Most commonly seen birds in California

Stacker compiled a list of the most common birds seen near feeders in California using data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project FeederWatch. Birds are ranked by the percent of sites visited from Apr. 18 to Apr. 30. Ties are broken by the average group size when seen, any further ties were not broken. Data was collected at 303 count sites in California. States with less than 10 count sites were not included in rankings for each bird.

Project FeederWatch, a citizen science project where participants collect data on birds at their feeders, was founded in Ontario by Erica Dunn and the Long Point Bird Observatory in 1976. The project partnered with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology after 10 years to scale the project across the U.S. and Canada and now has over 20,000 participants.

The data Project FeederWatch collects is used by scientists to understand trends in bird populations. If you would like to participate as a FeederWatcher you can learn more about the project here.

Read on to see which birds are most commonly seen in your state.

#1. House Finch
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 89%
- Average group size: 4.72
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. New Mexico: 100%
--- #2. Utah: 95%
--- #3. Arizona: 94%
--- #4. Indiana: 93%
--- #4. Delaware: 93%

#2. Mourning Dove
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 72%
- Average group size: 3.25
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Delaware: 93%
--- #2. New Jersey: 91%
--- #3. Connecticut: 90%
--- #4. Pennsylvania: 89%
--- #5. Kansas: 88%

#3. Anna's Hummingbird
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 67%
- Average group size: 1.72
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Oregon: 70%
--- #2. California: 67%
--- #3. Washington: 60%
--- #4. Arizona: 55%
--- #5. Nevada: 19%

#4. California Towhee
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 66%
- Average group size: 1.44
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. California: 66%

#5. Lesser Goldfinch
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 64%
- Average group size: 3.88
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Utah: 79%
--- #2. Nevada: 75%
--- #3. California: 64%
--- #3. Arizona: 64%
--- #5. New Mexico: 62%

#6. California Scrub-Jay
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 57%
- Average group size: 1.54
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. California: 57%
--- #2. Nevada: 56%
--- #3. Oregon: 52%
--- #4. Washington: 10%

#7. Oak Titmouse
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 51%
- Average group size: 1.34
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. California: 51%
--- #2. Oregon: 1%

#8. Dark-eyed Junco
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 49%
- Average group size: 3.14
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Washington: 83%
--- #2. Vermont: 72%
--- #3. Maine: 70%
--- #4. Oregon: 64%
--- #5. New York: 63%

#9. American Crow
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 41%
- Average group size: 2.02
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Maine: 47%
--- #1. Virginia: 47%
--- #3. Washington: 43%
--- #3. Arkansas: 43%
--- #5. North Carolina: 42%

#10. Chestnut-backed Chickadee
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 35%
- Average group size: 1.76
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Washington: 65%
--- #2. Oregon: 38%
--- #3. California: 35%
--- #4. Alaska: 14%
--- #5. Montana: 3%

#11. Spotted Towhee
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 32%
- Average group size: 1.33
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. New Mexico: 72%
--- #2. Washington: 68%
--- #3. Oregon: 46%
--- #4. Colorado: 36%
--- #5. California: 32%

#12. Allen's Hummingbird
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 31%
- Average group size: 1.64
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. California: 31%

#13. Black-headed Grosbeak
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 30%
- Average group size: 1.67
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Arizona: 32%
--- #2. California: 30%
--- #3. Oregon: 14%
--- #4. New Mexico: 6%
--- #5. Washington: 4%

#14. White-breasted Nuthatch
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 29%
- Average group size: 1.34
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Maine: 82%
--- #2. Connecticut: 77%
--- #3. Massachusetts: 72%
--- #4. Vermont: 70%
--- #5. West Virginia: 68%

#15. House Sparrow
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 27%
- Average group size: 3.02
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Illinois: 90%
--- #2. Nebraska: 88%
--- #3. Iowa: 81%
--- #4. Wyoming: 80%
--- #5. Indiana: 79%

#16. Nuttall's Woodpecker
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 25%
- Average group size: 1.15
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. California: 25%

#17. Hooded Oriole
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 24%
- Average group size: 1.51
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. California: 24%
--- #2. Arizona: 18%
--- #3. Nevada: 6%
--- #4. Texas: 1%

#18. Bewick's Wren
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 24%
- Average group size: 1.11
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Texas: 28%
--- #2. California: 24%
--- #3. Washington: 19%
--- #4. New Mexico: 13%
--- #5. Oregon: 12%

#19. Acorn Woodpecker
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 23%
- Average group size: 1.97
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. California: 23%
--- #2. Arizona: 11%
--- #3. Oregon: 10%

#20. Band-tailed Pigeon
- Sites visited Apr. 18 to Apr. 30: 22%
- Average group size: 4.66
- States with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. California: 22%
--- #2. Washington: 19%
--- #3. Oregon: 15%
--- #4. Arizona: 3%
--- #5. Colorado: 2%