Winter Birds in South Dakota
The Downy Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Junco and White-breasted Nuthatch lead the backyard birds reported in South Dakota from December to February, from ten winters of iNaturalist reports.
The top winter birds in South Dakota
The songbirds, woodpeckers and doves reported most in South Dakota 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 Bald Eagle leads them here.
1Downy Woodpecker
Dryobates pubescens
2.8% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Dryobates pubescens UL 03” by Cephas, CC BY-SA 4.0
2Dark-eyed Junco
Junco hyemalis
2.3% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Junco hyemalis hyemalis CT1 (cropped)” by Cephas, CC BY-SA 3.0
3White-breasted Nuthatch
Sitta carolinensis
1.9% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “White-breasted nuthatch (26471)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
4Northern Cardinal
Cardinalis cardinalis
1.6% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “Male northern cardinal in Central Park (52612)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
5House Sparrow
Passer domesticus
1.5% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “House sparrow male in Prospect Park (53532)” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
6Black-capped Chickadee
Poecile atricapillus
1.4% 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
7House Finch
Haemorhous mexicanus
1.4% of winter bird reports
Year roundPhoto: “House finch (33688)2” by Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
8Red-bellied Woodpecker
Melanerpes carolinus
1.4% of winter bird reports
Winter visitorPhoto: “Red-bellied Woodpecker-27527”, Ken Thomas, Public domain
Every bird reported most in South Dakota 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 | 8.3% | 0.75% | Winter visitor |
| 2 | Common Goldeneye | 4.9% | 0% | Winter visitor |
| 3 | Common Merganser | 4.4% | 0.15% | Winter visitor |
| 4 | Rough-legged Hawk | 3.3% | 0% | Winter visitor |
| 5 | Canada Goose | 3.3% | 1.4% | Year round |
| 6 | Mallard | 3.1% | 1.6% | Year round |
| 7 | Downy Woodpecker | 2.8% | 0.60% | Year round |
| 8 | Red-tailed Hawk | 2.4% | 1.2% | Year round |
| 9 | Dark-eyed Junco | 2.3% | 0.59% | Year round |
| 10 | American Herring Gull | 2.2% | 0.02% | Winter visitor |
| 11 | Hooded Merganser | 2.0% | 0.08% | Winter visitor |
| 12 | White-breasted Nuthatch | 1.9% | 0.53% | Year round |
| 13 | Redhead | 1.7% | 0.26% | Year round |
| 14 | Ring-billed Gull | 1.6% | 0.53% | Year round |
| 15 | Northern Cardinal | 1.6% | 0.44% | Year round |
| 16 | House Sparrow | 1.5% | 1.0% | Year round |
| 17 | Black-capped Chickadee | 1.4% | 0.66% | Year round |
| 18 | House Finch | 1.4% | 0.56% | Year round |
| 19 | Ring-necked Pheasant | 1.4% | 0.38% | Year round |
| 20 | Red-bellied Woodpecker | 1.4% | 0.13% | Winter visitor |
Winter visitors to South Dakota
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 South Dakota that makes 9 species:
Bald Eagle
Haliaeetus leucocephalus
8.3% of winter bird reports against 0.75% in summer, about 11 times the summer share.
Common Goldeneye
Bucephala clangula
4.9% of winter bird reports and no summer reports at all.
Common Merganser
Mergus merganser
4.4% of winter bird reports against 0.15% in summer, about 29 times the summer share.
Rough-legged Hawk
Buteo lagopus
3.3% of winter bird reports and no summer reports at all.
American Herring Gull
Larus smithsonianus
2.2% of winter bird reports against 0.02% in summer, about 147 times the summer share.
Hooded Merganser
Lophodytes cucullatus
2.0% of winter bird reports against 0.08% in summer, about 27 times the summer share.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Melanerpes carolinus
1.4% of winter bird reports against 0.13% in summer, about 11 times the summer share.
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Accipiter striatus
1.3% of winter bird reports against 0.02% in summer, about 88 times the summer share.
American Tree Sparrow
Spizelloides arborea
1.1% of winter bird reports and no summer reports at all.
When South Dakota’s top winter birds are reported
The eight birds with the most winter reports in South Dakota, 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 February at 8.6%; winter 8.2%, summer 0.82%.
Common Goldeneye
Peaks in January at 6.1%; winter 4.8%, summer 0%.
Common Merganser
Peaks in December at 4.8%; winter 4.3%, summer 0.16%.
Rough-legged Hawk
Peaks in January at 4.5%; winter 3.6%, summer 0%.
Canada Goose
Peaks in February at 4.2%; winter 3.3%, summer 1.4%.
Mallard
Peaks in November at 4.0%; winter 3.1%, summer 1.6%.
Downy Woodpecker
Peaks in February at 3.7%; winter 2.9%, summer 0.61%.
Red-tailed Hawk
Peaks in December at 3.3%; winter 2.4%, summer 1.3%.
Winter bird counts in South Dakota
Three counts run through the winter, each open to anyone in South Dakota 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 South Dakota
Compiled 2026-09-22 from research grade bird observation counts for South Dakota on iNaturalist, December to February, winters 2016-17 through 2025-26, against June to August, summers 2016 through 2025: 2,571 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 8.3% of them. Count dates and feeding guidance are quoted from the organisers and agencies linked above.