35 Winter Birds in North Dakota

North Dakota in January is the only place I know where "it's a dry cold" is said as a threat (I own four scarves and still lose that argument). The winter birds in North Dakota don't seem to mind. Some live here all year, some fly down from the Arctic on purpose, and a few just stop by when the seed crops fail in Canada.

The state bird isn't one of them. North Dakota Game and Fish says the Western Meadowlark occurs in North Dakota from March to October, so most of them spend the winter well to the south. The odd straggler does turn up (the Grand Forks Christmas Bird Count logged a single one in December 2024), but if you hear that bubbly song in January, check your phone's ringtone first.

Types of Winter Birds in North Dakota

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

Resident North Dakota Birds – found year-round, and many of them visit feeders
Winter Migrants / Visitors – birds that come to North Dakota for the winter, mostly from the Arctic and northern Canada. To them, Grand Forks is the tropics
Irruptive Species – birds that pour in some winters, usually when cone and seed crops fail up north, and barely show up in others

North Dakota is a long way from east to west. The Red River Valley gets cardinals and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, while the Missouri River country and the Badlands get magpies and big flocks of waxwings. Each entry covers ID, male vs female, calls, where to find the bird in North Dakota, and its feeder favorites if it comes to feeders. If you're wondering where your summer regulars went, here's where birds go in the winter.

1. Black-capped Chickadee

Family – Paridae
Species – Poecile atricapillus
Primary Activity Time – Dawn and Dusk
Diurnal
Resident North Dakota Bird

If one bird runs the North Dakota winter feeder scene, it's this one. The Black-capped Chickadee weighs less than half an ounce, yet it gets through prairie nights by fluffing up, dropping its body temperature, and stashing seeds in bark cracks to eat later.

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

The chick-a-dee-dee-dee call gets more dee notes when there's a threat nearby, and on bright late-winter days males whistle a clear, two-note fee-bee.

Chickadees live statewide wherever there are trees, which in North Dakota means towns, shelterbelts, river woods, and the Turtle Mountains and Pembina Gorge.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower, suet, shelled peanuts

2. Downy Woodpecker

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

The Downy Woodpecker is the smallest woodpecker in North Dakota and one of the most reliable at a suet cage. In winter it picks dormant insects and larvae out of bark and weed stems, and it's light enough to work twigs that bigger woodpeckers can't.

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. Females don't.

Listen for a soft pik and a high whinny that falls in pitch at the end.

Downies are found statewide in towns, farm windbreaks, and wooded river bottoms, and they often move with chickadee flocks.

Feeder favorites: suet, black oil sunflower, peanuts

3. Hairy Woodpecker

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

The Hairy Woodpecker is the Downy's bigger lookalike, which makes it the bird I misidentify most often before my coffee kicks in. It digs beetle larvae out of trees in winter and visits suet readily.

The giveaway is the bill: on a Hairy it's about as long as the head, while a Downy's is short and dainty. Hairys also have clean white outer tail feathers without the black spots most Downies show. Males have a red patch at the back of the head. Females don't.

Its call is a loud, sharp peek, plus a rattle that stays on one pitch.

Hairy Woodpeckers are statewide in woodlots, river forests, and older neighborhoods with mature trees.

Feeder favorites: suet, peanuts, black oil sunflower

4. White-breasted Nuthatch

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

The White-breasted Nuthatch walks headfirst down tree trunks like gravity is more of a suggestion. It takes one seed at a time from the feeder, flies off, and wedges it into bark to hack open or save for later.

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

The call is a nasal yank, often repeated, and pairs keep in touch with soft little ip notes.

These nuthatches are found statewide in deciduous woods, wooded towns, and river bottoms, and they're year-round fixtures in Fargo, Bismarck, and Minot yards.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower, suet, peanuts

5. Red-breasted Nuthatch

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

The Red-breasted Nuthatch is the compact, high-strung version of the nuthatch, and it lives on conifer seeds. When cone crops fail in Canada, more of them push into North Dakota and turn up at feeders that never had one before.

Look for a black eye stripe under a white brow, a blue-gray back, and a cinnamon belly. Males have a black cap and richer rust below, while females have a grayer cap and paler underparts.

Its call is a nasal yank-yank, higher and tinnier than the White-breasted Nuthatch, like a toy horn.

You'll find them where there are spruce and pine: shelterbelts, cemeteries, the Turtle Mountains, and older neighborhoods with evergreens.

Feeder favorites: suet, shelled peanuts, black oil sunflower

6. Dark-eyed Junco

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

Juncos are a winter mainstay in North Dakota. They tend to arrive with the first real cold and hop around under feeders all season, picking up what other birds drop. The 2024 Grand Forks Christmas Bird Count tallied 441 Dark-eyed Juncos, one of the highest totals on the count.

Most North Dakota juncos are the "slate-colored" form, gray above with a white belly and a pale pink bill. Males are darker and crisper gray, and females are softer gray with a brown wash. Both flash white outer tail feathers when they fly. The Grand Forks count also turned up a couple of "Oregon" juncos, the western form with a dark hood and brown back.

The call is a sharp tick or smack, and the song is a quick, musical trill.

Juncos are statewide in yards, woodland edges, and brushy fields, usually in small flocks on the ground.

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

7. House Finch

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

The House Finch is a feeder regular in most North Dakota towns. It eats seeds almost exclusively, and in winter small flocks camp out at tube feeders like they're waiting for a table at brunch.

Males have a red to orange-red head, breast, and rump over a streaky brown body, and the color depends on what they ate while molting. Females are plain gray-brown with blurry streaks and no red at all.

The song is a long, cheerful warble that usually ends on a buzzy note, and the call is a chirpy cheep.

House Finches live in cities and towns across the state and are scarcer out in open farm country.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower, sunflower chips, nyjer

8. House Sparrow

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

The House Sparrow is a non-native bird that has tied its whole life to people, which means farmyards, grain elevators, and town feeders. Even so, Grand Forks feeder watchers noticed House Sparrows at only 2 of 19 feeding stations during the 2024 count, a decline they've been seeing in residential areas.

Males have a gray crown, chestnut sides on the head, and a black bib. Females are plain buff-brown with a pale stripe behind the eye.

It's a constant, cheerful cheep, often from a dozen birds at once.

House Sparrows are statewide around towns and farms, and are rarely far from buildings.

Feeder favorites: millet, cracked corn, sunflower seed

9. Blue Jay

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

The Blue Jay is a loud, clever corvid that buries acorns and seeds for later and remembers where most of them are (my record with car keys is worse). Some jays migrate, but plenty stay through a North Dakota winter.

Both sexes look alike: bright blue above with black and white in the wings and tail, a crest, and a black necklace across a pale chest.

The classic call is a harsh jay-jay, and jays also do a convincing Red-tailed Hawk scream, apparently just to clear the feeder.

Blue Jays live in towns and wooded river valleys around the state.

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

10. American Goldfinch

Family – Fringillidae
Species – Spinus tristis
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident / Partial Migrant

The American Goldfinch trades its summer lemon yellow for a drab winter coat that I like to call "witness protection." Plenty move south for the winter, but some stay in North Dakota as long as there's seed.

In winter, males are olive-brown with a yellowish face and black wings with bold white bars, and females are duller and grayer with buffier wing bars.

The flight call is the bouncy po-ta-to-chip given as they dip up and down through the air.

Goldfinches are scattered around the state in winter, mostly in towns with feeders and in weedy fields with sunflowers and thistle.

Feeder favorites: nyjer, sunflower chips, black oil sunflower

11. Northern Cardinal

Family – Cardinalidae
Species – Cardinalis cardinalis
Primary Activity Time – Dawn and Dusk
Diurnal
Resident North Dakota Bird (mostly eastern)

The Northern Cardinal doesn't occur everywhere in North Dakota, which makes one in a snowy Fargo spruce feel like a special guest. It eats seeds and fruit and tends to feed early and late, staying close to thick cover.

Males are bright red with a black face and a heavy orange-red bill. Females are warm tan with red in the crest, wings, and tail. Both have a pointed crest.

In winter you'll mostly hear a sharp, metallic chip. By late winter, males start whistling cheer-cheer-cheer and birdie-birdie-birdie.

Cardinals are mostly in the Red River Valley and the wooded towns and river corridors of eastern North Dakota, and they thin out fast as you go west.

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

12. European Starling

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

The European Starling is a non-native bird that thrives around livestock yards, grain spills, and town dumpsters. It was the most numerous single species on the 2024 Grand Forks count, with 752 birds.

Winter starlings are glossy black covered in white spots, with a dark bill that turns yellow by spring. Males and females look alike.

The voice is a wild mix of clicks, whistles, rattles, and impressions of other birds and car alarms.

Starlings are statewide around towns, farms, and feedlots, and they roost in big flocks.

Feeder favorites: suet, cracked corn, kitchen scraps

13. Eurasian Collared-Dove

Family – Columbidae
Species – Streptopelia decaocto
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident North Dakota Bird (Non-Native Species)

The Eurasian Collared-Dove is a non-native dove that spread across North America and has settled into North Dakota towns, which makes it the overachiever of the bird world. It eats seeds and grain on the ground and on platform feeders.

It's pale gray-buff with a thin black half-collar on the back of the neck and a long, square-ended tail. Males and females look alike.

The call is a three-part coo-COO-cook, repeated over and over from rooftops and power lines.

Collared-doves are found in towns and farmsteads across the state, often near grain elevators and feedlots.

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

14. Red-bellied Woodpecker

Family – Picidae
Species – Melanerpes carolinus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident North Dakota Bird (uncommon, mostly eastern)

The Red-bellied Woodpecker has a red belly so faint you'd have to hold the bird upside down to see it, which nobody should do. It eats nuts, seeds, fruit, and insects and will happily come to suet.

It has a black-and-white barred back, a pale face, and a red cap. Males have red from the bill all the way to the nape, while females have red only on the nape.

Listen for a rolling churr and a sharp kwirr call.

In North Dakota it's an uncommon bird of the Red River Valley and the wooded rivers in the east. The Grand Forks count found three in 2024.

Feeder favorites: suet, peanuts, black oil sunflower

15. American Crow

Family – Corvidae
Species – Corvus brachyrhynchos
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident / Partial Migrant

The American Crow is a smart omnivore that eats waste grain, carrion, insects, and anything else it can find. The Grand Forks count recorded an unusually high 495 crows in 2024, so they're clearly not leaving town.

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

The classic caw-caw-caw comes with a long list of clicks, rattles, and coos.

Crows are found across the state but are easiest to see in towns, where they gather at big night roosts.

Feeder favorites: peanuts, cracked corn

16. Common Raven

Family – Corvidae
Species – Corvus corax
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident (uncommon)

The Common Raven is the crow's bigger, deeper-voiced relative, and it's an uncommon sight in most of North Dakota. Grand Forks counters noted an unusually high seven ravens in 2024, which is the kind of number that gets birders talking.

Ravens are bigger than crows, with a heavy bill, shaggy throat feathers, and a wedge-shaped tail in flight. Males and females look alike.

The call is a low, croaking gronk, far from a crow's caw.

Ravens are uncommon in most of the state, so any big black bird with a wedge tail is worth a second look, especially in the forested north.

17. Black-billed Magpie

Family – Corvidae
Species – Pica hudsonia
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident North Dakota Bird (mostly western)

The Black-billed Magpie is a western bird that dresses for a black-tie gala and then eats roadkill. It's an omnivore that scavenges, raids nests in spring, and picks through farmyards for scraps.

It's black and white with a very long, iridescent green-blue tail and flashes of white in the wings. Males and females look alike.

The call is a fast, harsh chek-chek-chek, and magpies are rarely quiet for long.

Magpies are common in western and central North Dakota, from the Badlands to the Missouri River country, and they're rare in the east (Grand Forks counted just one in 2024).

Feeder favorites: suet, peanuts, kitchen scraps

18. Harris's Sparrow

Family – Passerellidae
Species – Zonotrichia querula
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant (uncommon in winter)

The Harris's Sparrow is the biggest sparrow in North America. It breeds only in Canada's far north and winters in the southern Great Plains, so most pass through North Dakota in spring and fall. A few stick around in winter, though. Grand Forks counted five in December 2024.

Adults have a black crown, face, and bib, gray cheeks, and a pink bill. Males and females look alike, and young birds have a buffy face with less black.

The song is a set of clear, whistled notes on one pitch, and the call is a sharp chink.

In winter, look for the odd bird mixed in with juncos and tree sparrows under feeders and in brushy shelterbelts, mostly in eastern and southern North Dakota.

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

19. American Tree Sparrow

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

The American Tree Sparrow spends the summer on the tundra and treats North Dakota as a winter getaway, which is a sentence I'll never fully understand. It eats weed seeds in fields, ditches, and under feeders.

It has a rusty cap, a rusty eye line on a gray face, a bill that's dark on top and yellow underneath, and a dark smudge in the middle of a plain breast. Males and females look alike.

Flocks give a soft, musical twitter, and the single call is a high tseet.

Tree sparrows are found statewide in weedy fields, cattail edges, shelterbelts, and backyards with brush piles.

Feeder favorites: millet, cracked corn scattered on the ground

20. Snow Bunting

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

The Snow Bunting nests farther north than any other land bird, so a North Dakota winter is a mild vacation for it. They usually show up in the Red River Valley in December and leave by late February, and the Grand Forks Herald put it best: in winter, the roadsides belong to the Snow Bunting.

In flight a flock looks like blowing snow, because of all the white in the wings. On the ground, winter birds are white below with warm rusty-brown on the head, back, and breast. Males have more white in the wings, and females are browner overall.

The call is a soft, rolling rattle, plus a clear whistled tew.

Look along gravel roads, plowed field edges, and farmyards, where flocks of a dozen to several hundred feed on weed seeds and spilled grain.

21. Gray Partridge

Family – Phasianidae
Species – Perdix perdix
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident North Dakota Bird (Non-Native Species)

The Gray Partridge, also called the Hungarian partridge or "Hun," is a European game bird that has made itself at home in North Dakota's farm country. Partridge numbers counted by Game and Fish in 2023 were up 200%, tying the survey's all-time high since 1991.

It's a round, gray bird with a rusty-orange face, barred flanks, and a short rusty tail that shows when it flushes. Males usually have a dark chestnut horseshoe patch on the belly, while females have a smaller patch or none.

The call is a hoarse, creaky kee-uck, often given as a covey bursts out of the stubble.

Huns live in coveys statewide in grain fields, field edges, and shelterbelts, and in winter they come to roadsides to pick up grit and spilled grain.

22. Sharp-tailed Grouse

Family – Phasianidae
Species – Tympanuchus phasianellus
Primary Activity Time – Dawn and Dusk
Diurnal
Resident North Dakota Bird

The Sharp-tailed Grouse is the native prairie grouse of North Dakota, and it handles winter by diving into the snow and roosting under it like a built-in igloo. In winter it eats buds and catkins from trees and shrubs, plus grain and seeds.

It's a mottled brown-and-white bird with a pale belly speckled with little V marks and a short, pointed tail with white edges. Males and females look much alike, though males have a yellow comb over the eye and purple neck sacs they show off in spring.

Flushed birds give a clucking tuk-tuk, and in spring males on their dancing grounds coo, cackle, and stamp their feet.

Sharptails are found statewide in grassland and brushy country, and they're especially easy to see in the west and north, where they perch in trees in winter.

23. Ring-necked Pheasant

Family – Phasianidae
Species – Phasianus colchicus
Primary Activity Time – Dawn and Dusk
Diurnal
Resident North Dakota Bird (Non-Native Species)

The Ring-necked Pheasant is South Dakota's state bird, but North Dakota has plenty of its own, and I respect a bird that doesn't care about state lines. During the brutal winter of 2022–23, a Game and Fish biologist described pheasants burrowing into wheat stubble to reach food, sometimes with only their tail feathers sticking out of the snow.

Males are hard to miss, with a red face, iridescent green head, white neck ring, and long, pointed tail. Females are mottled buffy brown with a shorter tail.

The rooster's call is a loud, two-note kork-kok, often followed by wing beats.

Pheasants are most common in the south and central parts of the state, around cattail sloughs, grain fields, and shelterbelts.

Feeder favorites: cracked corn scattered on the ground

24. Bald Eagle

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

The Bald Eagle mostly eats fish, and in a state where the water mostly freezes, that means eagles concentrate wherever water stays open. The best example is just below Garrison Dam on the Missouri River, where the December 2019 count tallied a record 65 Bald Eagles at Garrison Dam.

Adults have a dark brown body, a white head and tail, and a big yellow bill. Young birds are mottled brown and white for their first few years. Females are larger than males, but they look alike.

The call is a weak, high chatter, much less dramatic than the hawk scream movies use for eagles.

In winter, look along the Missouri River below Garrison Dam and around Bismarck-Mandan, and at open water below dams on the Souris and other rivers.

25. Rough-legged Hawk

Family – Accipitridae
Species – Buteo lagopus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor

The Rough-legged Hawk nests in the Arctic and spends winter hunting voles in North Dakota fields. Its legs are feathered right down to the toes, so it came dressed for the occasion.

Light-morph birds have a pale head, a dark belly band, and dark patches at the bend of the wing seen from below. Females and young birds usually have a solid dark belly band, while adult males tend to have a more mottled chest and several dark bands on the tail. Some are dark-morph and almost entirely chocolate brown.

They're mostly quiet in winter, though they sometimes give a falling, catlike scream.

Rough-legs are statewide in open farmland and prairie. Look for one hovering over a field or perched at the very top of a small tree or utility pole.

26. Gyrfalcon

Family – Falconidae
Species – Falco rusticolus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Winter Migrant / Visitor (rare)

The Gyrfalcon is the largest falcon in the world, an Arctic hunter that takes ducks, grouse, and partridges. It's rare in North Dakota and shows up only on some Christmas counts. In 2016, Audubon's regional summary noted Gyrfalcons on just two North Dakota counts.

Gyrfalcons come in white, gray, and dark forms, and the gray form is the one most often seen in the Lower 48. They're bulky, broad-winged falcons with a faint mustache mark. Males and females look alike, but females are noticeably larger.

They're usually silent in winter.

Look for them in wide-open country with lots of grouse, partridges, or waterfowl, especially in the north. If you find one, consider buying a lottery ticket.

27. Northern Shrike

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

The Northern Shrike is a songbird with a raptor's resume. It hunts small birds and rodents and sometimes stashes them on thorns or barbed wire, which is a lot of energy for a bird the size of a robin.

It's pale gray above with a black mask, black wings and tail, and a hooked bill. Males and females look alike, and young birds are browner with faint barring.

Shrikes can be quiet in winter but may give harsh calls and even a jumbled song on mild days.

Northern Shrikes are uncommon but widespread in open country, shelterbelts, and field edges, where they perch on treetops and power lines. Grand Forks found four in 2024.

28. Snowy Owl

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

The Snowy Owl is an Arctic owl that hunts by day and treats an open North Dakota field like home, because it basically is. Numbers swing a lot. In 2016, Snowy Owls showed up on seven of 17 North Dakota Christmas counts.

Adult males can be nearly pure white, while females and young birds are heavily barred with dark brown. Females are larger than males.

They're mostly silent in winter.

Look for them on fence posts, round bales, utility poles, and mounds in open country, especially in the Red River Valley and around northern refuges like Upper Souris and Des Lacs. Please give them space, since a flushed owl burns energy it needs to get through the winter.

29. Great Horned Owl

Family – Strigidae
Species – Bubo virginianus
Primary Activity Time – Night
Nocturnal
Resident North Dakota Bird

The Great Horned Owl is the big owl with ear tufts that lives in North Dakota year-round. It's a powerful predator that takes rabbits, rodents, skunks, and even other birds. It also starts nesting in the dead of winter, which is either commitment or poor planning.

It's mottled gray-brown with ear tufts, yellow eyes, and a white throat patch. Males and females look alike, but females are larger, and males usually have a deeper hoot.

The call is a deep, soft hoo-h'HOO-hoo-hoo, and pairs often duet on winter nights.

Great Horned Owls are statewide in shelterbelts, river woods, and parks. Look for them in a dense spruce or tucked against a trunk during the day.

30. Bohemian Waxwing

Family – Bombycillidae
Species – Bombycilla garrulus
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Irruptive

The Bohemian Waxwing is a nomadic berry-eater that roams the north in flocks, stripping crabapples, mountain ash, and junipers before moving on. Some winters bring huge flocks, and other years almost none.

It's soft gray with a crest, a black mask, yellow tips on the tail, and rusty feathers under the tail (the easiest way to tell it from a Cedar Waxwing). Males and females look alike.

The call is a high, buzzy trill, lower and rougher than the Cedar Waxwing's.

In winter, look for flocks in fruit trees in towns like Minot and Bismarck and around western and northern spots like Lostwood, Des Lacs, J. Clark Salyer, Garrison Dam, and Medora.

31. Pine Grosbeak

Family – Fringillidae
Species – Pinicola enucleator
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Irruptive

The Pine Grosbeak is a big, slow, almost tame finch from the boreal forest that wanders south when food runs short up north. It eats buds, seeds, and fruit, and it's especially fond of mountain ash berries.

Males are rosy red with gray sides and two white wing bars, and females are gray with an olive-yellow head and rump. They're plump with a stubby black bill.

The call is a soft, whistled tew-tew, a sound I'd describe as "polite."

Pine Grosbeaks are irregular in North Dakota. Look for them in the forested north, like the Turtle Mountains and around Denbigh, and at Garrison Dam and Upper Souris in good years.

Feeder favorites: black oil sunflower on a platform feeder

32. Redpoll

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

You might know them as the Common Redpoll and Hoary Redpoll, but the American Ornithological Society combined them into one species, the Redpoll, in 2024. North Dakota's numbers swing wildly. One year, Redpolls showed up on almost every North Dakota count, and another year, they were found on only one.

It's a small, streaky finch with a red forehead and a black chin. Males have a rosy wash on the breast, and females are streakier without the pink. The pale, frosty birds people used to call "Hoary" are still out there and still worth a look.

The call is a dry, buzzy chit-chit-chit, given constantly as the flock moves.

In flight years, look for redpolls in birch and alder thickets and at feeders statewide.

Feeder favorites: nyjer, sunflower chips

33. Pine Siskin

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

The Pine Siskin is a tiny, streaky finch with a sharp little bill and a fiery personality at the feeder. It moves around in big flocks following conifer seed crops, so some North Dakota winters are full of them and others aren't.

It's brown and heavily streaked, with yellow edges in the wings and tail that show when it flies. Males usually show a bit more yellow than females.

The call is a rising, buzzy zreeee that sounds like someone zipping a jacket.

Siskins can turn up anywhere there are conifers or feeders, especially in shelterbelts and town spruces.

Feeder favorites: nyjer, sunflower chips

34. Mallard

Family – Anatidae
Species – Anas platyrhynchos
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Resident / Winter Migrant

The Mallard is the duck most likely to stick out a North Dakota winter, as long as it can find open water and spilled grain. When the water stays open, the numbers can be big. A December 2019 count near Minot estimated about 3,000 Mallards at Lake Darling and below its dam.

Males have a glossy green head, a white neck ring, a chestnut breast, and a yellow bill. Females are mottled brown with an orange bill marked in black. Both have a blue patch in the wing.

The loud, classic quack comes from the female. Males give a quieter, raspy call.

In winter, look for Mallards along the Missouri River below Garrison Dam, around Bismarck-Mandan, at Lake Darling, and on any spring-fed or dam-fed open water.

35. American Robin

Family – Turdidae
Species – Turdus migratorius
Primary Activity Time – Daytime
Diurnal
Partial Migrant (some winter)

The American Robin is supposed to be a sign of spring, yet the 2024 Grand Forks count found 175 of them in December. Wintering robins stop hunting worms and switch to fruit, traveling in roving flocks.

Males have a dark gray head and back with a brick-orange breast, while females are paler, with a grayer head and duller breast.

In winter you'll mostly hear clucks and tut-tut alarm calls rather than the cheery spring song.

Look for wintering robins in river woods, towns with fruit trees, and berry-filled thickets.

Feeder favorites: softened raisins, chopped apples, and water from a heated bird bath

Where to See Birds of North Dakota in Winter

Most birds of North Dakota in winter are either at your feeder or on the road, but a few places reliably pull in more. Open water below Garrison Dam is the big one. It recorded the highest species total in the state in 2016, including five types of gulls, and it pulls in eagles and waterfowl all season. The Missouri River through Bismarck-Mandan, Lake Darling near Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge, and Des Lacs, Lostwood, and J. Clark Salyer refuges are the places to check for Snowy Owls, waxwings, and winter finches.

For woodland birds, the Turtle Mountains and the Pembina Gorge area hold the state's best forest, which means nuthatches, Pine Grosbeaks, and the odd raven. In the east, Fargo-Moorhead and Grand Forks parks along the Red River are the easiest bet for cardinals and Red-bellied Woodpeckers.

Water matters as much as seed when everything freezes, and you don't need to buy anything fancy. A shallow dish you swap out twice a day works, and our guide on how to keep a bird bath from freezing in winter has nine easy options.

North Dakota Winter Birds FAQ

What birds stay in North Dakota in the winter?

Year-round residents like Black-capped Chickadees, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, White-breasted Nuthatches, Blue Jays, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Gray Partridges, pheasants, and Great Horned Owls stay put. They're joined by winter visitors from the north, like Dark-eyed Juncos, American Tree Sparrows, Snow Buntings, Rough-legged Hawks, and in some years Snowy Owls and irruptive finches. For a neighbor's version of the list, see our guide to winter birds in Minnesota.

What are the most common North Dakota birds at winter feeders?

In Project FeederWatch's December counts, compiled by Stacker, the most commonly seen birds in North Dakota were the Black-capped Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Junco, House Finch, and both nuthatches. Blue Jays, Hairy Woodpeckers, House Sparrows, and European Starlings round out the usual crowd.

Does North Dakota have cardinals?

Yes, mostly in the eastern part of the state. Northern Cardinals are year-round residents in the Red River Valley and in wooded towns and river corridors in the east, and they get scarce as you head west.

Is North Dakota's state bird around in winter?

Mostly no. The Western Meadowlark is in North Dakota from March to October and spends winter farther south, though a lone bird sometimes lingers into December.

Which owls can you see in North Dakota in winter?

Great Horned Owls live here year-round, Snowy Owls arrive from the Arctic in many winters, and Short-eared Owls hunt grassland edges in some years. Northern Saw-whet Owls are small and secretive, but they're turned up on counts at places like Medora, Fargo, Minot, and Grand Forks.

What are the best birds of North Dakota to look for in winter?

For something you can't easily see farther south, try Snow Buntings on gravel roads, Sharp-tailed Grouse perched in trees, Rough-legged Hawks over fields, Bohemian Waxwings in town fruit trees, and Snowy Owls on fence posts. If you're feeling lucky, look for a Gyrfalcon. It's also worth checking out the winter birds in South Dakota if you're heading south on I-29.

What birds have you seen in North Dakota lately?

Share them on the Sparkbird App, where North Dakota birders can swap sightings and find people to go birding with.

And if that big white lump on a fence post turns out to be a plastic bag, don't feel bad. It happens to every birder in North Dakota at least once a winter.

Happy birding.