Maine chose the Black-capped Chickadee as its state bird, and no state has picked a bird that better matches its feeders.
The chickadee turns up at 96.8% of Maine feeders — first on the list, and at essentially every feeder in the state, all winter long.
The twelve birds Maine 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 307 participants in Maine. The percentage is the share of Maine feeder sites that reported the bird at least once.
| # | Bird | Share of ME feeders |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black-capped Chickadee | 96.8% |
| 2 | American Goldfinch | 90.1% |
| 3 | Dark-eyed Junco | 90.1% |
| 4 | Downy Woodpecker | 88.8% |
| 5 | Mourning Dove | 85.6% |
| 6 | Blue Jay | 85.6% |
| 7 | White-breasted Nuthatch | 84.0% |
| 8 | Tufted Titmouse | 83.7% |
| 9 | Northern Cardinal | 79.2% |
| 10 | Hairy Woodpecker | 76.9% |
| 11 | American Crow | 66.3% |
| 12 | American Robin | 58.0% |
Four things in that list worth knowing
How a half-ounce bird gets through a Maine winter
On cold nights the chickadee lets its body temperature drop to save fuel, then spends the day caching seed in hundreds of separate hiding places it remembers for weeks. It is also the yard's alarm system: the chick-a-dee-dee-dee call carries more dee notes the more dangerous the thing it has spotted.
Goldfinches come in the biggest flocks
American Goldfinch ties for second at 90%, and when goldfinches show up at a Maine feeder they average almost nine birds at a time — the largest groups of any bird in Maine's top ten. In winter the males are dull olive-buff rather than lemon-yellow, which is why people think they have left.
The cardinal is only ninth
79% of feeders — lower than in almost any state further south. Maine is near the northern edge of the cardinal's range; in much of the eastern United States it is the first bird on the list, here it is a welcome regular rather than a given.
A turkey makes the top 25
Wild Turkey comes in at #25, reported at about a third of Maine feeder sites, usually in groups of six or seven. They clean up whatever falls under the feeder.
What is on our Maine mug, and where each bird actually ranks
The Backyard Birds of Maine mug shows the Black-capped Chickadee (#1, 97%), the American Goldfinch (#2, 90%), the Mourning Dove (#5, 86%) and the Blue Jay (#6, 86%). All four are in the Maine top six, and the chickadee is the state bird.
The ones we would add next are the Dark-eyed Junco (#3) and the Downy Woodpecker (#4). They are on the list of designs we still owe this state.
If you want more of them
Black-oil sunflower seed covers the chickadee, nuthatch, titmouse, cardinal and jay at once. Suet is what keeps both woodpeckers coming through a Maine January. Nyjer in a mesh sock holds the goldfinch flocks. A low tray or bare ground brings in the juncos and doves, which rarely use a hanging feeder.
Where these numbers come from: Project FeederWatch, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Top 25 Feeder Birds for Maine, 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 →