Winter Birds in North Carolina
The Northern Cardinal, American Robin and Eastern Bluebird lead the backyard birds reported in North Carolina from December to February, from ten winters of iNaturalist reports.
The top winter birds in North Carolina
The songbirds, woodpeckers and doves reported most in North Carolina 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 White-throated Sparrow leads them here.
1Northern Cardinal
Cardinalis cardinalis
4.9% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Male northern cardinal in Central Park (52612)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
2American Robin
Turdus migratorius
3.9% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “American robin (71307)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
3Eastern Bluebird
Sialia sialis
3.1% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Sialia sialis -Michigan, USA -pair-8c” by Sandysphotos2009, CC BY 2.0
4White-throated Sparrow
Zonotrichia albicollis
2.7% of winter bird reports
Winter visitorPhoto: “Zonotrichia albicollis CT1” by Cephas, CC BY-SA 3.0
5Northern Mockingbird
Mimus polyglottos
2.6% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Mockingbird in Bay Ridge (85082)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
6Tufted Titmouse
Baeolophus bicolor
2.5% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Tufted titmouse (84917)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
7Carolina Chickadee
Poecile carolinensis
2.3% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Carolina Chickadee1 by Dan Pancamo” by Dan Pancamo, CC BY-SA 2.0
8Dark-eyed Junco
Junco hyemalis
2.3% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Junco hyemalis hyemalis CT1 (cropped)” by Cephas, CC BY-SA 3.0
Every bird reported most in North Carolina 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 | 4.9% | 3.0% | Year round |
| 2 | American Robin | 3.9% | 1.8% | Year round |
| 3 | Red-shouldered Hawk | 3.3% | 2.3% | Year round |
| 4 | Eastern Bluebird | 3.1% | 2.3% | Year round |
| 5 | White-throated Sparrow | 2.7% | 0.01% | Winter visitor |
| 6 | Great Blue Heron | 2.7% | 3.6% | Year round |
| 7 | Northern Mockingbird | 2.6% | 2.0% | Year round |
| 8 | Tufted Titmouse | 2.5% | 0.94% | Year round |
| 9 | Mallard | 2.4% | 2.3% | Year round |
| 10 | Carolina Chickadee | 2.3% | 0.94% | Year round |
| 11 | Dark-eyed Junco | 2.3% | 1.2% | Year round |
| 12 | Downy Woodpecker | 2.2% | 0.91% | Year round |
| 13 | Yellow-rumped Warbler | 2.1% | 0.01% | Winter visitor |
| 14 | Carolina Wren | 2.1% | 2.0% | Year round |
| 15 | Canada Goose | 2.0% | 1.8% | Year round |
| 16 | Red-bellied Woodpecker | 2.0% | 0.83% | Year round |
| 17 | Song Sparrow | 1.8% | 0.71% | Year round |
| 18 | House Finch | 1.7% | 1.7% | Year round |
| 19 | Mourning Dove | 1.4% | 1.8% | Year round |
| 20 | Pine Warbler | 1.3% | 0.25% | Year round |
Winter visitors to North Carolina
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 North Carolina that makes 6 species:
White-throated Sparrow
Zonotrichia albicollis
2.7% of winter bird reports against 0.01% in summer, about 511 times the summer share.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Setophaga coronata
2.1% of winter bird reports against 0.01% in summer, about 171 times the summer share.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Sphyrapicus varius
1.3% of winter bird reports against 0.11% in summer, about 12 times the summer share.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Corthylio calendula
1.3% of winter bird reports against 0.00% in summer, about 358 times the summer share.
Hermit Thrush
Catharus guttatus
1.2% of winter bird reports against 0.04% in summer, about 26 times the summer share.
Hooded Merganser
Lophodytes cucullatus
1.2% of winter bird reports against 0.02% in summer, about 55 times the summer share.
When North Carolina’s top winter birds are reported
The eight birds with the most winter reports in North Carolina, 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 February at 5.8%; winter 4.7%, summer 3.0%.
American Robin
Peaks in March at 7.3%; winter 3.4%, summer 1.7%.
Red-shouldered Hawk
Peaks in December at 3.4%; winter 3.2%, summer 2.3%.
Eastern Bluebird
Peaks in February at 3.6%; winter 3.1%, summer 2.3%.
White-throated Sparrow
Peaks in January at 2.9%; winter 2.5%, summer 0.01%.
Great Blue Heron
Peaks in September at 4.0%; winter 2.8%, summer 3.6%.
Northern Mockingbird
Peaks in March at 3.3%; winter 2.5%, summer 2.0%.
Tufted Titmouse
Peaks in January at 2.8%; winter 2.6%, summer 0.93%.
Winter bird counts in North Carolina
Three counts run through the winter, each open to anyone in North Carolina with a window onto a feeder. Soonest first:
Starts in 34 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 77 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 137 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 North Carolina
Compiled 2026-09-22 from research grade bird observation counts for North Carolina on iNaturalist, December to February, winters 2016-17 through 2025-26, against June to August, summers 2016 through 2025: 82,756 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 4.9% of them. Count dates and feeding guidance are quoted from the organisers and agencies linked above.