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Prince Edward Island: 93%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 80%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 76%
--- #4. Manitoba: 65%
--- #5. Alberta: 64%
#8. White-breasted Nuthatch
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 60%
- Average group size: 1.29
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Manitoba: 74%
--- #2. Quebec: 66%
--- #3. Ontario: 60%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 57%
--- #5. New Brunswick: 55%
#9. Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 50%
- Average group size: 1.37
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Saskatchewan: 64%
--- #2. Alberta: 58%
--- #3. Ontario: 50%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 50%
--- #5. British Columbia: 45%
#10. Hairy Woodpecker
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 41%
- Average group size: 1.34
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. New Brunswick: 67%
--- #2. Quebec: 58%
--- #3. Manitoba: 53%
--- #4. Saskatchewan: 50%
--- #5. Nova Scotia: 45%
#11. House Finch
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 39%
- Average group size: 3.36
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 60%
--- #2. Alberta: 45%
--- #3. Ontario: 39%
--- #4. Saskatchewan: 29%
--- #5. Quebec: 27%
#12. House Sparrow
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 31%
- Average group size: 5.48
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Alberta: 55%
--- #2. Saskatchewan: 54%
--- #3. Manitoba: 52%
--- #4. Ontario: 31%
--- #5. Quebec: 29%
#13. Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 31%
- Average group size: 1.09
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Ontario: 31%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 17%
--- #3. Prince Edward Island: 14%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 6%
--- #5. Manitoba: 5%
#14. American Tree Sparrow
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 28%
- Average group size: 2.24
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Ontario: 28%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 17%
--- #3. Quebec: 14%
--- #3. Prince Edward Island: 14%
--- #5. Newfoundland and Labrador: 10%
#15. European Starling
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 22%
- Average group size: 3.62
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Nova Scotia: 55%
--- #2. Prince Edward Island: 50%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 31%
--- #4. Newfoundland and Labrador: 30%
--- #5. Ontario: 22%
#16. American Crow
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 15%
- Average group size: 2.08
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Prince Edward Island: 79%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 62%
--- #3. Nova Scotia: 55%
--- #4. Newfoundland and Labrador: 50%
--- #5. British Columbia: 28%
#17. Cooper's Hawk
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 12%
- Average group size: 1.01
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Ontario: 12%
--- #2. Quebec: 8%
--- #2. British Columbia: 8%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 4%
--- #5. New Brunswick: 2%
#18. White-throated Sparrow
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 10%
- Average group size: 1.64
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Nova Scotia: 20%
--- #1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 20%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 19%
--- #4. Quebec: 17%
--- #5. Ontario: 10%
#19. Evening Grosbeak
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 7%
- Average group size: 7.47
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. New Brunswick: 60%
--- #2. Newfoundland and Labrador: 50%
--- #3. Nova Scotia: 47%
--- #4. Quebec: 27%
--- #5. Saskatchewan: 21%
#20. Pileated Woodpecker
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 7%
- Average group size: 1.13
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Manitoba: 29%
--- #2. British Columbia: 12%
--- #3. Alberta: 8%
--- #3. Quebec: 8%
--- #3. Nova Scotia: 8%
