Winter Birds in Florida
The Palm Warbler, Boat-tailed Grackle and Northern Mockingbird lead the backyard birds reported in Florida from December to February, from ten winters of iNaturalist reports.
The top winter birds in Florida
The songbirds, woodpeckers and doves reported most in Florida 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 Palm Warbler leads them here.
1Palm Warbler
Setophaga palmarum
2.4% of winter bird reports
Winter visitorPhoto: “Palm warbler (41597)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
2Boat-tailed Grackle
Quiscalus major
1.8% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Boat Tailed Grackle Male JG” by JeffreyGammon, CC BY 4.0
3Northern Mockingbird
Mimus polyglottos
1.6% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Mockingbird in Bay Ridge (85082)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
4Yellow-rumped Warbler
Setophaga coronata
1.5% of winter bird reports
Winter visitorPhoto: “Yellow-rumped warbler singing (41612) (cropped)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
5Red-bellied Woodpecker
Melanerpes carolinus
1.2% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Red-bellied Woodpecker-27527”, Ken Thomas, Public domain
6Eastern Phoebe
Sayornis phoebe
1.1% of winter bird reports
Winter visitorPhoto: “Sayornis phoebe -Owen Conservation Park, Madison, Wisconsin, USA-8” by John Benson, CC BY 2.0
7Northern Cardinal
Cardinalis cardinalis
1.1% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Male northern cardinal in Central Park (52612)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
8Mourning Dove
Zenaida macroura
0.86% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Mourning dove perched (61179)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
Every bird reported most in Florida 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 | White Ibis | 3.8% | 4.8% | Year round |
| 2 | Anhinga | 3.3% | 3.1% | Year round |
| 3 | Great Blue Heron | 3.3% | 3.4% | Year round |
| 4 | Great Egret | 3.0% | 3.3% | Year round |
| 5 | Little Blue Heron | 2.5% | 2.3% | Year round |
| 6 | Palm Warbler | 2.4% | 0.01% | Winter visitor |
| 7 | Red-shouldered Hawk | 2.4% | 2.5% | Year round |
| 8 | Osprey | 2.0% | 2.4% | Year round |
| 9 | Tricolored Heron | 2.0% | 2.4% | Year round |
| 10 | Brown Pelican | 1.9% | 1.6% | Year round |
| 11 | Wood Stork | 1.8% | 1.1% | Year round |
| 12 | Boat-tailed Grackle | 1.8% | 2.3% | Year round |
| 13 | Double-crested Cormorant | 1.8% | 1.1% | Year round |
| 14 | Northern Mockingbird | 1.6% | 1.8% | Year round |
| 15 | Snowy Egret | 1.6% | 2.1% | Year round |
| 16 | Common Gallinule | 1.5% | 2.4% | Year round |
| 17 | Yellow-rumped Warbler | 1.5% | 0.00% | Winter visitor |
| 18 | Laughing Gull | 1.4% | 2.5% | Year round |
| 19 | Turkey Vulture | 1.4% | 0.58% | Year round |
| 20 | Muscovy Duck | 1.3% | 2.3% | Year round |
Winter visitors to Florida
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 Florida that makes 5 species:
Palm Warbler
Setophaga palmarum
2.4% of winter bird reports against 0.01% in summer, about 331 times the summer share.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Setophaga coronata
1.5% of winter bird reports against 0.00% in summer, about 558 times the summer share.
Ring-billed Gull
Larus delawarensis
1.2% of winter bird reports against 0.04% in summer, about 34 times the summer share.
Eastern Phoebe
Sayornis phoebe
1.1% of winter bird reports against 0.00% in summer, about 551 times the summer share.
Gray Catbird
Dumetella carolinensis
0.58% of winter bird reports against 0.01% in summer, about 55 times the summer share.
When Florida’s top winter birds are reported
The eight birds with the most winter reports in Florida, 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.
White Ibis
Peaks in October at 5.1%; winter 3.8%, summer 4.8%.
Anhinga
Peaks in November at 3.4%; winter 3.2%, summer 3.1%.
Great Blue Heron
Peaks in November at 3.6%; winter 3.2%, summer 3.4%.
Great Egret
Peaks in September at 3.5%; winter 3.0%, summer 3.3%.
Little Blue Heron
Peaks in October at 2.8%; winter 2.5%, summer 2.3%.
Palm Warbler
Peaks in November at 3.2%; winter 2.4%, summer 0.01%.
Red-shouldered Hawk
Peaks in November at 2.8%; winter 2.4%, summer 2.5%.
Osprey
Peaks in March at 2.6%; winter 2.0%, summer 2.4%.
Winter bird counts in Florida
Three counts run through the winter, each open to anyone in Florida with a window onto a feeder. Soonest first:
Starts in 18 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 61 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 121 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 Florida
Compiled 2026-09-22 from research grade bird observation counts for Florida on iNaturalist, December to February, winters 2016-17 through 2025-26, against June to August, summers 2016 through 2025: 394,329 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 3.8% of them. Count dates and feeding guidance are quoted from the organisers and agencies linked above.