Most commonly seen birds in Nova Scotia
Stacker compiled a list of the most common birds seen near feeders in Nova Scotia using data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project FeederWatch. Birds are ranked by the percent of sites visited from Dec. 6 to Dec. 19. Ties are broken by the average group size when seen, any further ties were not broken. Data was collected at 57 count sites in Nova Scotia. 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 Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 96%
- Average group size: 4.28
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. New Brunswick: 100%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 96%
--- #3. Quebec: 93%
--- #3. Manitoba: 93%
--- #5. Ontario: 89%
#2. Blue Jay
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 89%
- Average group size: 4.72
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Prince Edward Island: 94%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 89%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 81%
--- #4. Newfoundland and Labrador: 75%
--- #5. Ontario: 69%
#3. Dark-eyed Junco
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 81%
- Average group size: 3.19
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 100%
--- #2. British Columbia: 86%
--- #3. Ontario: 84%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 81%
--- #5. Quebec: 72%
#4. Mourning Dove
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 79%
- Average group size: 5.54
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Nova Scotia: 79%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 78%
--- #3. Prince Edward Island: 75%
--- #4. Ontario: 70%
--- #5. Quebec: 59%
#5. American Goldfinch
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 77%
- Average group size: 4.64
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 83%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 78%
--- #3. Nova Scotia: 77%
--- #4. Ontario: 69%
--- #5. Prince Edward Island: 63%
#6. Downy Woodpecker
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 61%
- Average group size: 1.21
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Manitoba: 79%
--- #2. Alberta: 75%
--- #3. Quebec: 71%
--- #4. Ontario: 69%
--- #5. New Brunswick: 67%
#7. White-breasted Nuthatch
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 60%
- Average group size: 1.26
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Manitoba: 70%
--- #2. Quebec: 66%
--- #3. Ontario: 60%
--- #3. Nova Scotia: 60%
--- #5. New Brunswick: 50%
#8. American Crow
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 54%
- Average group size: 2.54
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Prince Edward Island: 94%
--- #2. Newfoundland and Labrador: 58%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 58%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 54%
--- #5. British Columbia: 32%
#9. Hairy Woodpecker
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 51%
- Average group size: 1.25
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. New Brunswick: 72%
--- #2. Manitoba: 60%
--- #3. Quebec: 58%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 51%
--- #5. Saskatchewan: 43%
#10. Song Sparrow
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 49%
- Average group size: 1.83
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 65%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 49%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 14%
--- #4. Prince Edward Island: 6%
--- #5. Ontario: 5%
#11. Northern Cardinal
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 47%
- Average group size: 1.81
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Ontario: 75%
--- #2. Quebec: 65%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 56%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 47%
--- #5. Prince Edward Island: 13%
#12. European Starling
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 44%
- Average group size: 5.69
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Prince Edward Island: 50%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 44%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 36%
--- #4. Newfoundland and Labrador: 33%
--- #5. Ontario: 22%
#13. Evening Grosbeak
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 39%
- Average group size: 7.32
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 50%
--- #1. New Brunswick: 50%
--- #3. Nova Scotia: 39%
--- #4. Quebec: 21%
--- #5. Saskatchewan: 18%
#14. Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 23%
- Average group size: 1.31
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Saskatchewan: 75%
--- #2. Alberta: 61%
--- #3. Ontario: 51%
--- #4. New Brunswick: 50%
--- #5. British Columbia: 49%
#15. White-throated Sparrow
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 21%
- Average group size: 2.01
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. New Brunswick: 25%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 21%
--- #2. Quebec: 21%
--- #4. Ontario: 13%
--- #5. Manitoba: 5%
#16. Rock Pigeon
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 19%
- Average group size: 3.99
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. New Brunswick: 25%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 19%
--- #3. Newfoundland and Labrador: 17%
--- #4. Prince Edward Island: 13%
--- #5. Alberta: 9%
#17. Northern Flicker
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 19%
- Average group size: 1.05
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 75%
--- #2. British Columbia: 57%
--- #3. Alberta: 51%
--- #4. Prince Edward Island: 19%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 19%
#18. American Tree Sparrow
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 14%
- Average group size: 1.59
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Ontario: 28%
--- #2. New Brunswick: 17%
--- #3. Quebec: 16%
--- #4. Nova Scotia: 14%
--- #5. Prince Edward Island: 6%
#19. Purple Finch
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 12%
- Average group size: 1.84
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 33%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 12%
--- #3. Prince Edward Island: 6%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 6%
--- #5. British Columbia: 4%
#20. American Robin
- Sites visited Dec. 6 to Dec. 19: 9%
- Average group size: 2.73
- Provinces with the highest percent of sites visited
--- #1. British Columbia: 17%
--- #2. Nova Scotia: 9%
--- #3. New Brunswick: 8%
--- #3. Ontario: 8%
--- #5. Prince Edward Island: 6%
