Arizona's state bird is the Cactus Wren — and unlike most state birds, it does turn up in yards. It is seventeenth on the Arizona feeder list, at 40% of sites.
At Arizona feeders, the list is led by the House Finch, at 89.8% of sites.
The twelve birds Arizona feeders report most
From Project FeederWatch, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's winter count, in which volunteers record what turns up at their own feeders. The 2023–24 season had 177 participants in Arizona. The percentage is the share of Arizona feeder sites that reported the bird at least once.
| # | Bird | Share of AZ feeders |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | House Finch | 89.8% |
| 2 | Mourning Dove | 79.1% |
| 3 | Lesser Goldfinch | 70.0% |
| 4 | House Sparrow | 68.5% |
| 5 | Anna's Hummingbird | 67.9% |
| 6 | Gila Woodpecker | 67.4% |
| 7 | Curve-billed Thrasher | 64.7% |
| 8 | White-crowned Sparrow | 60.4% |
| 9 | Gambel's Quail | 57.8% |
| 10 | Verdin | 56.1% |
| 11 | Abert's Towhee | 50.3% |
| 12 | Cooper's Hawk | 48.7% |
Four things in that list worth knowing
Hummingbirds in winter
Anna's Hummingbird is fifth, at 68% of sites — in a winter count. Costa's Hummingbird is on the list too (#21, 27%). In much of low-desert Arizona, a sugar-water feeder is worth keeping up all year.
Desert specialists
Gila Woodpecker (#6), Curve-billed Thrasher (#7), Verdin (#10) and Abert's Towhee (#11) are birds you will not see at an eastern feeder. The Verdin is tiny, grey, with a yellow face, and it will visit a hummingbird feeder.
Quail on the ground
Gambel's Quail is ninth, at 58%, and comes in groups — FeederWatchers counted about 11 at a time when they appeared.
Two cardinals
Northern Cardinal is at 45% of Arizona sites (#13). Its desert cousin, the grey-and-red Pyrrhuloxia, is at 25% (#23).
What is on our Arizona mug, and where each bird actually ranks
The Backyard Birds of Arizona mug shows the Gambel's Quail (#9, 58%), the Gila Woodpecker (#6, 67%), the Anna's Hummingbird (#5, 68%) and the Lesser Goldfinch (#3, 70%). All four are in the Arizona top ten.
The ones we would add next are the Curve-billed Thrasher (#7) and the Cactus Wren (#17), the state bird.
If you want more of them
Black-oil sunflower seed covers the House Finch, cardinals and thrashers. Nyjer brings the Lesser Goldfinch. Sugar water brings the hummingbirds — and sometimes the Verdin and Gila Woodpecker. Millet scattered on the ground brings the quail, doves and sparrows. A shallow dish of water matters as much as seed in the desert.
Where these numbers come from: Project FeederWatch, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Top 25 Feeder Birds for Arizona, 2023–24 season. These are volunteer reports from their own feeders, not a formal survey, and they describe the winter feeding season (November to April) rather than the whole year. Percentages are the share of participating sites that reported the species.
See the mugs for the other states → · Identify a bird in three questions →