Winter Birds in California
The White-crowned Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Black Phoebe lead the backyard birds reported in California from December to February, from ten winters of iNaturalist reports.
The top winter birds in California
The songbirds, woodpeckers and doves reported most in California in winter, ranked by their share of all research grade bird reports for the state, December to February. Birds marked winter visitor come for the cold months; the Yellow-rumped Warbler leads them here.
1White-crowned Sparrow
Zonotrichia leucophrys
2.6% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “White-crowned-Sparrow” by Wolfgang Wander, CC BY-SA 3.0
2Yellow-rumped Warbler
Setophaga coronata
2.2% of winter bird reports
Winter visitorPhoto: “Yellow-rumped warbler singing (41612) (cropped)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
3Black Phoebe
Sayornis nigricans
1.8% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Black phoebe (Sayornis nigricans aquaticus) Palopo” by Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
4House Finch
Haemorhous mexicanus
1.5% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “House finch (33688)2” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
5California Scrub-Jay
Aphelocoma californica
1.4% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “California Scrub Jay, Richmond, Contra Costa, California (30644196597)” by Becky Matsubara from El Sobrante, California, CC BY 2.0
6Dark-eyed Junco
Junco hyemalis
1.3% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Junco hyemalis hyemalis CT1 (cropped)” by Cephas, CC BY-SA 3.0
7Western Bluebird
Sialia mexicana
1.2% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Western bluebird (male)” by Blalonde, CC BY-SA 4.0
8California Towhee
Melozone crissalis
1.2% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Melozone crissalis 103257560”, Dario, CC0
Every bird reported most in California in winter
The same ranking across all birds, with the ducks, gulls and hawks that turn up at water and along roads beside the feeder birds.
| # | Species | Winter share | Summer share | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red-tailed Hawk | 3.1% | 2.3% | Year round |
| 2 | White-crowned Sparrow | 2.6% | 0.55% | Year round |
| 3 | Yellow-rumped Warbler | 2.2% | 0.17% | Winter visitor |
| 4 | Mallard | 1.9% | 2.5% | Year round |
| 5 | Anna's Hummingbird | 1.9% | 1.7% | Year round |
| 6 | Black Phoebe | 1.8% | 1.8% | Year round |
| 7 | American Coot | 1.8% | 0.59% | Year round |
| 8 | Great Egret | 1.7% | 1.4% | Year round |
| 9 | Great Blue Heron | 1.6% | 2.0% | Year round |
| 10 | House Finch | 1.5% | 2.3% | Year round |
| 11 | Snowy Egret | 1.5% | 1.8% | Year round |
| 12 | Western Gull | 1.4% | 2.3% | Year round |
| 13 | California Scrub-Jay | 1.4% | 1.7% | Year round |
| 14 | Red-shouldered Hawk | 1.4% | 1.2% | Year round |
| 15 | Dark-eyed Junco | 1.3% | 1.6% | Year round |
| 16 | Western Bluebird | 1.2% | 1.4% | Year round |
| 17 | Double-crested Cormorant | 1.2% | 0.99% | Year round |
| 18 | Bufflehead | 1.2% | 0.04% | Winter visitor |
| 19 | California Towhee | 1.2% | 1.6% | Year round |
| 20 | Turkey Vulture | 1.1% | 1.4% | Year round |
Winter visitors to California
A winter visitor here is a bird with a winter share of bird reports at least 10 times its summer share, with at least 20 winter reports. In California that makes 4 species:
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Setophaga coronata
2.2% of winter bird reports against 0.17% in summer, about 13 times the summer share.
Bufflehead
Bucephala albeola
1.2% of winter bird reports against 0.04% in summer, about 30 times the summer share.
American Wigeon
Mareca americana
1.1% of winter bird reports against 0.03% in summer, about 43 times the summer share.
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Zonotrichia atricapilla
1.1% of winter bird reports against 0.00% in summer, about 350 times the summer share.
When California’s top winter birds are reported
The eight birds with the most winter reports in California, month by month. A resident draws a flat line; a winter visitor rises in the middle of the chart and drops to nothing at the edges.
Red-tailed Hawk
Peaks in January at 3.2%; winter 3.2%, summer 2.3%.
White-crowned Sparrow
Peaks in October at 2.8%; winter 2.6%, summer 0.54%.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Peaks in October at 2.5%; winter 2.3%, summer 0.17%.
Mallard
Peaks in April at 3.2%; winter 1.9%, summer 2.5%.
Anna's Hummingbird
Peaks in March at 2.4%; winter 1.9%, summer 1.8%.
Black Phoebe
Peaks in September at 2.1%; winter 1.8%, summer 1.8%.
American Coot
Peaks in December at 1.8%; winter 1.7%, summer 0.59%.
Great Egret
Peaks in September at 1.9%; winter 1.6%, summer 1.4%.
Winter bird counts in California
Three counts run through the winter, each open to anyone in California with a window onto a feeder. Soonest first:
Starts in 19 days
Project FeederWatch
November 1, 2026 to April 30, 2027
Run by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada
“Project FeederWatch runs from November 1 through April 30. For each count, select two consecutive days as often as once a week.”
Project FeederWatchStarts in 62 days
Christmas Bird Count
December 14, 2026 to January 5, 2027
Run by National Audubon Society
“Feeder Counts: Count all the birds you see or hear from your own backyard or local park at a stationary bird feeder within a CBC circle. No binoculars or hiking required, and you can participate with less time commitment.”
Christmas Bird CountStarts in 122 days
Great Backyard Bird Count
February 12, 2027 to February 15, 2027
Run by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society and Birds Canada
“Count the birds you see for as little as 15 minutes on one of the four days.”
Great Backyard Bird CountThe 2026 count: 8,257 species on 467,696 checklists, an estimated 1,146,284 participants.
Feeding birds in winter
Cleaning
“Clean your seed or suet feeders regularly (e.g., every week or two) and more often during periods of heavy use or wet weather.”
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Project FeederWatch
“Debris (such as leftover bits of seeds and hulls) can harbor pathogens that make birds sick.”
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Project FeederWatch
Disinfecting
“To disinfect your feeders, soak the (cleaned) parts for 10 minutes in a diluted bleach solution (e.g., one part bleach to nine parts water).”
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Project FeederWatch
Sick birds
“Fluffed-up feathers, lethargy, abnormal growths, and crusty eyes are all symptoms of various avian illnesses.”
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Project FeederWatch
House finches
“For example, not every bird that is exposed to Mycoplasma gallisepticum will contract conjunctivitis; however, House Finches are especially susceptible to this bacterium, which led to serious declines in North American populations in the 1990s.”
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Project FeederWatch
Bird flu
“Bird feeders are unlikely to result in increased spread of avian influenza since the species of bird that tend to come to feeders are not commonly infected.”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
“However, feeders do concentrate passerines and increase the risk of transmission of other infectious diseases that do impact their health, including salmonella, E. coli and mycoplasma.”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Planting
“Creating natural spaces that attract birds to the cover and food provided by native vegetation appropriate to the location is far healthier than feeders.”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Quoted exactly from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; each link opens the full page.
Winter birds in other states
The same ranking runs in every state below, and the national list of winter backyard birds puts them side by side.
Questions about winter birds in California
Compiled 2026-09-22 from research grade bird observation counts for California on iNaturalist, December to February, winters 2016-17 through 2025-26, against June to August, summers 2016 through 2025: 1,009,529 winter bird reports in all. Shares are uploads by the public divided by all bird uploads for the state, so they follow birders as well as birds. The top bird took 3.1% of them. Count dates and feeding guidance are quoted from the organisers and agencies linked above.