Most commonly seen birds in British Columbia
Stacker compiled a list of the most common birds seen near feeders in British Columbia 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 166 count sites in British Columbia. 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. Dark-eyed Junco
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 90%
- Average group size: 7.69
- 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%
#2. Song Sparrow
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 69%
- Average group size: 1.55
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 69%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 43%
--- #3. Prince Edward Island: 14%
--- #4. New Brunswick: 10%
--- #4. Newfoundland and Labrador: 10%
#3. Northern Flicker
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 64%
- Average group size: 1.55
- 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%
#4. House Finch
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 60%
- Average group size: 4.3
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 60%
--- #2. Alberta: 45%
--- #3. Ontario: 39%
--- #4. Saskatchewan: 29%
--- #5. Quebec: 27%
#5. Anna's Hummingbird
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 60%
- Average group size: 1.67
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 60%
#6. Black-capped Chickadee
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 57%
- Average group size: 3.1
- 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%
#7. Spotted Towhee
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 54%
- Average group size: 1.87
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 54%
--- #2. Alberta: 1%
#8. Chestnut-backed Chickadee
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 49%
- Average group size: 2.84
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 49%
#9. Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 45%
- Average group size: 1.5
- 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%
#10. Downy Woodpecker
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 40%
- Average group size: 1.17
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Quebec: 75%
--- #2. Ontario: 69%
--- #3. Alberta: 68%
--- #3. Manitoba: 68%
--- #3. Saskatchewan: 68%
#11. Steller's Jay
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 33%
- Average group size: 2.16
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 33%
--- #2. Alberta: 3%
#12. American Crow
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 28%
- Average group size: 2.58
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Prince Edward Island: 79%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 62%
--- #3. Nova Scotia: 55%
--- #4. Newfoundland and Labrador: 50%
--- #5. British Columbia: 28%
#13. Varied Thrush
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 26%
- Average group size: 1.36
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 26%
#14. Bushtit
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 25%
- Average group size: 9.48
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 25%
#15. American Robin
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 23%
- Average group size: 2.36
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 23%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 12%
--- #3. Newfoundland and Labrador: 10%
--- #4. Prince Edward Island: 7%
--- #5. Saskatchewan: 4%
#16. House Sparrow
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 22%
- Average group size: 3.92
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Alberta: 55%
--- #2. Saskatchewan: 54%
--- #3. Manitoba: 52%
--- #4. Ontario: 31%
--- #5. Quebec: 29%
#17. American Goldfinch
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 20%
- Average group size: 4.84
- 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%
#18. European Starling
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 20%
- Average group size: 4.11
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Nova Scotia: 55%
--- #2. Prince Edward Island: 50%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 31%
--- #4. Newfoundland and Labrador: 30%
--- #5. Ontario: 22%
#19. Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 20%
- Average group size: 2.42
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 20%
#20. Fox Sparrow
- Sites visited Jan. 3 to Jan. 16: 17%
- Average group size: 1.45
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 17%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 4%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 2%
