34 Winter Birds in Kentucky

Kentucky is famous for fast horses and slow bourbon, but the winter birds in Kentucky run on their own schedule: show up in November, eat everything in sight, and leave in March (which is also how I handle visiting my parents for the holidays). The good news is that winter is when a lot of these birds are easiest to see, because the leaves are gone and the feeders are busy.

The state bird is staying put. The Northern Cardinal became Kentucky's official state bird on February 17, 1926, and it doesn't migrate, so you'll see it all winter, bright red against the bare branches. What changes in winter is who joins it. Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows arrive from the north to scratch around under feeders, ducks and swans settle on the big western lakes, and Bald Eagles gather wherever the water stays open.

Types of Winter Birds in Kentucky

There are 3 types of winter birds in Kentucky you'll see on this list:

Resident Kentucky Birds – found year-round, and many of them visit feeders
Winter Migrants / Visitors – birds that breed farther north and spend the winter in Kentucky. Look for them in hot spots like Land Between the Lakes, where winter birding peaks from mid-December to mid-January
Irruptive Species – birds that show up in big, unpredictable numbers some winters and barely at all in others, usually when seed and cone crops fail up north

The feeder birds come first, roughly in the order they showed up in Project FeederWatch counts from 74 Kentucky sites in mid-November. After them come the winter arrivals, the irruptive finches, and the birds you'll need to leave the yard for. Each entry covers ID, male vs female, calls, where to find the bird in Kentucky, and its feeder favorites if it visits feeders.

1. Northern Cardinal

Family – Cardinalidae
Species – Cardinalis cardinalis
Primary Activity Time – Dawn and Dusk
Diurnal
Kentucky State Bird (Resident Kentucky Bird)

The Northern Cardinal was the most widespread bird in those Kentucky FeederWatch counts, seen at 93 percent of sites. It eats seeds, berries, and insects, and in winter it leans on sunflower and safflower to get through cold nights. Cardinals are often the first birds at the feeder in the morning and the last ones there at dusk.

Males are bright red all over with a black mask around a thick orange-red bill. Females are a warm tan-brown with red tinges on the crest, wings, and tail, plus the same orange bill. Both raise and lower the crest depending on how the day is going.

The song is a loud, clear whistle, often written as cheer-cheer-cheer or birdie-birdie-birdie. The call is a sharp, metallic chip that you'll hear from deep inside a hedge long before you see the bird.

Cardinals are statewide, from Louisville backyards to farm hedgerows in the Bluegrass and brushy creek bottoms in the east, anywhere with thick shrubs for cover. For more on keeping them around, here's our guide to cardinals in winter: where they go, what they eat, and how to attract them.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower, safflower, cracked corn on a platform

2. Tufted Titmouse

Family – Paridae
Species – Baeolophus bicolor
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The Tufted Titmouse came in second in the Kentucky counts, at roughly three out of four feeders. It's a small gray bird with a pointed crest, big black eyes, and rusty-peach flanks, and it handles sunflower seeds one at a time: grab, fly to a branch, hammer it open, come back.

Males and females look alike.

The song is a loud, whistled peter-peter-peter, and titmice start singing it on sunny days in late winter. The scold call is a harsh, nasal version of a chickadee's.

Titmice live statewide in deciduous woods, older neighborhoods, and parks, and they usually travel with chickadees in mixed winter flocks. They nest in tree cavities, so an old tree you've been meaning to cut down might be someone's house.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower, shelled peanuts, suet

3. House Finch

Family – Fringillidae
Species – Haemorhous mexicanus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The House Finch is a western bird that made itself at home in the East after caged birds were released in New York in the 1940s. It's now one of the most common feeder birds in Kentucky, showing up at nearly three-quarters of the FeederWatch sites.

Males have a rosy-red head, throat, and upper chest, though some lean orange or even yellow depending on what they've been eating. Females are plain brown with blurry streaks and no strong face pattern, which is how you tell them from a female Purple Finch.

The song is a long, cheerful warble that usually ends on a buzzy, rising note. Flocks keep up a steady chatter at the feeder.

House Finches are statewide in towns, suburbs, and farmsteads, wherever there are buildings to nest on and feeders to raid.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower, nyjer, sunflower chips

4. Mourning Dove

Family – Columbidae
Species – Zenaida macroura
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The Mourning Dove is the bird that eats like it's racing the clock, which feels very on brand for Kentucky. It swallows seeds fast, stores them in its crop, and then flies off to digest somewhere safe.

It's a slim, soft gray-brown bird with black spots on the wings and a long, pointed tail. Males have a faint pinkish breast and a bluish crown, while females are a little browner and plainer.

The call is a soft, mournful coo-OO-oo-oo-oo that a lot of people mistake for an owl. Their wings make a sharp whistling sound when they take off.

Mourning Doves are statewide, most common in farm country and suburbs, and they gather in winter flocks on the ground under feeders and along fencerows.

Feeder favorites: millet, cracked corn, black oil sunflower on a platform or the ground

5. Carolina Chickadee

Family – Paridae
Species – Poecile carolinensis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

Most chickadees in Kentucky are Carolina Chickadees, not the Black-capped Chickadees of the northern states. It's a tiny, fearless bird with a black cap and bib, white cheeks, and a soft gray back. In winter it eats seeds and berries plus any dormant insects it can pry out of bark, and it hides extra food to come back for later.

Males and females look the same.

The song is a four-note whistle, fee-bee-fee-bay, higher and faster than the Black-capped's two-note version. The call is the classic chick-a-dee-dee-dee, and more dees means more alarm.

Carolina Chickadees are statewide in woods, parks, and yards, and they often act as the ringleaders of mixed winter flocks with titmice, nuthatches, kinglets, and woodpeckers.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower, suet, shelled peanuts

6. Dark-eyed Junco

Family – Passerellidae
Species – Junco hyemalis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor

The Dark-eyed Junco is the classic "snowbird," and it arrives in Kentucky in late fall from forests farther north. It was at 65 percent of the Kentucky FeederWatch sites in November, which is impressive for a bird that only just got here.

Kentucky's juncos are mostly the "slate-colored" type: dark gray above, white belly, and a pale pink bill. Males are a darker, crisper gray, while females are paler and often washed with brown. Both flash white outer tail feathers when they flush.

The call is a sharp tick or smack, and flocks keep up a soft twitter. The song is a quick, even trill.

Look for small flocks on the ground under feeders and along brushy edges statewide. They tend to forage below the feeder, not on it.

Feeder favorites: white millet, cracked corn, sunflower chips scattered on the ground

7. Downy Woodpecker

Family – Picidae
Species – Dryobates pubescens
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The Downy Woodpecker is the smallest woodpecker in Kentucky, light enough to forage on goldenrod stems and thin twigs that would snap under anything bigger. It digs insects and larvae out of bark and is a regular at suet feeders.

It's black and white with a white stripe down the back and a short, stubby bill. Males have a small red patch on the back of the head, and females don't. The bigger Hairy Woodpecker looks almost the same, but its bill is nearly as long as its head.

The call is a soft pik, and it also gives a descending, whinnying rattle.

Downies are statewide in woods, orchards, parks, and yards, and they often tag along with chickadee flocks.

Feeder favorites: suet, black oil sunflower, peanuts

8. Blue Jay

Family – Corvidae
Species – Cyanocitta cristata
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The Blue Jay is Kentucky's original bluegrass act: loud, a little twangy, and impossible to ignore. It eats acorns, seeds, fruit, and insects, and it buries acorns to eat later. The ones it forgets help plant the next generation of oaks.

Males and females look alike, with bright blue upperparts, a black necklace, and white underparts. Males are slightly bigger.

Blue Jays make a harsh jay-jay scream, soft whistles, a squeaky "rusty gate" call, and a convincing imitation of a Red-shouldered or Red-tailed Hawk. Hearing a "hawk" at your feeder followed by a jay landing is a pretty common Kentucky experience.

They're statewide in woods, towns, and yards, especially near oaks.

Feeder favorites: peanuts in the shell, black oil sunflower, cracked corn

9. American Goldfinch

Family – Fringillidae
Species – Spinus tristis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The American Goldfinch doesn't leave Kentucky in winter. It just changes into something more practical. Summer's lemon yellow turns into a dull olive-brown, so a lot of people assume their goldfinches left when they're actually still on the tube feeder, dressed for the weather.

In winter, males keep a yellowish face and throat with jet-black wings and white wing bars. Females are grayer and duller. Both have a short, pale, cone-shaped bill built for seeds.

The flight call is a bouncy po-ta-to-chip, given as the bird dips up and down through the air.

Goldfinches are statewide in weedy fields, woodland edges, and yards with feeders, and their numbers can rise in winter as northern birds move in.

Feeder favorites: nyjer, sunflower chips, black oil sunflower

10. Red-bellied Woodpecker

Family – Picidae
Species – Melanerpes carolinus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The Red-bellied Woodpecker stores acorns and nuts in bark cracks for the winter, making it the second most famous thing in Kentucky that gets aged in oak. The name is confusing, since the red you'll actually notice is on its head. The "red belly" is a faint pinkish wash you'll only see when it's hanging on a suet cage.

It has a barred black-and-white "zebra" back and a pale face. Males have red running from the bill over the crown to the nape, while females have a gray crown with red only on the nape.

The call is a rolling kwirr or churr, one of the most common sounds in Kentucky's winter woods.

It's statewide in woodlands, wooded suburbs, and river bottoms.

Feeder favorites: suet, peanuts, black oil sunflower

11. White-throated Sparrow

Family – Passerellidae
Species – Zonotrichia albicollis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor

The White-throated Sparrow breeds in Canada's forests and spends the winter in Kentucky's thickets, and it was at 42 percent of the Kentucky FeederWatch sites in November. It scratches through dead leaves with both feet for fallen seeds.

Look for a crisp white throat, a small yellow spot between the eye and bill, and a striped head. The head stripes come in white-striped and tan-striped forms, and both forms show up in males and females, so the stripes don't tell you the sex.

The song is a clear, whistled Oh-sweet-Canada-Canada-Canada, and you may hear it on mild days before they head north. Most of the winter you'll hear a thin tseet and a sharp chink from the brush.

Find them statewide in hedgerows, brushy yards, and woodland edges, usually in loose flocks with juncos.

Feeder favorites: millet, sunflower chips, cracked corn on the ground

12. White-breasted Nuthatch

Family – Sittidae
Species – Sitta carolinensis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The White-breasted Nuthatch climbs down tree trunks headfirst, which lets it spot food the up-climbing woodpeckers miss. It wedges seeds and nuts into bark and whacks them open with its bill, which is where the "hatch" in nuthatch comes from.

It's blue-gray above with a white face and breast and a rusty wash under the tail. Males have a glossy black cap, while females often have a grayer cap.

The call is a nasal yank-yank, lower than the Red-breasted Nuthatch's tin-horn toot.

It's statewide in deciduous woods, parks, and neighborhoods with big old trees, usually traveling with chickadees and titmice.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower, peanuts, suet

13. Carolina Wren

Family – Troglodytidae
Species – Thryothorus ludovicianus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The Carolina Wren is a round, rusty-brown bird with a bold white eyebrow and a cocked tail. It mostly eats insects and spiders, which it finds in brush piles, woodpiles, garages, and old flowerpots on the porch.

Males and females look alike, and pairs stay together year-round, defending their territory as a team.

For a bird this small, the song is ridiculously loud: a rolling teakettle-teakettle-teakettle that the male sings in every month of the year. Pairs also trade dry, rattling chatters.

Carolina Wrens are statewide in thickets, overgrown yards, and woodland edges. Long cold snaps can knock their numbers back, so a brush pile in a corner of the yard gives them a place to hunt and hide.

Feeder favorites: suet, mealworms, peanut pieces

14. American Robin

Family – Turdidae
Species – Turdus migratorius
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird & Winter Migrant

The American Robin doesn't leave Kentucky for the winter. It just stops hanging out on your lawn. Winter robins switch from worms to fruit and travel in big, roaming flocks, so you'll find them in cedars, hollies, hackberries, and crabapples instead of the front yard.

Males have a darker head and a deeper brick-orange breast. Females are paler overall.

In winter you'll mostly hear clucking tut-tut calls and a thin, high seee, not the cheery spring song.

Robins are statewide, and big flocks gather wherever there's fruit. One morning you might count 200 in a cedar thicket and see zero the next day, because they've moved on to the next buffet.

Feeder favorites: chopped apples, softened raisins, mealworms

15. Song Sparrow

Family – Passerellidae
Species – Melospiza melodia
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird & Winter Migrant

The Song Sparrow is the streaky brown sparrow that seems to be everywhere, and longtime Kentucky outdoors writer Art Lander notes it's found statewide in winter. It eats seeds in winter and switches to insects once the weather warms.

Look for heavy brown streaks that pull together into a central breast spot, a grayish face with brown stripes, and a long, rounded tail that it pumps in flight. Males and females look alike.

The call is a husky chimp, and on mild winter days males sing their busy, jangly song from the top of a shrub.

They're statewide in brushy fields, creek edges, and yards with shrubs.

Feeder favorites: millet, cracked corn, sunflower chips on the ground

16. Field Sparrow

Family – Passerellidae
Species – Spizella pusilla
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The Field Sparrow is one of Kentucky's own. Some Kentucky birds head south for the winter, but plenty stay, and Art Lander's same article calls it common here throughout the winter, especially in the Bluegrass Region, where flocks form and stick close to home.

It has a plain, warm face, a rusty cap, a white eye ring, and a bright pink bill that makes it look like it's been at the lipstick counter. Males and females look alike.

The song is a series of sweet whistles that speed up at the end, like a dropped ping-pong ball bouncing to a stop. In winter you'll mostly hear a soft tsip.

Look for them in old fields, overgrown pastures, and brushy fencerows. They come to feeders less often than other sparrows, but they will visit seed scattered near cover.

Feeder favorites: millet and cracked corn scattered on the ground

17. Eastern Towhee

Family – Passerellidae
Species – Pipilo erythrophthalmus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The Eastern Towhee is a big, flashy sparrow that forages by hopping forward and kicking backward with both feet at once. If the dead leaves under your shrubs are rustling like something much larger is in there, it's usually a towhee and not a raccoon.

Males have a black hood and back, rusty sides, and a white belly. Females have the same pattern in warm brown instead of black.

The call is a rising chewink, and the drink-your-tea song returns in spring.

Towhees are statewide in thickets, woodland edges, and overgrown yards.

Feeder favorites: millet, cracked corn, and sunflower chips on the ground

18. Eastern Bluebird

Family – Turdidae
Species – Sialia sialis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The Eastern Bluebird sticks around Kentucky in winter, usually in small family flocks. When insects run out, it switches mostly to berries like sumac, holly, dogwood, and cedar.

Males are vivid blue above with a rusty throat and breast. Females are grayer, with blue on the wings and tail and a softer orange wash on the breast.

The call is a soft, sweet tu-a-wee. On very cold nights, bluebirds sometimes pile into a nest box together to share body heat.

Bluebirds are statewide in pastures, open fields, golf courses, and orchards. The Nature Conservancy suggests its Mantle Rock Preserve for winter birds like Sandhill Cranes and Eastern Bluebirds, and a shallow water source helps too, so here's how to keep a bird bath from freezing in winter.

Feeder favorites: mealworms, suet, chopped fruit

19. Eastern Phoebe

Family – Tyrannidae
Species – Sayornis phoebe
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird (some migrate)

The Eastern Phoebe is a flycatcher, which makes it a surprise on a winter list, but The Nature Conservancy notes that many phoebes stay in Kentucky through winter. On cold days, when flying insects are scarce, they add berries and seeds to the menu.

It's a plain gray-brown bird with a darker head, a pale belly, and no strong wing bars or eye ring. Its giveaway is the constant tail wag, down and up, every few seconds. Males and females look alike.

The song is a raspy fee-bee, and like Phoebe Buffay at Central Perk, it's mostly singing about itself. The call is a sharp chip.

Look for phoebes near water, especially along creeks, around bridges, and near farm buildings, where they sit on low perches and sally out after insects.

20. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Family – Picidae
Species – Sphyrapicus varius
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor

The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker sounds like an insult from an old cartoon, but it's a real woodpecker and a regular winter visitor in Kentucky. It drills neat rows of small holes in tree bark, then returns to lap up the sap and any insects that get stuck in it. It basically runs a tiny maple-syrup operation without the pancakes.

Both sexes have a red forehead, a bold black-and-white face, and a long white stripe on the wing. Males have a red throat, while females have a white throat. The "yellow belly" is a pale yellowish wash.

The call is a nasal, catlike mew, and its drumming starts with a few fast taps and then slows into irregular knocks.

Sapsuckers winter statewide in woods, orchards, and yards with mature trees. Look for tidy rows of sap wells on a trunk to know one's been around.

Feeder favorites: suet, now and then

21. Yellow-rumped Warbler

Family – Parulidae
Species – Setophaga coronata
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is one of the few warblers that spends the winter in Kentucky, thanks to a stomach that can digest the waxy berries other warblers can't. When insects disappear, it eats poison ivy berries, cedar berries, and sumac.

In winter it's brownish with soft streaks, yellow patches on the sides, and that bright yellow rump, which flashes as it flies away. Males tend to be grayer and crisper, and females browner.

The call is a sharp chek, and once you know it, you'll hear it in nearly every winter thicket.

They're statewide in woods, cedar groves, and brushy edges, often in loose flocks.

Feeder favorites: suet, peanut butter mixes

22. Golden-crowned Kinglet

Family – Regulidae
Species – Regulus satrapa
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor

The Golden-crowned Kinglet is one of the tiniest birds in Kentucky in winter, and it wears a crown for the occasion. It flits through twigs and needles nonstop, picking off tiny insects and insect eggs, and somehow survives cold nights that seem far too big for it.

It's olive-gray with a black-and-white striped face and white wing bars. Both sexes have a yellow crown, but males have a bright orange center inside the yellow, while females have yellow only.

The call is a very high, thin tsee-tsee-tsee, so high that a lot of people stop hearing it as they get older (I'm choosing not to test myself).

Look for them statewide in pines, cedars, and hemlocks, often mixed into chickadee flocks.

23. Red-breasted Nuthatch

Family – Sittidae
Species – Sitta canadensis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Irruptive Species

The Red-breasted Nuthatch is a small, busy nuthatch from northern conifer forests. In years when cone crops fail up north, numbers move south into Kentucky, and in other years you'll barely see one.

It has a black eye stripe, a white eyebrow, a blue-gray back, and rusty-orange underparts. Males have a black cap and deeper color, while females have a grayer cap and paler belly.

The call is a high, nasal yank-yank, often compared to a toy tin horn.

In flight years, look for them in pines and spruces statewide, including planted conifers in parks and cemeteries, and at feeders.

Feeder favorites: suet, shelled peanuts, black oil sunflower

24. Purple Finch

Family – Fringillidae
Species – Haemorhous purpureus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor (numbers vary by year)

The Purple Finch is the reason to look twice at every "House Finch" at your feeder in winter. It comes down from northern forests to Kentucky, with big numbers some years and very few in others.

Males look like they were dipped in raspberry juice, with the color spreading over the head, back, and wings and no crisp brown streaks on the belly. Females are brown and streaky but have a bold white eyebrow and dark cheek patch, which female House Finches lack.

The flight call is a short, dull pik, and the song is a fast, rich warble.

Look for them at sunflower feeders and in woodland edges statewide.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower

25. Pine Siskin

Family – Fringillidae
Species – Spinus pinus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Irruptive Species

The Pine Siskin is a small, streaky brown finch with flashes of yellow in the wings and tail. It's a true irruptive bird, so some winters flocks pour into Kentucky and empty your nyjer feeder in a weekend, and other winters there's not one in sight.

Males and females look similar, though males usually show more yellow.

The call is a rising, buzzy zreeee, plus a lot of wheezy twittering from the flock.

In flight years, look for them at feeders statewide and in conifers and sweetgum trees. Keep feeders clean when siskins visit, since crowded feeders can spread disease among them.

Feeder favorites: nyjer, sunflower chips

26. Rufous Hummingbird

Family – Trochilidae
Species – Selasphorus rufus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Rare Winter Visitor

The Rufous Hummingbird is a western bird that turns up in Kentucky a few times each winter, usually at a feeder someone forgot to take down. According to Shannon Trimboli, a wildlife biologist in south-central Kentucky who hosted one at her own feeder, any hummingbird seen in Kentucky after November 1 is a possible vagrant, most often a Rufous or Allen's, and those sightings should be reported to the Kentucky Ornithological Society so a bander can confirm the species.

Males are bright orange-rufous with an iridescent red-orange throat. Females and young birds are green above with rusty flanks and a few orange spots on the throat, and they're very hard to tell from Allen's Hummingbirds without having the bird in hand.

The call is a hard chip, and males make a buzzy whine with their wings in flight.

They can turn up anywhere. Leaving one clean feeder out into late fall won't stop healthy hummingbirds from migrating, since day length triggers migration, and it might just host a lost tourist.

Feeder favorites: sugar water (one part white sugar to four parts water), kept from freezing

27. Cooper's Hawk

Family – Accipitridae
Species – Astur cooperii
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The Cooper's Hawk treats your feeder as a drive-thru, and the menu is your songbirds. It hunts by surprise, cutting through shrubs and around corners to grab doves, starlings, and sparrows.

Adults are blue-gray above with a barred orange-red chest, red eyes, and a long, rounded tail with a white tip. Young birds are brown with streaky chests and yellow eyes. Males and females look alike, but females are much bigger, which makes the small males easy to confuse with Sharp-shinned Hawks.

The call is a harsh cak-cak-cak, mostly heard near nests in spring.

Cooper's Hawks are statewide in woods and, more and more, in towns and suburbs, where feeders keep prey close. If one is hanging around, take your feeders down for a few days and the songbirds will scatter until it moves on.

28. Red-tailed Hawk

Family – Accipitridae
Species – Buteo jamaicensis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird

The Red-tailed Hawk is the big hawk you see on fence posts and highway light poles along the interstates, watching the grass for voles and mice.

Adults have a brick-red tail and a pale chest with a belt of dark streaks across the belly. Males and females look alike, but females are bigger.

The call is a hoarse, screaming keee-ar, the sound movies use for nearly every bird of prey (including eagles, which sound nothing like it).

Red-tails are statewide in farm country, pastures, and highway medians, and winter numbers can rise as northern hawks move in.

29. Bald Eagle

Family – Accipitridae
Species – Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Kentucky Bird & Winter Migrant

The Bald Eagle is the headliner of a Kentucky winter. According to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, 150 to 400 eagles were counted each year during the national Midwinter Eagle Survey, and they gather wherever there's open water to fish. They eat fish, ducks, and carrion.

Adults have a white head and tail and a heavy yellow bill. Young eagles are mottled brown and white and take about five years to get their adult colors. Females are larger than males.

The call is a weak, high-pitched chatter, nothing like the scream Hollywood gives them.

Land Between the Lakes is the classic spot. Its staff recommend the northwestern bays like Smith and Pisgah Bays, plus Honker Lake and the tailwaters below Kentucky Dam and Barkley Dam, with January as the peak month. Kentucky State Parks also host Eagle Watch events at several western Kentucky parks in January and February. Wherever you go, keep your distance from roosts and nests.

30. Short-eared Owl

Family – Strigidae
Species – Asio flammeus
Primary Activity Time – Dawn and Dusk
Crepuscular
Winter Migrant / Visitor (uncommon to rare)

The Short-eared Owl is the owl you can see without staying up all night. It hunts at dusk over open grassland, flying low and floppy like a giant moth, and drops into the grass after voles. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources lists it as uncommon to rare, usually seen in winter, statewide but rarer in eastern Kentucky.

It's a tawny, streaky owl with a pale face, yellow eyes ringed in black, and ear tufts so short you'll rarely see them. In flight, look for a dark patch at the wrist. Females tend to be darker and more buff than males.

They're mostly quiet in winter, though they sometimes give a raspy bark.

Look for them in big grasslands, hayfields, old fields, and reclaimed strip-mine land, starting about half an hour before sunset. Watch from your car or the road edge, since flushing them off a roost costs them energy they need.

31. Sandhill Crane

Family – Gruidae
Species – Antigone canadensis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor

The Sandhill Crane has gone from a rarity to a winter event in Kentucky, and it's worth every crick in your neck from craning to see the flocks overhead. Most of the eastern population passes through on the way to Florida and Georgia, but some stay. At Barren River Lake, a park naturalist estimated about 1,200 Sandhill Cranes in the area, roosting on mud flats exposed by the winter drawdown and feeding in nearby cornfields.

It's a tall gray bird with a long neck, long legs, and a red patch on the crown. Some birds look rusty in fall and winter from staining their feathers with iron-rich mud. Males and females look alike, though males are a bit bigger.

The call is a loud, rolling, rattling bugle that carries for miles. You'll often hear a flock long before you can find it in the sky.

They're most common in central and western Kentucky. Barren River Lake State Resort Park has run winter crane-viewing weekends, and Mantle Rock Preserve and Land Between the Lakes are also good bets in late winter.

32. Tundra Swan

Family – Anatidae
Species – Cygnus columbianus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor

The Tundra Swan flies down from the Arctic, and a small flock reliably spends the winter in western Kentucky. At Sloughs Wildlife Management Area in Henderson and Union counties, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife says 30 to 40 Tundra Swans at a time is not unusual, with a high count of 75.

It's all white with a black bill, often with a small yellow spot in front of the eye. That black bill separates it from the non-native Mute Swan, which has an orange bill. Males and females look alike, and gray young birds travel with their parents.

The call is a high, whistling hoot, a lot more musical than you'd expect from a bird named after frozen ground (so much for the swan song being sad).

The observation towers along KY 268 at Sloughs WMA give the best views, and parts of the area close from November 1 to March 15 so the birds can rest.

33. Canvasback

Family – Anatidae
Species – Aythya valisineria
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor

The Canvasback has a name that sounds like an art supply and a profile that looks like it was drawn with a ruler. It's a large diving duck that eats plant roots, tubers, and aquatic invertebrates, and The Nature Conservancy notes it turns up wherever there's open water in Kentucky.

Its long, sloping forehead runs straight into a long black bill, which is the best ID clue. Males have a chestnut-red head, red eyes, a black chest, and a bright white back and sides. Females have a pale brown head and neck and a grayish-brown body, with the same sloping profile.

They're mostly quiet in winter, but you'll see them diving again and again.

Look for them on big reservoirs and lakes, including Land Between the Lakes, where Audubon counts around 20 species of wintering ducks, and on the ponds at Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery near Cave Run Lake.

34. Common Loon

Family – Gaviidae
Species – Gavia immer
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor

The Common Loon spends the summer on northern lakes and the winter on Kentucky's big reservoirs and rivers. It's a deep diver that chases fish underwater, and it rides low in the water like a small submarine with a pointy nose.

In winter it trades its famous black-and-white checkerboard for plain gray-brown above and white below, so many people don't recognize it. Look for a thick, dagger-like bill and a low profile on the water. Males and females look alike.

Loons are mostly quiet in winter, so you probably won't hear the haunting wail from the summer movies.

Look for them on Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, especially at Smith and Pisgah Bays in Land Between the Lakes, plus Owsley Fork Reservoir near Berea and other large lakes.

Kentucky Winter Birds FAQ

What birds stay in Kentucky in the winter?

Year-round residents include the Northern Cardinal, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Blue Jay, Field Sparrow, woodpeckers, and White-breasted Nuthatch. They're joined by winter visitors like Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Golden-crowned Kinglets, and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. For the neighbors' version of this list, see our guides to winter birds in Tennessee and winter birds in Ohio.

What are the most common birds of Kentucky in winter?

At feeders, the Northern Cardinal leads by a wide margin. In FeederWatch counts from 74 Kentucky sites in mid-November, the top birds were Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, Mourning Dove, Carolina Chickadee, Dark-eyed Junco, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Goldfinch, and Red-bellied Woodpecker.

Where can I see Bald Eagles in Kentucky in winter?

Land Between the Lakes is the top spot, especially Smith and Pisgah Bays, Honker Lake, and the dam tailwaters, from November through February with a January peak. Cave Run Lake, Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery, and Sloughs WMA are good too, and Reelfoot Lake, whose Long Point Unit reaches into Kentucky, can hold hundreds of eagles in winter.

Where can I see Sandhill Cranes in Kentucky?

Barren River Lake in Barren County is the best-known spot, where cranes roost on winter mud flats and feed in nearby fields. They're most common in central and western Kentucky, passing overhead from mid-November into early December and again in late winter.

Do hummingbirds stay in Kentucky in the winter?

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds leave for the winter, but a few western hummingbirds, mostly Rufous and Allen's, turn up in Kentucky each year. Any hummingbird seen after November 1 is worth reporting to the Kentucky Ornithological Society.

What birds migrate to Kentucky for the winter?

Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrows, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Golden-crowned Kinglets, and Yellow-rumped Warblers arrive in fall. On the water, Tundra Swans, Canvasbacks, Common Loons, and about 20 kinds of ducks settle on the western lakes. In some years, irruptive birds like Pine Siskins, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and Purple Finches show up too.

Seen Any Kentucky Birds This Winter?

Spotted a Sandhill Crane flock over Barren River or a junco under your feeder? Share it with other birders on the Sparkbird App, where your sightings help the next person know where to look.

And if your feeder birds clear out all at once on a cold January morning, check the nearest branch for a Cooper's Hawk. In Kentucky, even the birds know better than to stand between a hungry local and the buffet.