The Most Common Winter Birds in Philadelphia

Dark-eyed Junco

Learn the birds on this list and amaze your family and friends with your Philadelphia natural history knowledge.

You don't need to know hundreds of birds, just the ones that occur in your area during particular seasons. There are only 20-30, common and easily found, species of birds living in cold winter areas. This list has 26 species.

There are some birds that I need to know better. Sparrows still confuse me. They aren't called "little brown jobs" for nothing. I would also like to know Red-tailed Hawk plumages.

Using this list, helps me to focus on what is important to know.

Below are the most widespread and easily found birds in the City of Philadelphia during the winter.  The information holds for areas close to the city, give or take a few species.

The information was gleaned from the 24th annual Philadelphia Mid-Winter Bird Census, held on Saturday January 9, 2010 and conducted by the Delaware Valley Ornithology Club.

Starting with the most common and widespread species:

1. Downy Woodpecker
2. Northern Cardinal
3. Carolina Chickadee
4. Song Sparrow
5. White-throated Sparrow 
6. American Robin (often hanging out in wooded areas)
7. Carolina Wren
8. Mourning Dove
9. Tufted Titmouse
10. House Sparrow 
11. Blue Jay (wooded areas)
12. White-breasted Nuthatch
13. Northern Mockingbird
14. Red-bellied Woodpecker
15. Red-tailed Hawk
16. American Goldfinch
17. Dark-eyed Junco
18. European Starling
19. American Crow
20. Canada Goose
21. Rock Pigeon (the common gray jobs that frequent city streets)
22. Ring-billed Gull
23. Mallard
24. House Finch
25. Hairy Woodpecker
26. Northern Flicker

Project Feederwatch offers free posters of common eastern or western winter feeder birds for download and printing.

Find out about birds at All About Birds http://www.allaboutbirds.org/, a comprehensive resource for information on North American birds by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology