Iowa chose the American Goldfinch as its state bird. It is a genuine feeder bird — at 78% of Iowa feeders — but it is only tenth on the list.
The bird in first place is one almost nobody would guess, and it did not get to North America on its own.
The twelve birds Iowa 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 108 participants in Iowa. The percentage is the share of Iowa feeder sites that reported the bird at least once.
| # | Bird | Share of IA feeders |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | House Sparrow | 95.4% |
| 2 | Dark-eyed Junco | 94.5% |
| 3 | House Finch | 94.5% |
| 4 | Northern Cardinal | 89.9% |
| 5 | Downy Woodpecker | 88.1% |
| 6 | White-breasted Nuthatch | 88.1% |
| 7 | Black-capped Chickadee | 85.3% |
| 8 | Blue Jay | 85.3% |
| 9 | Red-bellied Woodpecker | 79.8% |
| 10 | American Goldfinch | 78.0% |
| 11 | European Starling | 74.3% |
| 12 | American Robin | 68.8% |
Four things in that list worth knowing
The most reported bird in Iowa is an import
The House Sparrow is at 95% of Iowa feeders and arrives in the biggest groups of anything on the list — almost thirteen birds at a time on average. It was deliberately introduced to North America in the 1800s and is not a true American sparrow at all. Safflower seed is the trick worth knowing: cardinals eat it readily, House Sparrows mostly do not.
Second place is a dead heat
Dark-eyed Junco and House Finch both land on exactly 94.50%. The junco is a winter visitor that feeds on the ground under the feeder; the House Finch is the streaky brown finch whose males have a red head and chest, and it gets mistaken for a cardinal more than any other bird.
Two more ties in the middle
Downy Woodpecker and White-breasted Nuthatch share fifth at 88%; Black-capped Chickadee and Blue Jay share seventh at 85%. The nuthatch is the easiest identification on the list — it is the only backyard bird that comes down a tree trunk head-first.
A hawk makes the top 25
Cooper's Hawk is reported at about a third of Iowa feeder sites. It is not there for the seed; it is there for the birds eating it. If your feeder goes completely silent for a while in midwinter, that is usually why.
What is on our Iowa mug, and where each bird actually ranks
The Backyard Birds of Iowa mug shows the House Finch (#3, 95%), the Northern Cardinal (#4, 90%), the Black-capped Chickadee (#7, 85%) and the Blue Jay (#8, 85%). All four are in the Iowa top eight. We left off the House Sparrow at #1 on purpose — it is an introduced species, and few people want it on their coffee mug.
To be straight about it: the state bird, the American Goldfinch, is not on this mug. The ones we would add next are the Dark-eyed Junco (#2) and the goldfinch. They are on the list of designs we still owe this state.
If you want more of them
Black-oil sunflower seed covers the House Finch, cardinal, nuthatch, chickadee and jay at once. Suet keeps both woodpeckers around through an Iowa winter. Nyjer in a mesh sock holds the goldfinches. A low tray or bare ground brings in the juncos.
Where these numbers come from: Project FeederWatch, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Top 25 Feeder Birds for Iowa, 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; group sizes are the average when the bird was seen.
See the mugs for the other states → · Identify a bird in three questions →