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 Feb. 28 to Mar. 13. Ties are broken by the average group size when seen, any further ties were not broken. Data was collected at 74 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 Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 86%
- Average group size: 3.33
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. New Brunswick: 100%
--- #2. Manitoba: 96%
--- #3. Nova Scotia: 94%
--- #4. Quebec: 90%
--- #5. Alberta: 86%
#2. Downy Woodpecker
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 77%
- Average group size: 1.52
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Alberta: 77%
--- #2. Manitoba: 71%
--- #2. Quebec: 71%
--- #4. Ontario: 65%
--- #5. New Brunswick: 61%
#3. Blue Jay
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 66%
- Average group size: 2.36
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Prince Edward Island: 92%
--- #2. Manitoba: 80%
--- #3. Newfoundland and Labrador: 75%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 74%
--- #5. New Brunswick: 67%
#4. Black-billed Magpie
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 65%
- Average group size: 2.48
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Alberta: 65%
--- #2. Saskatchewan: 29%
--- #3. Manitoba: 24%
--- #4. British Columbia: 6%
#5. Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 58%
- Average group size: 1.59
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Alberta: 58%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 55%
--- #3. Saskatchewan: 54%
--- #4. British Columbia: 49%
--- #5. Ontario: 42%
#6. House Sparrow
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 54%
- Average group size: 9.58
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Saskatchewan: 58%
--- #1. Manitoba: 58%
--- #3. Alberta: 54%
--- #4. Newfoundland and Labrador: 33%
--- #5. Ontario: 30%
#7. Northern Flicker
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 46%
- Average group size: 1.42
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 62%
--- #2. Newfoundland and Labrador: 50%
--- #3. Alberta: 46%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 17%
--- #5. Saskatchewan: 13%
#8. House Finch
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 43%
- Average group size: 5.42
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 66%
--- #2. Alberta: 43%
--- #3. Ontario: 39%
--- #4. Saskatchewan: 29%
--- #4. Quebec: 29%
#9. Redpoll
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 42%
- Average group size: 6.78
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Saskatchewan: 50%
--- #2. Manitoba: 44%
--- #3. Alberta: 42%
--- #4. Newfoundland and Labrador: 33%
--- #5. New Brunswick: 27%
#10. White-breasted Nuthatch
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 41%
- Average group size: 1.32
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Manitoba: 67%
--- #2. Quebec: 60%
--- #3. Ontario: 53%
--- #4. New Brunswick: 52%
--- #5. Nova Scotia: 49%
#11. Dark-eyed Junco
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 35%
- Average group size: 2.92
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Prince Edward Island: 100%
--- #2. British Columbia: 93%
--- #3. Newfoundland and Labrador: 92%
--- #4. Ontario: 77%
--- #5. Nova Scotia: 66%
#12. Hairy Woodpecker
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 35%
- Average group size: 1.35
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Manitoba: 64%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 58%
--- #2. Saskatchewan: 58%
--- #4. Quebec: 52%
--- #5. Nova Scotia: 43%
#13. Pine Grosbeak
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 30%
- Average group size: 5.37
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Alberta: 30%
--- #2. Saskatchewan: 29%
--- #3. Manitoba: 22%
--- #4. Newfoundland and Labrador: 17%
--- #5. New Brunswick: 12%
#14. Pileated Woodpecker
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 16%
- Average group size: 1.18
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Manitoba: 18%
--- #2. Alberta: 16%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 15%
--- #4. British Columbia: 13%
--- #5. Ontario: 8%
#15. Boreal Chickadee
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 12%
- Average group size: 1.6
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Alberta: 12%
--- #2. Prince Edward Island: 8%
--- #2. Newfoundland and Labrador: 8%
--- #4. Saskatchewan: 4%
--- #5. Manitoba: 2%
#16. Pine Siskin
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 11%
- Average group size: 2.72
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 50%
--- #2. British Columbia: 17%
--- #3. Prince Edward Island: 15%
--- #4. Alberta: 11%
--- #5. New Brunswick: 9%
#17. European Starling
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 9%
- Average group size: 7.77
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Prince Edward Island: 62%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 43%
--- #3. Ontario: 37%
--- #4. New Brunswick: 27%
--- #5. Quebec: 26%
#18. Rock Pigeon
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 8%
- Average group size: 3.87
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. New Brunswick: 18%
--- #2. Newfoundland and Labrador: 17%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 17%
--- #4. Saskatchewan: 13%
--- #5. Prince Edward Island: 8%
#19. Common Raven
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 8%
- Average group size: 1.57
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Alberta: 8%
--- #2. British Columbia: 7%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 6%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 4%
--- #4. Saskatchewan: 4%
#20. Bohemian Waxwing
- Sites visited Feb. 28 to Mar. 13: 7%
- Average group size: 17.59
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Alberta: 7%
--- #2. Saskatchewan: 4%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 3%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 2%
--- #4. Manitoba: 2%
