33 Winter Birds in Massachusetts

A Massachusetts winter is mostly gray skies, salt on everything, and someone in a Patriots hat telling you it "isn't even that cold." The birds seem to agree with him (I don't). Winter birds in Massachusetts include a loyal crew of backyard regulars, plus a wave of Arctic visitors who think Plum Island in January counts as a beach vacation.

The state's official bird is in the first group. The chickadee is written into state law as the bird emblem of the commonwealth, and the Black-capped Chickadee stays all winter, so you'll never have to wait for spring to see it. It's also the most widespread feeder bird in the region, which makes it the rare state symbol you can actually find before breakfast.

Types of Winter Birds in Massachusetts

There are 3 types of winter birds in Massachusetts on this list:

Resident Massachusetts Birds – species that live here year-round and don't migrate, or only shuffle around a little
Winter Migrants / Visitors – birds that breed farther north and come to Massachusetts for the winter. A lot of them are sea ducks and seabirds, which is why the coast from Cape Ann to Cape Cod gets so busy when the tourists leave
Irruptive Species – birds that show up in big, unpredictable numbers some winters and barely at all in others, usually when food runs short up north

Every entry covers ID, male vs female, calls, where to find the bird in Massachusetts, and what it eats at feeders if it visits them. The feeder birds come first, ranked roughly by how often they show up in Project FeederWatch's New England counts, followed by the raptors, owls, finches, and sea ducks. If you're wondering why the warblers ghosted you in October, here's where birds go in the winter.

1. Black-capped Chickadee

Family – Paridae
Species – Poecile atricapillus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Massachusetts Bird (Massachusetts State Bird)

The Black-capped Chickadee is the state bird of Massachusetts and the first bird to find a new feeder, usually within a day or two. It's a tiny omnivore that eats seeds, suet, and frozen insect eggs, and it hides thousands of seeds in bark and moss in fall so it can find them again in January (I can't find my car keys in a two-room apartment).

It has a black cap and bib, white cheeks, a soft gray back, and buffy sides. Males and females look the same.

The Black-capped Chickadee call is the namesake chick-a-dee-dee-dee, and the more dee notes it adds, the more worked up it is about a nearby predator. On mild winter days you'll also hear the clear, two-note fee-bee song.

It's found statewide, from Berkshire hemlock woods to Boston backyards, usually leading a little mixed flock of titmice, nuthatches, and woodpeckers.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower, suet, shelled peanuts

2. Blue Jay

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

The Blue Jay is a loud, clever corvid that eats acorns, seeds, and the occasional insect, and it can carry several nuts at once in a throat pouch to stash for later. Plenty of the oak trees in New England were probably planted by a jay that forgot where it left lunch.

Males and females look alike: bright blue crest and back, white face and belly, and a black necklace. Males average a little larger, but you won't see the difference at a feeder.

The Blue Jay call is a harsh jeer, plus a squeaky gate-hinge note and a convincing Red-shouldered Hawk impression that clears the feeder in seconds.

Blue Jays live statewide in oak woods, suburbs, and parks, and they're one of the top feeder birds in New England.

Feeder favorites: peanuts in the shell, black oil sunflower, suet

3. Dark-eyed Junco

Family – Passerellidae
Species – Junco hyemalis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor (also nests in western Massachusetts)

The Dark-eyed Junco is the original "snowbird," which is funny, because Massachusetts is where it comes to escape the cold. Mass Audubon notes juncos are typically seen from October through April, although some nest in western Massachusetts conifer woods year-round.

Ours are the slate-colored type: gray above, white belly, pale pink bill. Males are a darker, crisper slate, and females are paler gray with a brownish wash. Both flash white outer tail feathers when they flush.

The Dark-eyed Junco call is a sharp tik or smack, and the song is a dry, even trill.

Juncos are found statewide in small flocks on the ground under feeders, along woodland edges, and in brushy fields.

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

4. Downy Woodpecker

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

The Downy Woodpecker is one of the smallest woodpeckers in North America, and it's light enough to work weed stalks and thin twigs that bigger woodpeckers can't. In winter it digs dormant insects and larvae out of bark and happily takes suet.

It's checkered 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 Downy Woodpecker call is a soft pik, plus a high whinny that runs downhill in pitch.

Downies live statewide in woodlots, parks, and wooded neighborhoods, and they're on more New England feeders than any other woodpecker.

Feeder favorites: suet, black oil sunflower, peanuts

5. White-breasted Nuthatch

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

The White-breasted Nuthatch spends winter walking headfirst down tree trunks, finding bugs and seeds the woodpeckers missed on the way up. It wedges seeds into bark and hammers them open, which is where the "nuthatch" name comes from.

It's blue-gray above with a white face and breast and a rusty patch under the tail. Males have a glossy black cap, while females usually show a grayer cap, which is easiest to see when a pair visits together.

The White-breasted Nuthatch call is a nasal yank, often given in a quick series like a tiny, unhappy horn.

You'll find it statewide in oak and maple woods, town greens with old trees, and backyards, usually traveling with chickadees.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower, shelled peanuts, suet

6. Mourning Dove

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

The Mourning Dove is a ground-feeding seed eater that fills its crop as fast as it can, then flies off to a branch to digest. On cold mornings you'll see a row of them puffed up on a wire like gray dinner rolls.

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

The Mourning Dove call is a low, slow coo-OO-oo-oo-oo that people often mistake for an owl, and their wings whistle when they take off.

Mourning Doves are statewide in towns, farmland, and suburbs, often in winter flocks around feeders.

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

7. Tufted Titmouse

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

The Tufted Titmouse is a chickadee cousin with a crest and better posture. It eats insects, seeds, and nuts, and it's known for grabbing one sunflower seed at a time, flying off to crack it, and coming right back for another.

It's soft gray above and pale below, with peachy flanks, big black eyes, and a pointed crest. Males and females look alike.

The Tufted Titmouse call is a whistled peter-peter-peter, and it scolds with a raspy, chickadee-like chatter.

Titmice are found across most of Massachusetts in deciduous woods and leafy neighborhoods.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower, peanuts, suet

8. American Goldfinch

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

The American Goldfinch sticks around all winter, but it trades summer's lemon yellow for a dull olive-brown that makes a lot of people think their goldfinches left. They didn't. They just went into witness protection.

In winter, males keep a yellowish wash on the face and throat and jet-black wings with bold white bars, while females are grayer with brownish-black wings. Both have a small, pale, cone-shaped bill.

The American Goldfinch call is a bouncy po-ta-to-chip, given in flight as the birds rise and dip like they're on a roller coaster.

Goldfinches are found statewide in weedy fields, edges, and any yard with a tube feeder.

Feeder favorites: nyjer, sunflower chips, black oil sunflower

9. Northern Cardinal

Family – Cardinalidae
Species – Cardinalis cardinalis
Primary Activity Time – Dawn and Dusk
Diurnal
Resident Massachusetts Bird

The Northern Cardinal is the bird every holiday card in New England is legally required to include. It eats seeds and fruit in winter, and it's often the first bird at the feeder in the morning and the last one there at dusk.

Males are bright red with a black mask around a thick orange-red bill. Females are warm tan-brown with red in the wings, tail, and crest, and the same chunky bill. If you want more of them, here's how to attract cardinals in winter.

The Northern Cardinal call is a sharp metallic chip, and on sunny late-winter days males start whistling cheer-cheer-cheer or birdie-birdie-birdie.

Cardinals are statewide in yards, thickets, and woodland edges, especially where there's dense shrubbery to hide in.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower, safflower, cracked corn

10. Hairy Woodpecker

Family – Picidae
Species – Dryobates villosus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Massachusetts Bird

The Hairy Woodpecker looks like a Downy that hit the gym. It works bigger trunks and branches for beetle larvae and visits feeders for suet.

The tell is the bill, which is nearly as long as its head (the Downy's is short and stubby). Males have a red patch on the back of the head, and females don't.

The Hairy Woodpecker call is a loud, sharp peek, plus a rattle that stays on one pitch instead of falling like the Downy's.

Hairy Woodpeckers are statewide in mature forest and wooded suburbs, but they're less common at feeders than Downies.

Feeder favorites: suet, black oil sunflower, peanuts

11. House Finch

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

The House Finch is a western bird that reached the East after cage birds were released on Long Island in the 1940s, and it's been settling into New England feeders ever since. It eats almost entirely plant food: seeds, buds, and berries.

Males have a rosy-red head and breast (some lean orange or yellow, depending on diet), while females are plain gray-brown with blurry streaks.

The House Finch call is a cheerful cheep, and the song is a long, jumbled warble that often ends on a rising buzz.

House Finches are most common in towns and suburbs across the state, especially around houses with feeders and ornamental shrubs.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower, sunflower chips, nyjer

12. Red-bellied Woodpecker

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

The Red-bellied Woodpecker has the most misleading name on the list, since the red on its belly is a faint blush you'll rarely see. It eats acorns, nuts, fruit, and insects, and stores food in bark cracks for winter.

It has a ladder-barred black-and-white back and a pale tan face and breast. Males have red from the bill all the way over the crown to the nape, and females have red only on the nape.

The Red-bellied Woodpecker call is a rolling churr or kwirr, which carries a long way through bare winter woods.

It has spread north over the past few decades and is now a regular in eastern and central Massachusetts woods and neighborhoods.

Feeder favorites: suet, peanuts, black oil sunflower

13. American Crow

Family – Corvidae
Species – Corvus brachyrhynchos
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Massachusetts Bird

The American Crow is an omnivore that eats nearly anything, from waste grain and roadkill to French fries in a parking lot. Crows can recognize individual human faces, which is more than I can manage at a high school reunion.

They're glossy black from bill to feet with a squared-off tail. Males and females look alike.

The American Crow call is a classic caw-caw, along with rattles, clicks, and coos that most people never notice.

Crows are statewide, and in winter thousands gather in big communal roosts in some Massachusetts cities before scattering to feed by day.

Feeder favorites: peanuts in the shell, cracked corn

14. American Robin

Family – Turdidae
Species – Turdus migratorius
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Massachusetts Bird (winter flocks)

The American Robin isn't a sign of spring in Massachusetts so much as a sign you weren't looking. Many stay all winter, switching from worms to fruit and moving around in nomadic flocks.

Males have a deep brick-orange breast and a dark, nearly black head, while females are paler, with a grayer head and a more faded orange breast.

The American Robin call in winter is mostly a low tut-tut and a thin, high seee, not the singing you hear in April.

Mass Audubon says winter robins favor lawns, fields, and swampy woodlands, especially in the milder east and southeast, wherever holly, crabapple, and other fruit hold on.

Feeder favorites: chopped apples, softened raisins, mealworms

15. Carolina Wren

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

The Carolina Wren is a southern bird that has been pushing north, and it now shows up at more than half of New England's FeederWatch sites. It mostly eats insects and spiders, so a bad winter with deep snow can knock local numbers back.

It's warm cinnamon-brown above and buffy below, with a bold white eyebrow and a slightly curved bill. Males and females look alike.

The Carolina Wren song is a huge, rolling teakettle-teakettle-teakettle from a bird the size of a golf ball, and pairs sing year-round.

Carolina Wrens are most common in eastern and southern Massachusetts, in tangles, brush piles, and garages with an open door.

Feeder favorites: suet, peanut butter suet, mealworms

16. White-throated Sparrow

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

The White-throated Sparrow is a sharp-looking sparrow that scratches through leaf litter with both feet at once, like it's doing a tiny dance. It's a seed eater in winter and a regular under feeders.

It has a bright white throat, a yellow spot between the eye and bill, and a striped head. The stripes come in two forms, white-striped and tan-striped, and both forms occur in males and females.

The White-throated Sparrow song is a thin, whistled Old-Sam-Peabody-Peabody-Peabody, and its call note is a sharp pink.

It's widespread in Massachusetts in winter, especially in thickets, brushy yards, and woodland edges.

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

17. Song Sparrow

Family – Passerellidae
Species – Melospiza melodia
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Massachusetts Bird

The Song Sparrow is the streaky brown sparrow most people mean when they say "just a sparrow." It eats weed seeds in winter, and the local population is topped up by birds from farther north.

It's streaked brown and gray with a central breast spot that looks like a smudge of coffee. Males and females look alike.

The Song Sparrow call is a nasal chimp, and males sometimes sing their bright, jumbled song on mild winter days.

Song Sparrows are statewide, especially in marsh edges, hedgerows, and brushy coastal thickets.

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

18. House Sparrow

Family – Passeridae
Species – Passer domesticus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Massachusetts Bird (Non-Native Species)

The House Sparrow is a non-native bird from Europe that lives anywhere there are people, buildings, and dropped food. It roosts in eaves, vents, and window-unit air conditioners. Growing up in New England, I saw one get stuck on the duct tape holding my dad's busted AC panels together, and he had to glove up and peel it free. (Maybe skip the duct tape.)

Males have a gray crown, chestnut nape, and black bib, while females are plain buff-brown with a pale eyebrow stripe.

The House Sparrow call is a constant cheep or chirrup that never seems to stop.

House Sparrows are found in every city, town, and farm in Massachusetts.

Feeder favorites: millet, cracked corn, sunflower

19. European Starling

Family – Sturnidae
Species – Sturnus vulgaris
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Massachusetts Bird (Non-Native Species)

The European Starling is another non-native, and it takes suet like it's paying by the pound. It eats insects, fruit, grain, and scraps, and travels in noisy winter flocks.

In winter, starlings are glossy black covered in white star-shaped spots, which wear away by spring. Males and females are similar, but in breeding season males have a bluish base to the bill and females have a pinkish one.

The European Starling call is a mix of whistles, rattles, and clicks, and it's a gifted mimic of other birds and car alarms.

Starlings are statewide, especially in cities, farms, and shopping-center lots.

Feeder favorites: suet, cracked corn, kitchen scraps

20. American Tree Sparrow

Family – Passerellidae
Species – Spizelloides arborea
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor

The American Tree Sparrow nests in the Canadian north and spends the winter here, mostly on the ground despite the name. It eats weed and grass seeds and sometimes beats its wings against seed heads to knock the seeds loose.

It has a rusty cap, a rusty eye line, a gray face, and a plain gray breast with a dark central spot. Males and females look alike.

The American Tree Sparrow call is a high tseet, and flocks give a soft, tinkling twitter.

Mass Audubon notes tree sparrows gather in weedy fields and at backyard feeders statewide, though Christmas Bird Count data suggest their winter numbers here may be dropping.

Feeder favorites: millet, cracked corn scattered on the ground

21. Red-breasted Nuthatch

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

The Red-breasted Nuthatch is a small, busy nuthatch that loves conifer seeds. In years when northern cone crops fail, many more move south into Massachusetts.

It has a black eye line, white eyebrow, blue-gray back, and rusty underparts. Males have a black cap and a deeper rust breast, while females have a grayer cap and a paler breast.

The Red-breasted Nuthatch call is a nasal yank-yank, higher and more tinny than the White-breasted, like a toy horn.

It's most reliable in spruce and pine woods in central and western Massachusetts, and in irruption years it can show up at feeders anywhere.

Feeder favorites: suet, shelled peanuts, black oil sunflower

22. Cooper's Hawk

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

The Cooper's Hawk is the hawk most likely to turn your feeder into a buffet, since it mainly hunts songbirds and doves. If every bird freezes and then vanishes at once, look up.

Adults are blue-gray above with fine rusty barring below, a dark cap, and a long, rounded tail. Males and females look alike, but females are noticeably larger.

The Cooper's Hawk call is a rapid kek-kek-kek, mostly heard near nests, and it's usually silent at feeders.

Cooper's Hawks are statewide in wooded suburbs and towns, wherever feeders concentrate prey.

23. Red-tailed Hawk

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

The Red-tailed Hawk is the big hawk sitting on a light pole along Route 128 or the Mass Pike, staring at the median for voles. It eats mostly small mammals.

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

The Red-tailed Hawk call is a raspy, screaming keee-arrr, and it's the sound movies use for nearly every eagle.

Red-tails are statewide in open country, highway edges, and city parks.

24. Bald Eagle

Family – Accipitridae
Species – Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Massachusetts Bird / Winter Migrant

The Bald Eagle is a fish eater and opportunistic scavenger, and in winter it follows open water. Local birds are joined by eagles from farther north when lakes and rivers freeze.

Adults have a white head and tail, a dark brown body, and a heavy yellow bill. Young birds are mottled brown and take several years to get the white head. Males and females look alike, but females are larger.

The Bald Eagle call is a high, weak chatter that sounds surprisingly small for such a big bird.

MassWildlife points winter eagle-watchers to the Merrimack River and Plum Island, where the Merrimack River Eagle Festival runs each February. The Quabbin Reservoir is another good bet.

25. Rough-legged Hawk

Family – Accipitridae
Species – Buteo lagopus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor (uncommon, mostly coastal marshes)

The Rough-legged Hawk nests on the Arctic tundra and comes south for the winter to hunt small rodents in open country. It's one of the few large hawks that hovers in place while it scans for prey.

Its legs are feathered all the way to the toes. Light birds have a pale head, dark wrist patches under the wings, and a dark belly band, and dark-morph birds are chocolate brown with silvery flight feathers. Females and young birds usually show the boldest belly band.

The Rough-legged Hawk call is a descending squeal, but it's mostly quiet in winter.

It's an uncommon visitor, most often found hovering over the marshes of Plum Island, especially near the North Pool Overlook at dawn and dusk.

26. Snowy Owl

Family – Strigidae
Species – Bubo scandiacus
Primary Activity Time – Day and Dusk
Diurnal
Irruptive Species

The Snowy Owl is North America's heaviest owl and the most searched-for of all Massachusetts winter birds. It nests in the Arctic and comes south in numbers that swing a lot from year to year. MassWildlife says Snowy Owls can be seen from November to early April, on open fields and shorelines that look like the tundra.

Adult males can be almost pure white, while females are larger with heavier dark barring. Young birds are the most heavily barred of all.

The Snowy Owl call is a deep, booming hoot, but they're nearly silent here in winter.

Logan Airport's grasslands are one of the most dependable spots in the state, and Mass Audubon's Norman Smith has relocated more than 900 owls from there since 1981. Plum Island's dunes and marshes are the best public bet, and Belle Isle Marsh in East Boston gets the occasional one. If you find one, give it space. Stay at least 150 feet away, don't surround it, and back off if it stretches its neck up or opens its eyes wide.

27. Northern Shrike

Family – Laniidae
Species – Lanius borealis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor (uncommon)

The Northern Shrike is a songbird that hunts like a hawk, catching small birds and rodents and impaling them on thorns or barbed wire to eat later. It's basically a backyard bird that read a true-crime novel.

It's pale gray above and whitish below, with a black mask, black wings and tail, and a hooked bill. Adults look alike, and young birds are browner with fainter masks.

The Northern Shrike call is a harsh, grating note, and it sometimes sings a quiet mix of whistles in late winter.

It's an uncommon visitor, most often on treetops along the Plum Island road, in open fields, and in coastal thickets.

28. Redpoll

Family – Fringillidae
Species – Acanthis flammea
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Irruptive Species

The Redpoll is the small finch you may know as the Common Redpoll or Hoary Redpoll. In 2024 the American Ornithological Society merged them into a single species, which is the bird version of an ABBA reunion. Redpolls irrupt south in some winters and skip Massachusetts entirely in others.

It's streaky brown-gray with a bright red cap and a black chin. Males have a rosy wash on the breast, and females lack the pink and are streakier. Some birds are much frostier and paler than others.

The Redpoll call is a dry chit-chit-chit flight call and a rising, buzzy zweee.

In flight years, they work birches and alders and swarm nyjer feeders statewide, especially in the north and west.

Feeder favorites: nyjer, sunflower chips

29. Pine Siskin

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

The Pine Siskin is a streaky little finch that wanders wherever the conifer seeds are. Some winters it empties your nyjer feeder by noon, and other winters you won't see a single one.

It's brown and heavily streaked with a thin, pointed bill and yellow flashes in the wings and tail. Males tend to show more yellow than females, but there's a lot of overlap.

The Pine Siskin call is a rising, buzzy zreeeee, like someone slowly zipping a jacket.

Look for siskins in pine and spruce stands and at feeders statewide in irruption years.

Feeder favorites: nyjer, sunflower chips

30. Snow Bunting

Family – Calcariidae
Species – Plectrophenax nivalis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor

The Snow Bunting nests in the high Arctic and spends winter on the Massachusetts coast, eating seeds on beaches and dunes. A flock lifting off together looks like a handful of snow blown off a drift.

In winter, both sexes are white below with warm buffy-tawny on the head and back. Males show more white in the wing, and females are browner and more streaked.

The Snow Bunting call is a rolling, rippling prrrt and a soft whistled tew, given in flight.

According to Mass Audubon's Plum Island winter guide, Snow Buntings and Horned Larks feed on open ground at Sandy Point State Reservation, and they also turn up on beaches and big open fields elsewhere along the coast.

31. Common Eider

Family – Anatidae
Species – Somateria mollissima
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident Massachusetts Bird / Winter Migrant

The Common Eider is the largest duck in North America, and it swallows mussels whole and crushes the shells in its gizzard (no shell-cracker, no problem). Some eiders nest on Massachusetts islands, and huge numbers move in from the north for the winter.

Males are bold white above and black below, with a black cap and a soft green wash on the back of the head. Females are rich brown with fine black barring.

The Common Eider call is a soft, crooning ah-OOO from the males, which is the closest thing to a Barry White record on the coast in winter.

Look for rafts of eiders along rocky shores at Cape Ann, off Emerson Rocks on Plum Island, and around Cape Cod.

32. Harlequin Duck

Family – Anatidae
Species – Histrionicus histrionicus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor (uncommon, rocky coast only)

The Harlequin Duck is a small sea duck that winters in rough surf along rocky coasts, diving for crabs, snails, and other small invertebrates where most ducks wouldn't dare.

Males are slate blue with chestnut sides and white stripes and spots, like someone painted a duck for a stage play. Females are dusky brown with white spots on the face.

The Harlequin Duck call is a high, squeaky whistle that's very un-duck-like, which is why they're nicknamed "sea mice."

Halibut Point in Rockport is the classic spot: Bird Observer's Halibut Point walks found Harlequins in January in 10 of 11 years. Look along the Cape Ann rocks too.

33. Long-tailed Duck

Family – Anatidae
Species – Clangula hyemalis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor

The Long-tailed Duck is an Arctic sea duck and one of the deepest divers of all ducks, chasing small invertebrates and fish far below the surface. It spends the winter on the Massachusetts coast, often far offshore in big flocks.

Winter males are mostly white with a dark cheek patch, a dark chest, and two long, thin tail feathers. Females are brown and white with a dark crown and no long tail.

The Long-tailed Duck call is a loud, yodeling ow-owdle-ow, and a calling flock sounds like a group of ducks that took up karaoke.

Look for them off Cape Cod, Nantucket Sound, Cape Ann, and the Plum Island beaches, usually in a scope.

Massachusetts Winter Birds FAQ

What birds stay in Massachusetts in the winter?

Year-round residents like the Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers stay put. They're joined by winter visitors like Dark-eyed Juncos, American Tree Sparrows, Snow Buntings, and sea ducks, plus irruptive finches and Snowy Owls in some years.

What are the most common birds of Massachusetts at winter feeders?

In FeederWatch's New England counts, the top five feeder birds are the Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Dark-eyed Junco, Downy Woodpecker, and White-breasted Nuthatch, followed closely by Mourning Doves, titmice, goldfinches, and cardinals. Most of them will come to black oil sunflower seed.

Where can I see Snowy Owls in Massachusetts?

Logan Airport's grasslands are one of the most consistent spots, but you can't walk out there, so most people try the dunes and marshes of Plum Island instead. They're around from about November to early April, and the numbers change a lot from year to year.

Where is the best winter birding in Massachusetts?

The coast. Plum Island and Parker River National Wildlife Refuge are good for owls, raptors, and sea ducks, and Cape Ann is good for eiders, Harlequin Ducks, and alcids. Inland, Mass Audubon sanctuaries and the Quabbin are good for eagles and woodland birds. If you're crossing the border, check out our guide to winter birds in New York.

What do birds in Massachusetts in winter need most?

Fatty, high-energy food and open water. Black oil sunflower and suet cover most species, and millet on the ground brings in juncos and sparrows. Skip the bread, which has no real nutrition for birds. Water gets scarce once everything freezes, so here's how to keep a bird bath from freezing in winter.

What birds have you seen in Massachusetts this winter?

Share your sightings on the Sparkbird App, where you can meet other Massachusetts birders and find out who's heading to Plum Island on Saturday.

And if you drive all the way to Newburyport for a Snowy Owl and come home with only a gull, don't worry. That's just a Massachusetts winter birding tradition.

Happy Birding.