Skip to content

The following is list of all 426 recognized Canadian bird species. but a few new species may visit our country each year. The list does not include, for example, the Eurasian wigeon although they are increasingly frequent visitors to our lakes. This page makes a great checklist for the ambitious bird watcher!

All information taken from the book Canadian Feathers written by Pat Bumstead

  • Albatross – black-footed, Laysan, short-tailed
  • Auklet – Cassin’s, rhinoceros
  • Avocet – American
  • Bittern – American, least
  • Blackbird – Brewer’s, red-winged, rusty, yellow-headed
  • Bluebird – eastern, mountain, western
  • Bobolink
  • Bunting – indigo, lark, lazuli, painted, snow
  • Bushtit
  • Cardinal – northern
  • Catbird – grey
  • Chat – yellowe-breasted
  • Chickadee – black-capped, boreal, chestnut-backed, mountain
  • Chuck-will’s widow
  • Coot – American
  • Cormorant – Brandt’s, double-crested, great, pelagic
  • Cowbird – brown-headed
  • Crane – sandhill, whooping
  • Creeper – brown
  • Crossbill – red, white-winged
  • Crows- American, northwestern
  • Cuckoo – black-billed, yellow-billed
  • Curlew – long-billed, Eskimo (likely extinct)
  • Dickcissel
  • Dipper – American
  • Dove – mourning, rock
  • Dovekie
  • Dowitcher – long-billed, short-billed
  • Duck – American black, bufflehead, canvasback, common eider, king eider, gadwall, harlequin, long-tailed, mallard, northern pintail, redhead, ring-necked, ruddy, northern shoveler, wood
  • Dunlin
  • Eagle – bald, golden
  • Egret – great, snowy
  • Falcon – peregrine, prairie
  • Finch – Cassin’s, grey-crowned rosy, house, purple
  • Flicker – northern
  • Flycatcher – Acadian, alder, dusky, great-crested, grey, Hammond’s, least, olive-sided, Pacific slope, willow, yellow-bellied
  • Fulmar – northern
  • Gannet – northern
  • Gnatcatcher – blue-grey
  • Godwit – Hudsonian, marbled
  • Goldeneye – Barrow’s, common
  • Goldfinch – American
  • Goose – Brant, Canada, Ross’, snow, white-fronted
  • Goshawk – northern
  • Grackle – common
  • Grebe – Clarke’s, eared, horned, pied-billed, red-necked, western
  • Grosbeak – black-headed, evening, pine, rose-breasted
  • Grouse – blue, ruffed, sage, sharp-tailed, spruce
  • Guillemot – black, pigeon
  • Gull – Bonaparte’s, California, Franklin’s, glaucous, glaucous-winged, great black-backed, herring, Iceland, ivory, little, mew, ring-billed, Ross’, Sabine’s, Thayer’s, western
  • Gyrfalcon
  • Harrier – northern
  • Hawk – broad-winged, Cooper’s, ferruginous, red-shouldered, red-tailed, rough-legged, sharp-shinned, Swainson’s
  • Heron – black-crowned, night, great blue, green
  • Hummingbird – Anna’s, black-chinned, calliope, ruby-throated, rufous
  • Ibis – white faced
  • Jaeger – long-tailed, pomarine, parasitic
  • Jay – blue, grey, Stellar’s
  • Junco – dark-eyed
  • Kestrel – American
  • Killdeer
  • Kingbird – eastern, western
  • Kingfisher – belted
  • Kinglet – golden-crowned, ruby-crowned
  • Kittiwake – black-legged
  • Knot – red
  • Lark – horned
  • Longspur – chestnut-collared, Lapland, McCown’s, Smith’s
  • Loon – common, Pacific, red-throated, yellow-billed
  • Magpie – black-billed
  • Martin – purple
  • Meadowlark – eastern, western
  • Merganser – common, hooded, red-breasted
  • Merlin
  • Mockingbird – northern
  • Moorhen – common
  • Murre – common, thick-billed
  • Murrelet – ancient, marbled
  • Mynah – crested (likely exterpated)
  • Nighthawk – common
  • Nightjar
  • Nutcracker – Clarke’s
  • Nuthatch – pygmy, red-breasted, white-breasted
  • Oriole – Baltimore, Bullock’s, orchard
  • Osprey
  • Ovenbird
  • Owl – barn, barred, boreal, burrowing, flammulated, great grey, great horned, long-eared, northern pygmy, northern saw-whet, northern hawk, screech, short-eared, snowy, spotted
  • Oystercatcher – black
  • Partridge – chukar, grey
  • Parula – northern
  • Pewee – wood
  • Pelican – white
  • Phalarope – red, red-necked, Wilson’s
  • Pheasant – ring-necked
  • Phoebe – eastern, Say’s
  • Pigeon – band-tailed
  • Pipit – American, Sprague’s
  • Plover – American golden, black-bellied, common ringed, mountain, piping, semi-palmated
  • Poorwill – common
  • Prairie chicken – greater
  • Ptarmigan – rock, white-tailed, willow
  • Puffin – common, horned, tufted
  • Quaill – northern bobwhite, California
  • Rail – king, sora, Virginia, yellow
  • Raven – common
  • Razorbill
  • Redpoll – common, hoary
  • Redstart – American
  • Robin – American
  • Sanderling
  • Sandpiper – Baird’s, buff-breasted, least, pectoral, purple, rock, semi-palmated, solitary, spotted, stilt, upland, white-rumped
  • Sapsucker – red-breasted, red-naped, Williamson’s, yellow-bellied
  • Scaup – greater, lesser, Scoters, black, surf, white-winged
  • Shearwater – Buller’s, Cory’s, flesh-footed, greater, manx, short-tailed, sooty
  • Shrike – loggerhead, northern
  • Siskin – pine
  • Skylark
  • Snipe – common
  • Solitaire – Townsend’s
  • Sparrow – Baird’s, Brewer’s, chipping, clay-coloured, field, fox, golden-crowned, grasshopper, Harris’, Henslow’s, house, Ipswitch, lark, Le Conte’s, Lincoln’s, Nelson’s sharp-tailed, savannah, song, swamp, tree, vesper, white-crowned, white-throated
  • Starling – European
  • Stilt – black-necked
  • Storm petrel – fork-tailed, Leach’s, Wilson’s
  • Surfbird
  • Swallow – bank, barn, cliff, norther rough-winged, tree, violet green
  • Swan – mute, trumpeter, tundra
  • Swift – black, chimney, Vaux’s, white-throated
  • Tanager – scarlet, western
  • Tattler – wandering
  • Teal – blue-winged, cinnamon, green-winged
  • Tern – Arctic, black, Caspian, common, Forster’s, roseate
  • Thrasher – brown, sage
  • Thrush – Bicknell’s, grey-cheeked, hermit, Swainson’s, varied, wood
  • Tit – long-tailed, Siberian
  • Titmouse – tufted
  • Towhee – rufous-sided
  • Turkey – wild
  • Turnstone – black, ruddy
  • Veery
  • Vireo – blue-headed, Cassin’s, Hutton’s, Philadelphia, red-eyed, solitary, warbling, yellow-throated
  • Vulture – turkey
  • Warbler – bay-breasted, black and white, black-throated blue, black-throated green, black-throated grey, blackburnian, blackpoll, blue-winged, Canada, Cape May, cerulean, chestnut-sided, Connecticut, golden-winged, hooded, MacGillvray’s, magnolia, mourning, Nashville, orange-crowned, palm, pine, prairie, protonotary, Tennessee, Townsend’s, Wilson’s, yellow, yellow-rumped
  • Waterthrush – Lousiana, northern
  • Waxwing – Bohemian, cedar
  • Wheatear – northern
  • Whimbrel
  • Whip poor-will – common
  • Wigeon – American
  • Willet
  • Woodcock – American
  • Woodpecker – black-backed, hairy, Lewis’s, pileated, red-bellied, red-headed, three-toed, white-headed
  • Wren – Bewick’s, Carolina, house, marhs, rock, sedge, winter
  • Yellowlegs – greater, lesser
  • Yellowthroat – common