Backyard Birds of New York: What Is Actually at Your Feeder

New York adopted the Eastern Bluebird in 1970, and the bluebird is an honest choice that a feeder count will always undersell.

Bluebirds do not eat seed. They want insects in summer and berries in winter, and they nest in boxes rather than visiting feeders — so a count of what lands on a feeder will always place them low, no matter how many are in the state. If you have a bluebird box on a fence line facing open grass, you have bluebirds. They are simply not queuing for sunflower.

Here is what is queuing.

The twelve birds New York 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. New York had 1,246 participants in the 2023–24 season — the largest state sample we have looked at, which makes this order about as solid as this kind of data gets. The percentage is the share of New York feeder sites that reported the bird at least once.

Four things in that list worth knowing

New York is the only state on our list where the Blue Jay comes first

93.7%, ahead of everything. Blue Jays are corvids — the crow family — and it shows. They cache acorns by the thousand and remember where. They imitate a Red-shouldered Hawk to clear a feeder, then eat in peace. They recognise human faces. If you want them close, peanuts in the shell.

The Red-bellied Woodpecker is here because the climate moved

Eighth, at 81% of New York feeders — and a century ago it was a southern bird that barely reached Pennsylvania. It has pushed north steadily since, and it is now at four out of five New York feeders. The red on its belly, the thing it is named for, is a faint wash you will almost never see; what you see is the red cap running down the nape and the black-and-white ladder across the back.

The junco is second and it is only here for the winter

Slate-grey above, white belly, pale pink bill, feeding on the ground under the feeder rather than on it. They arrive in autumn and are gone by spring, which is why upstate New Yorkers call them snowbirds and downstate ones often never notice them at all.

Three woodpeckers in the top twelve

Downy (#5), Red-bellied (#8) and Hairy (#12). Downy and Hairy look almost identical — the difference is size and bill: the Downy is sparrow-sized with a stubby bill about a third the length of its head; the Hairy is noticeably bigger with a bill nearly as long as its head. Suet brings all three.

What is on our New York mug, and where each bird actually ranks

The Backyard Birds of New York mug is drawn with the Eastern Bluebird, the Northern Cardinal (#4, 91%), the Chickadee (#3, 92%) and the Blue Jay (#1, 94%).

Three of those four are New York's top four feeder birds. The fourth is the state bird, and it is on the mug for that reason — common in New York yards, just not on the seed feeder, for the reason at the top of this page.

The one we would add next is the Dark-eyed Junco at #2. It is on the list of illustrations we still owe this state.

If you want more of them

Black-oil sunflower seed does most of the work — jay, cardinal, chickadee, titmouse, nuthatch and House Finch all take it. Suet keeps all three woodpeckers through an upstate winter. Scatter a little on a low tray for the juncos; they rarely perch on a hanging feeder.

For the bluebirds, a different approach entirely: a nest box on a post facing open mown grass, and mealworms rather than seed.

Where these numbers come from: Project FeederWatch, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Top 25 Feeder Birds for New York, 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 — which is part of why a nest-box bird like the bluebird sits outside the list. Percentages are the share of participating sites that reported the species. New York state bird designation: 1970.

See the mugs for the other states → · Identify a bird in three questions →