Ohio is the rare state where the bird on the official list is also the bird at the feeder.
The Northern Cardinal has been Ohio's state bird since 1933, and it turns up at 94.6% of Ohio feeders — the most reported bird in the state by a clear margin. Most states cannot say that. Pennsylvania's state game bird is a grouse that lives in young forest; Maryland's is an oriole that leaves before winter. Ohio picked the one that shows up.
Here is the rest of the list.
The twelve birds Ohio feeders report most
These come 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 596 participants in Ohio. The percentage is the share of Ohio feeder sites that reported the bird at least once.
| # | Bird | Share of OH feeders |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northern Cardinal | 94.6% |
| 2 | House Finch | 91.5% |
| 3 | Blue Jay | 90.1% |
| 4 | Dark-eyed Junco | 89.6% |
| 5 | Downy Woodpecker | 88.5% |
| 6 | Mourning Dove | 86.3% |
| 7 | House Sparrow | 85.9% |
| 8 | Red-bellied Woodpecker | 84.7% |
| 9 | American Goldfinch | 82.6% |
| 10 | White-breasted Nuthatch | 81.6% |
| 11 | Tufted Titmouse | 81.3% |
| 12 | American Robin | 79.0% |
Four things in that list worth knowing
The goldfinch you see in January is the same bird you saw in July
American Goldfinch is at 83% of Ohio feeders, but people report it as two different birds. In summer the male is lemon-yellow with a black cap. By November he has moulted into dull olive-buff and lost the cap entirely. Same bird, same feeder, same thistle sock — and every winter somebody decides the goldfinches have left.
The junco is fourth, and it will not use your feeder
Slate-grey above, white belly, pale pink bill. Juncos feed on the ground, so if your only feeder is a hanging tube you may never see one properly. Scatter some seed on a low tray and the fourth most widely reported bird in Ohio becomes visible.
Nuthatch and titmouse are effectively tied
White-breasted Nuthatch (81.6%) and Tufted Titmouse (81.3%) sit at four out of five Ohio feeders each. The nuthatch is the one that walks down the trunk head-first — no other backyard bird does that, which makes it the easiest identification on this whole list. The titmouse is grey, crested, and much louder than its size suggests.
The chickadee is less dominant here than people expect
Black-capped Chickadee comes in around 51% in Ohio — half of feeders, and well outside the top ten. It is a common bird, but Ohio sits on the line where Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees meet and overlap, which splits the count and pushes both rows down.
What is on our Ohio mug, and where each bird actually ranks
Straight answer, so there are no surprises when it arrives.
The Backyard Birds of Ohio mug is drawn with the Northern Cardinal (#1, 95%), the Blue Jay (#3, 90%), the American Goldfinch (#9, 83%) and the Chickadee (~51%). Three of those four are in Ohio's top ten, and the first is the most reported bird in the state.
The one we would add next is the White-breasted Nuthatch at #10 — partly because it is at 82% of Ohio feeders and partly because a bird that comes down a tree upside-down deserves to be drawn that way.
If you want more of them
Black-oil sunflower seed is the single most useful thing you can put out; it suits the cardinal, the finches, the titmouse, the nuthatch and the chickadee all at once. Suet keeps both woodpeckers around through the cold. A low tray or a patch of bare ground brings in the juncos. Peanuts in the shell will bring the jays close enough to watch them argue.
And if the feeder goes quiet for a week in midwinter, that is normal — it usually means a Cooper's Hawk has found it.
Where these numbers come from: Project FeederWatch, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Top 25 Feeder Birds for Ohio, 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. Ohio's state bird designation: 1933.
See the mugs for the other states → · Identify a bird in three questions →