Florida adopted the Northern Mockingbird in 1927, and of the three states that chose it, Florida's is the one that actually turns up in the yard: sixth on the list, at 59% of feeders.
Mockingbirds want fruit and insects rather than seed, so what they mostly do at a feeder is own it — a mockingbird that has decided a feeder is his will spend the winter chasing everything else off it. In Florida that is a familiar sight.
The rest of the list looks unlike any other state in this series.
The twelve birds Florida 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 362 participants in Florida. The percentage is the share of Florida feeder sites that reported the bird at least once.
| # | Bird | Share of FL feeders |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northern Cardinal | 89.4% |
| 2 | Mourning Dove | 78.8% |
| 3 | Red-bellied Woodpecker | 77.4% |
| 4 | Blue Jay | 76.6% |
| 5 | Tufted Titmouse | 65.7% |
| 6 | Northern Mockingbird | 59.4% |
| 7 | Carolina Wren | 58.3% |
| 8 | Yellow-rumped Warbler | 54.8% |
| 9 | Carolina Chickadee | 52.6% |
| 10 | Palm Warbler | 50.7% |
| 11 | Downy Woodpecker | 50.1% |
| 12 | House Finch | 42.8% |
Four things in that list worth knowing
Two warblers in the top eleven, which happens almost nowhere else
Yellow-rumped Warbler at #8 and Palm Warbler at #10. Across most of the country warblers pass through in a rush in spring and autumn and are gone. Florida is where a large share of them spend the entire winter, which is why they end up on a feeder list at all. The Yellow-rumped is the one that can digest the wax in bayberry and wax myrtle — the trick that lets it winter further north than any other warbler. The Palm Warbler is the small brownish one on the ground that constantly bobs its tail.
The Red-bellied Woodpecker is third, higher than in any other state here
77% of Florida feeders. Barred black-and-white across the back, red cap running down the nape, and a faint red wash on the belly you will almost never actually see. It takes orange halves and jelly as readily as suet.
The House Finch is only twelfth, and that is unusual
42.8%. In almost every other state on this list the House Finch is in the top five. Florida is at the edge of its range in the southeast, so a bird that dominates feeders from Texas to Maine is comparatively scarce here.
No junco anywhere in the list
The Dark-eyed Junco is a top-five feeder bird in most of the country. It does not winter this far south in any number, so Florida is one of the few states where you will simply never see one. The trade is warblers instead.
What is on our Florida mug, and where each bird actually ranks
The Backyard Birds of Florida mug is drawn with the Blue Jay (#4, 77%), the Mourning Dove (#2, 79%) and the Northern Cardinal (#1, 89%) — the three top-four feeder birds in the state.
The one we would add next is the Red-bellied Woodpecker at #3, which is more common at a Florida feeder than almost anywhere else in the country.
If you want more of them
Black-oil sunflower for the cardinal, titmouse and chickadee. Suet and orange halves for the Red-bellied Woodpecker. Millet scattered low for the doves, which feed on the ground.
And keep a nectar feeder up in the south of the state: Ruby-throated Hummingbirds pass through in numbers, and some winter in southern Florida rather than crossing the Gulf at all.
Where these numbers come from: Project FeederWatch, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Top 25 Feeder Birds for Florida, 2023–24 season. These are volunteer reports from their own feeders, not a formal survey, and they describe the winter feeding season rather than the whole year. Percentages are the share of participating sites that reported the species. Florida state bird designation: 1927.
See the mugs for the other states → · Identify a bird in three questions →