Winter Birds in Michigan
The Northern Cardinal, Downy Woodpecker and Dark-eyed Junco lead the backyard birds reported in Michigan from December to February, from ten winters of iNaturalist reports.
The top winter birds in Michigan
The songbirds, woodpeckers and doves reported most in Michigan 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 Dark-eyed Junco leads them here.
1Northern Cardinal
Cardinalis cardinalis
4.6% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Male northern cardinal in Central Park (52612)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
2Downy Woodpecker
Dryobates pubescens
4.4% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Dryobates pubescens UL 03” by Cephas, CC BY-SA 4.0
3Dark-eyed Junco
Junco hyemalis
4.2% of winter bird reports
Winter visitorPhoto: “Junco hyemalis hyemalis CT1 (cropped)” by Cephas, CC BY-SA 3.0
4Black-capped Chickadee
Poecile atricapillus
3.4% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Poecile-atricapilla-001” by No machine-readable author provided. Mdf assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0
5Red-bellied Woodpecker
Melanerpes carolinus
2.9% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Red-bellied Woodpecker-27527”, Ken Thomas, Public domain
6Blue Jay
Cyanocitta cristata
2.8% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Blue jay in PP (30960)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
7White-breasted Nuthatch
Sitta carolinensis
2.6% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “White-breasted nuthatch (26471)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
8American Goldfinch
Spinus tristis
2.5% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Carduelis tristis -Michigan, USA -male-8” by Rodney Campbell, CC BY 2.0
Every bird reported most in Michigan 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 | Northern Cardinal | 4.6% | 1.4% | Year round |
| 2 | Downy Woodpecker | 4.4% | 1.1% | Year round |
| 3 | Dark-eyed Junco | 4.2% | 0.04% | Winter visitor |
| 4 | Mallard | 3.5% | 3.8% | Year round |
| 5 | Black-capped Chickadee | 3.4% | 0.99% | Year round |
| 6 | Red-bellied Woodpecker | 2.9% | 0.61% | Year round |
| 7 | Blue Jay | 2.8% | 1.6% | Year round |
| 8 | Red-tailed Hawk | 2.7% | 1.2% | Year round |
| 9 | Canada Goose | 2.7% | 2.6% | Year round |
| 10 | White-breasted Nuthatch | 2.6% | 0.61% | Year round |
| 11 | American Goldfinch | 2.5% | 2.0% | Year round |
| 12 | Bald Eagle | 2.4% | 1.5% | Year round |
| 13 | House Finch | 2.1% | 0.87% | Year round |
| 14 | Cooper's Hawk | 2.0% | 0.45% | Year round |
| 15 | House Sparrow | 2.0% | 1.3% | Year round |
| 16 | Tufted Titmouse | 1.9% | 0.41% | Year round |
| 17 | American Tree Sparrow | 1.8% | 0.00% | Winter visitor |
| 18 | Common Goldeneye | 1.7% | 0.09% | Winter visitor |
| 19 | Mourning Dove | 1.7% | 1.4% | Year round |
| 20 | Pileated Woodpecker | 1.7% | 0.74% | Year round |
Winter visitors to Michigan
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 Michigan that makes 4 species:
Dark-eyed Junco
Junco hyemalis
4.2% of winter bird reports against 0.04% in summer, about 106 times the summer share.
American Tree Sparrow
Spizelloides arborea
1.8% of winter bird reports against 0.00% in summer, or almost none in summer.
Common Goldeneye
Bucephala clangula
1.7% of winter bird reports against 0.09% in summer, about 20 times the summer share.
Snowy Owl
Bubo scandiacus
1.3% of winter bird reports against 0.01% in summer, about 95 times the summer share.
When Michigan’s top winter birds are reported
The eight birds with the most winter reports in Michigan, 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.
Northern Cardinal
Peaks in January at 5.4%; winter 4.7%, summer 1.4%.
Downy Woodpecker
Peaks in January at 5.0%; winter 4.6%, summer 1.1%.
Dark-eyed Junco
Peaks in January at 5.0%; winter 4.3%, summer 0.04%.
Mallard
Peaks in March at 4.6%; winter 3.6%, summer 3.8%.
Black-capped Chickadee
Peaks in January at 3.7%; winter 3.5%, summer 1.0%.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Peaks in January at 3.2%; winter 2.9%, summer 0.61%.
Blue Jay
Peaks in January at 3.4%; winter 2.9%, summer 1.6%.
Red-tailed Hawk
Peaks in November at 2.9%; winter 2.5%, summer 1.2%.
Winter bird counts in Michigan
Three counts run through the winter, each open to anyone in Michigan with a window onto a feeder. Soonest first:
Starts in 22 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 65 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 125 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 Michigan
Compiled 2026-09-22 from research grade bird observation counts for Michigan on iNaturalist, December to February, winters 2016-17 through 2025-26, against June to August, summers 2016 through 2025: 29,373 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 4.6% of them. Count dates and feeding guidance are quoted from the organisers and agencies linked above.