Tennessee adopted the Northern Mockingbird in 1933, and the mockingbird does turn up in Tennessee yards — at about 69% of feeders, thirteenth on the list.
That is respectable and still lower than most people expect, and the reason is diet. Mockingbirds want insects and fruit, not sunflower seed. What they actually do at a feeder is chase other birds off it, which is a different kind of presence.
Ahead of it is a bird at almost every feeder in the state.
The twelve birds Tennessee 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 220 participants in Tennessee. The percentage is the share of Tennessee feeder sites that reported the bird at least once.
| # | Bird | Share of TN feeders |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northern Cardinal | 96.4% |
| 2 | House Finch | 89.6% |
| 3 | Mourning Dove | 89.2% |
| 4 | Tufted Titmouse | 88.3% |
| 5 | Blue Jay | 86.5% |
| 6 | Carolina Wren | 86.0% |
| 7 | Downy Woodpecker | 85.6% |
| 8 | Red-bellied Woodpecker | 79.7% |
| 9 | American Goldfinch | 77.0% |
| 9 | Carolina Chickadee | 77.0% |
| 11 | American Robin | 73.4% |
| 12 | Dark-eyed Junco | 73.0% |
Four things in that list worth knowing
96.4% — higher than Georgia, North Carolina or Texas
Cardinals do not migrate and they hold the same territory year after year, so the pair at your feeder in July is the pair at your feeder in January — and they are reliably the last birds on it each evening, well after the light has gone.
Ninth place is a tie between two very different birds
American Goldfinch and Carolina Chickadee, both at exactly 77.03%. The goldfinch is the one people report as missing every winter, because by November the lemon-yellow male has moulted into dull olive-buff and lost the black cap. The chickadee is the one that finds a new feeder first, usually within a day of it going up.
Tennessee is Carolina Chickadee country
Not Black-capped. The two look close to identical, and the Black-capped only reaches the high elevations in the east of the state. The Carolina is slightly smaller, with a faster and higher-pitched version of the same chick-a-dee-dee call.
The Carolina Wren is sixth, and its numbers swing with the winters
86% of feeders. Carolina Wrens do not migrate and they do not store fat well, so a hard winter knocks the population back and a run of mild ones builds it up again. If you had a pair last year and none this year, that is usually the reason rather than anything you did.
What is on our Tennessee mug, and where each bird actually ranks
The Backyard Birds of Tennessee mug is drawn with the Carolina Wren (#6, 86%), the Eastern Bluebird and the Northern Cardinal (#1, 96%).
The bluebird sits outside the top twelve above, and that is a quirk of the method rather than of Tennessee: bluebirds do not eat seed, so a count of feeder visits will always understate them. Put a nest box on a post facing open mown grass and you will have them.
The one we would add next is the Tufted Titmouse at #4 — at 88% of Tennessee feeders and not yet drawn.
If you want more of them
Black-oil sunflower covers the cardinal, House Finch, titmouse and chickadee at once. Suet holds both woodpeckers and the Carolina Wren through the cold. Millet scattered low for the doves and juncos, which feed on the ground. Nyjer in a mesh sock for the goldfinches.
For the bluebirds, none of that — a box facing open grass, and mealworms.
Where these numbers come from: Project FeederWatch, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Top 25 Feeder Birds for Tennessee, 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. Tennessee state bird designation: 1933.
See the mugs for the other states → · Identify a bird in three questions →