Most commonly seen birds in Alberta
Stacker compiled a list of the most common birds seen near feeders in Alberta using data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project FeederWatch. Birds are ranked by the percent of sites visited from Jan. 3 to Jan. 16. Ties are broken by the average group size when seen, any further ties were not broken. Data was collected at 77 count sites in Alberta. Provinces 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 province.
#1. Black-capped Chickadee
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 81%
- Average group size: 3.3
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Manitoba: 97%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 96%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 95%
--- #4. Quebec: 94%
--- #5. Newfoundland and Labrador: 90%
#2. Black-billed Magpie
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 74%
- Average group size: 2.49
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Alberta: 74%
--- #2. Saskatchewan: 25%
--- #3. Manitoba: 19%
--- #4. British Columbia: 5%
#3. Downy Woodpecker
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 68%
- Average group size: 1.48
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Quebec: 75%
--- #2. Ontario: 69%
--- #3. Alberta: 68%
--- #3. Manitoba: 68%
--- #3. Saskatchewan: 68%
#4. Blue Jay
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 64%
- Average group size: 2.36
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Prince Edward Island: 93%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 80%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 76%
--- #4. Manitoba: 65%
--- #5. Alberta: 64%
#5. Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 58%
- Average group size: 1.57
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Saskatchewan: 64%
--- #2. Alberta: 58%
--- #3. Ontario: 50%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 50%
--- #5. British Columbia: 45%
#6. Northern Flicker
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 57%
- Average group size: 1.43
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 70%
--- #2. British Columbia: 64%
--- #3. Alberta: 57%
--- #4. Prince Edward Island: 14%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 14%
#7. House Sparrow
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 55%
- Average group size: 10.75
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Alberta: 55%
--- #2. Saskatchewan: 54%
--- #3. Manitoba: 52%
--- #4. Ontario: 31%
--- #5. Quebec: 29%
#8. House Finch
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 45%
- Average group size: 5.55
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 60%
--- #2. Alberta: 45%
--- #3. Ontario: 39%
--- #4. Saskatchewan: 29%
--- #5. Quebec: 27%
#9. White-breasted Nuthatch
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 35%
- Average group size: 1.32
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Manitoba: 74%
--- #2. Quebec: 66%
--- #3. Ontario: 60%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 57%
--- #5. New Brunswick: 55%
#10. Dark-eyed Junco
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 27%
- Average group size: 3.03
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 90%
--- #1. British Columbia: 90%
--- #3. Ontario: 82%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 69%
--- #5. Quebec: 66%
#11. Hairy Woodpecker
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 27%
- Average group size: 1.32
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. New Brunswick: 67%
--- #2. Quebec: 58%
--- #3. Manitoba: 53%
--- #4. Saskatchewan: 50%
--- #5. Nova Scotia: 45%
#12. Pine Grosbeak
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 26%
- Average group size: 5.43
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Saskatchewan: 32%
--- #2. Alberta: 26%
--- #2. Manitoba: 26%
--- #4. Quebec: 13%
--- #5. New Brunswick: 12%
#13. Redpoll
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 25%
- Average group size: 4.32
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Saskatchewan: 36%
--- #2. Manitoba: 31%
--- #3. Alberta: 25%
--- #4. New Brunswick: 10%
--- #4. Newfoundland and Labrador: 10%
#14. Rock Pigeon
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 9%
- Average group size: 3.58
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. New Brunswick: 29%
--- #2. Prince Edward Island: 21%
--- #3. Newfoundland and Labrador: 20%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 16%
--- #5. Quebec: 9%
#15. Purple Finch
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 8%
- Average group size: 2.65
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 20%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 17%
--- #3. Prince Edward Island: 14%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 10%
--- #5. Alberta: 8%
#16. Pine Siskin
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 8%
- Average group size: 2.59
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 40%
--- #2. Prince Edward Island: 21%
--- #3. Alberta: 8%
--- #4. British Columbia: 6%
--- #5. Saskatchewan: 4%
#17. Pileated Woodpecker
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 8%
- Average group size: 1.19
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Manitoba: 29%
--- #2. British Columbia: 12%
--- #3. Alberta: 8%
--- #3. Quebec: 8%
--- #3. Nova Scotia: 8%
#18. American Goldfinch
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 6%
- Average group size: 2.98
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Nova Scotia: 92%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 86%
--- #3. Newfoundland and Labrador: 80%
--- #4. Prince Edward Island: 71%
--- #5. Ontario: 68%
#19. Mountain Chickadee
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 6%
- Average group size: 2.44
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 11%
--- #2. Alberta: 6%
#20. Bohemian Waxwing
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 5%
- Average group size: 15.04
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 10%
--- #2. Saskatchewan: 7%
--- #3. Alberta: 5%
--- #3. Manitoba: 5%
--- #5. British Columbia: 4%
