North Dakota chose the Western Meadowlark as its state bird, like Kansas and Nebraska. It sings from fence posts across the prairie in summer and feeds on the ground in open fields — it does not make North Dakota's top 25 feeder birds.
What does come to North Dakota feeders is a list shaped by long, hard winters.
The twelve birds North Dakota 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. An honest note first: the 2023–24 season had only 15 participants in North Dakota, the smallest sample of any state we have written about. Each feeder moves a percentage by about six points, so read this as a picture of what is common, not a precise ranking. The percentage is the share of North Dakota feeder sites that reported the bird at least once.
| # | Bird | Share of ND feeders |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dark-eyed Junco | 100% |
| 2 | Downy Woodpecker | 93.8% |
| 3 | House Finch | 87.5% |
| 4 | Black-capped Chickadee | 87.5% |
| 5 | House Sparrow | 81.3% |
| 6 | Hairy Woodpecker | 81.3% |
| 7 | Blue Jay | 68.8% |
| 8 | White-breasted Nuthatch | 68.8% |
| 9 | Mourning Dove | 68.8% |
| 10 | Pine Siskin | 62.5% |
| 11 | American Robin | 56.3% |
| 12 | Common Grackle | 50.0% |
Four things in that list worth knowing
A junco at every feeder
Every site in the count reported the Dark-eyed Junco. Slate-grey above, white belly, pale pink bill — a ground feeder that spends the winter picking seed from under the feeder. On a sample this small it is not a law of nature, but it tells you what a North Dakota winter yard looks like.
No cardinal on the list
The Northern Cardinal does not make North Dakota's top 25 at all — the state is at the far northwestern edge of its range. Instead, two woodpeckers, Downy and Hairy, are both in the top six.
Visitors from the Arctic
Common Redpoll makes the top 25 — a small streaky finch with a red cap that nests in the far north and comes south in some winters, not others. Pine Siskins, another wandering finch, are tenth and arrive in flocks of eleven or twelve. Nyjer and hulled sunflower bring both.
A pheasant under the feeder
Ring-necked Pheasant is seventeenth, at more than four in ten sites. It is an introduced game bird, originally from Asia, now at home on North Dakota farmland — and it will happily clean up spilled seed.
What is on our North Dakota mug, and where each bird actually ranks
The Backyard Birds of North Dakota mug shows the House Finch (#3, 88%), the Black-capped Chickadee (#4, 88%), the Blue Jay (#7, 69%) and the Mourning Dove (#9, 69%). All four are in the North Dakota top nine.
The ones we would add next are the Dark-eyed Junco (#1) and the Downy Woodpecker (#2). 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, House Finch, nuthatch and jay. Suet is not optional in a North Dakota winter — it is what keeps both woodpeckers coming. Millet scattered on the ground brings the juncos, doves and pheasants. Nyjer holds the siskins and redpolls in the winters they arrive.
Where these numbers come from: Project FeederWatch, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Top 25 Feeder Birds for North Dakota, 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 →