Birds of Delaware

Delaware has three counties and two landscapes. New Castle County in the north sits on the Piedmont, with rolling hills and old hardwoods along the Brandywine, and it sounds like Pennsylvania: a Wood Thrush at dusk, a Red-eyed Vireo all afternoon, a Pileated Woodpecker somewhere down the ravine. Everything south of the fall line is Atlantic Coastal Plain, flat, sandy and in places swampy, and the further south you go the more the birds belong to the tidewater South.

The edge that defines the state, though, is Delaware Bay. Bombay Hook and Prime Hook protect one of the largest stretches of tidal salt marsh left in the mid-Atlantic, and the sound out there is geese in November, shorebirds in May, and Clapper Rails clattering from the cordgrass in between. More than 420 species have been recorded in Delaware, a big number for a state this size, and most of the surprises come off that bay.

The Delaware album

These are the 100 birds people report most often in Delaware, ranked by how frequently they turn up. The common and uncommon ones are shown; the rare and legendary cards stay face down until you catch them in the game.

Backyard birds you will hear first

The Northern Cardinal is the most reported bird in the state, and the Carolina Wren is right behind it, shouting teakettle from the woodpile in every month of the year. Add the Mourning Dove, the American Robin, the Carolina Chickadee and the Blue Jay and you have the morning in most Delaware neighborhoods.

Two sounds tell you the coast is near. The Fish Crow says a nasal uh-uh instead of the American Crow's clean caw, and the Laughing Gull laughs over parking lots from Wilmington to Rehoboth once the weather warms. Overhead, the nearly silent Turkey Vulture is the second most reported bird in the state.

The Red-winged Blackbird is the fourth. Its conk-la-ree from a cattail ditch is one of the first spring songs in the state, and in the bay marshes it never really stops.

The regions, by ear

The Piedmont, north of Wilmington

Hills, rock and mature woods along the Brandywine. This is forest-bird country: Wood Thrush, Ovenbird, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Pileated Woodpecker, Great Crested Flycatcher.

The Bayshore

From the Delaware River down to Lewes, the marshes of Bombay Hook and Prime Hook. Snow Geese and Canada Geese in fall and winter, Bald Eagles on their nests by January, herons, egrets and ibis in summer, and the shorebird arrival in May, when Red Knots and other sandpipers land thin, gorge on horseshoe crab eggs and fly on to the Arctic. Between all that, the Clapper Rail clatters from the cordgrass and the Osprey whistles from a platform.

The Atlantic coast and Sussex County

Pine-covered dunes at Cape Henlopen near Lewes, where Piping Plovers, Least Terns and Black Skimmers nest on protected beach. Inland, Trap Pond's bald cypress, the northernmost park stand in North America, hold herons, owls and Pileated Woodpeckers.

Best months to listen

May is the month. Shorebirds peak on the bay in the middle of it, the woods are full of migrants, and every resident is singing at once. April and June are close behind. Summer mornings stay busy until the heat arrives, and the marshes are loud with wading birds. Fall migration runs from August into November, when waterfowl peak at Bombay Hook, and October is the best month there for American Avocets. Winter belongs to geese, ducks and Bald Eagles, with sparrows and juncos in the hedgerows.

In any season, the first hour after sunrise carries most of the song.

Places worth the drive

• Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, on Delaware Bay: a 12-mile wildlife drive with three observation towers, geese in November, shorebirds in May, eagles all winter.
• Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, near Milton: more than 10,000 acres, four fifths of it wetland, over 245 species and a Horseshoe Crab Festival every May.
• Cape Henlopen State Park, Lewes: pine dunes, nesting terns, plovers and skimmers.
• Trap Pond State Park, near Laurel: bald cypress with herons, owls and woodpeckers, best from a canoe.
• Brandywine Park, Wilmington: Piedmont woods inside the city.

None of them are required. A yard with a feeder and a hedge will give you the first 30 cards of the Warble album in a season; the marshes are for the rare ones.

Listen before you go

Three of the common Delaware birds, so the first songs you hear outside already ring a bell.

Canada Goose song

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Recording by Chase Harris, CC0, via iNaturalist.

Mallard song

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Recording by Fionn Ó Marcaigh, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist.

Mourning Dove song

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Recording by Chase Harris, CC0, via iNaturalist.

Questions people ask

Nearby albums

Album data: public bird observations aggregated through GBIF, ranked by report frequency in Delaware. Updated September 30, 2026.