Birds of Georgia

Georgia runs from the Blue Ridge to the barrier islands, and the birds change with the ground. The mountains in the north hold Veeries, Black-throated Blue Warblers and Ruffed Grouse at the southern end of their range. The Piedmont, where Atlanta and most Georgians live, is oak, pine and suburb, and it is the loudest backyard in the country: wren, titmouse, chickadee, cardinal, thrasher, towhee, all at once. The Coastal Plain south of the fall line is longleaf pine and blackwater swamp, and the coast is salt marsh, live oak and rookery islands.

The Georgia Ornithological Society's records committee counted 427 species on the official list as of August 2020, plus seven provisional.

The Georgia album

These are the 100 birds people report most often in Georgia, 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 leads the album, but the Carolina Wren is the one you will notice, shouting teakettle, teakettle from the porch rail at a volume that seems impossible for its size, in every month of the year. The Tufted Titmouse whistles peter, peter, peter, the Carolina Chickadee gives a four-note fee-bee, fee-bay, and the Red-bellied Woodpecker rolls a churr from the pines.

Then the mimics. The Brown Thrasher sings from the top of a shrub in March and April, each phrase doubled, and the Northern Mockingbird sings from the roof, each phrase repeated more times than that, sometimes at night. Under the hedge the Eastern Towhee scratches in the leaves and sings drink your tea, and in the evening a Chuck-will's-widow starts up at the edge of town.

The regions, by ear

The mountains

Cove hardwood and rhododendron above 3,000 feet. This is where Georgia gets northern birds: the Veery's spiraling song at dusk, Black-throated Blue and Canada Warblers, Dark-eyed Juncos nesting on the high ridges, and a Ruffed Grouse drumming somewhere in the laurel. Late April through June is the season.

The Piedmont

Atlanta, Athens, Macon and the suburbs between them. Oak and loblolly pine with the full backyard chorus, Pine Warblers trilling from the pines, Summer Tanagers and Great Crested Flycatchers in the canopy, and Red-shouldered Hawks screaming over the creek bottoms.

The Coastal Plain and the Okefenokee

Longleaf pine, wiregrass and blackwater swamp. Brown-headed Nuthatches squeak from the pine tops, Bachman's Sparrows sing a sweet, buzzy song from the wiregrass, and Red-cockaded Woodpeckers nest in the old pines. The Okefenokee refuge, 353,981 acres of wilderness at the head of the Suwannee and St. Marys rivers, has Sandhill Cranes bugling over the prairies, Prothonotary Warblers in the cypress, Swallow-tailed Kites overhead in summer and Barred Owls calling across the water at dusk.

The coast

Salt marsh, tidal creeks and barrier islands. Clapper Rails clatter from the cordgrass, Painted Buntings sing from the wax myrtle, and Harris Neck refuge, with nearly 350 species recorded, has a large Wood Stork colony on Woody Pond.

Best months to listen

April is the month. Residents are singing at full strength, the thrasher and the towhee are on the hedge tops, and migrants move through the Piedmont woods from the first week of April to the middle of May. The mountains run a few weeks later, into June. Summer mornings are busy until the heat arrives, then quiet except for the pewee and the towhee. Fall migration is long and quiet, September into November, with the coast best for it. Winter brings sparrows, kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers to the yards and Sandhill Cranes to the Okefenokee. In every season, the first hour after sunrise carries the song.

Places worth the drive

• Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, near Folkston: cranes, Prothonotary Warblers, Barred Owls and Red-cockaded Woodpeckers in a swamp the size of a small state.
• Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, south of Savannah: nearly 350 species, Wood Storks on Woody Pond and Painted Buntings in summer.
• Any Blue Ridge trail above 3,000 feet, north of Dahlonega: Veeries, warblers and grouse from late April.

None of them is required. A yard in the Atlanta suburbs hands you the first 30 cards of the Warble album by April; the swamp and the coast are for the rest.

Listen before you go

Three of the common Georgia 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.

Rock Pigeon song

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Recording by Richard Littauer, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist.

Questions people ask

Nearby albums

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