Winter Birds in Montana
The Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Flicker and Black-billed Magpie lead the backyard birds reported in Montana from December to February, from ten winters of iNaturalist reports.
The top winter birds in Montana
The songbirds, woodpeckers and doves reported most in Montana 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 Rough-legged Hawk leads them here.
1Dark-eyed Junco
Junco hyemalis
3.0% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Junco hyemalis hyemalis CT1 (cropped)” by Cephas, CC BY-SA 3.0
2Northern Flicker
Colaptes auratus
2.9% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Northern yellow-shafted flicker male (33737) (cropped)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
3Black-billed Magpie
Pica hudsonia
2.8% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “BlackBilledMagpie” by Polinova, CC BY-SA 4.0
4Black-capped Chickadee
Poecile atricapillus
2.7% 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
5Downy Woodpecker
Dryobates pubescens
1.9% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Dryobates pubescens UL 03” by Cephas, CC BY-SA 4.0
6Common Raven
Corvus corax
1.8% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Corvus corax clarionensis, Point Reyes National Seashore” by Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0
7Townsend's Solitaire
Myadestes townsendi
1.7% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “TownsendsSolitaire” by Polinova, CC BY-SA 4.0
8House Finch
Haemorhous mexicanus
1.5% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “House finch (33688)2” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
Every bird reported most in Montana 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 | Bald Eagle | 4.8% | 1.8% | Year round |
| 2 | Mallard | 4.2% | 1.6% | Year round |
| 3 | Rough-legged Hawk | 3.7% | 0% | Winter visitor |
| 4 | Canada Goose | 3.2% | 0.95% | Year round |
| 5 | Dark-eyed Junco | 3.0% | 0.70% | Year round |
| 6 | Northern Flicker | 2.9% | 1.3% | Year round |
| 7 | Black-billed Magpie | 2.8% | 2.6% | Year round |
| 8 | Red-tailed Hawk | 2.8% | 1.3% | Year round |
| 9 | Black-capped Chickadee | 2.7% | 0.66% | Year round |
| 10 | Common Goldeneye | 2.1% | 0.31% | Year round |
| 11 | Sharp-shinned Hawk | 2.0% | 0.06% | Winter visitor |
| 12 | Downy Woodpecker | 1.9% | 0.35% | Year round |
| 13 | Common Raven | 1.8% | 0.87% | Year round |
| 14 | Townsend's Solitaire | 1.7% | 0.17% | Year round |
| 15 | Trumpeter Swan | 1.6% | 0.34% | Year round |
| 16 | House Finch | 1.5% | 0.58% | Year round |
| 17 | Wild Turkey | 1.5% | 0.84% | Year round |
| 18 | Pileated Woodpecker | 1.4% | 0.26% | Year round |
| 19 | House Sparrow | 1.4% | 0.61% | Year round |
| 20 | Great Horned Owl | 1.4% | 0.84% | Year round |
Winter visitors to Montana
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 Montana that makes 4 species:
Rough-legged Hawk
Buteo lagopus
3.7% of winter bird reports and no summer reports at all.
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Accipiter striatus
2.0% of winter bird reports against 0.06% in summer, about 31 times the summer share.
Bohemian Waxwing
Bombycilla garrulus
1.4% of winter bird reports against 0.00% in summer, about 346 times the summer share.
Merlin
Falco columbarius
1.2% of winter bird reports against 0.11% in summer, about 11 times the summer share.
When Montana’s top winter birds are reported
The eight birds with the most winter reports in Montana, 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.
Bald Eagle
Peaks in December at 4.8%; winter 4.6%, summer 1.9%.
Mallard
Peaks in February at 4.1%; winter 3.7%, summer 1.6%.
Rough-legged Hawk
Peaks in December at 4.6%; winter 3.1%, summer 0%.
Canada Goose
Peaks in March at 4.1%; winter 2.5%, summer 0.92%.
Dark-eyed Junco
Peaks in February at 4.8%; winter 3.5%, summer 0.70%.
Northern Flicker
Peaks in October at 3.8%; winter 2.9%, summer 1.3%.
Black-billed Magpie
Peaks in October at 4.5%; winter 3.1%, summer 2.6%.
Red-tailed Hawk
Peaks in December at 3.4%; winter 3.1%, summer 1.3%.
Winter bird counts in Montana
Three counts run through the winter, each open to anyone in Montana 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 Montana
Compiled 2026-09-22 from research grade bird observation counts for Montana on iNaturalist, December to February, winters 2016-17 through 2025-26, against June to August, summers 2016 through 2025: 5,418 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 4.8% of them. Count dates and feeding guidance are quoted from the organisers and agencies linked above.