Birds of Illinois

Illinois is 400 miles long, and the ends do not sound alike. The north is Chicago and its suburbs on Lake Michigan, with a lakefront that pulls migrants out of the sky twice a year. The middle is corn and soybeans to the horizon, broken by river valleys, where the Illinois River runs through a chain of backwater lakes and refuges. The south, below Carbondale, is oak-hickory hills and cypress bottoms that sound like Kentucky, with Summer Tanagers, White-eyed Vireos and Indigo Buntings. The Illinois Ornithological Records Committee counted 455 species on the state list as of March 2024.

For most people, though, the state is a yard, a park and a retention pond, and that means robin, cardinal, Canada Goose, Red-winged Blackbird, goldfinch and dove. Those six lead the album.

The Illinois album

These are the 100 birds people report most often in Illinois, 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 American Robin leads the album, singing its rolling phrases from the maple before dawn from March into July. The Northern Cardinal is second, whistling from the hedge in every month, and the Red-winged Blackbird sings conk-la-ree from every roadside ditch with a cattail in it. The American Goldfinch calls po-ta-to-chip as it bounces overhead, and the Mourning Dove coos from the wire.

On the ponds, the Canada Goose is the third most reported bird in Illinois, with a Mallard on every pond. At the feeder, Downy Woodpeckers whinny, Black-capped Chickadees whistle fee-bee in the north and Carolina Chickadees take over in the south, and the Blue Jay yells from the oaks.

The regions, by ear

Chicago and the lakefront

Lake Michigan is a wall for migrating songbirds, and they pile up in the last green spots before it. Montrose Point, 15 acres in Lincoln Park with a famous stretch of honeysuckle called the Magic Hedge, has recorded 349 species and is the busiest eBird hotspot in the state, loud with warblers, thrushes and sparrows in May and again in September, with Northern Saw-whet and Snowy Owls roosting there in winter.

The Illinois River valley

A chain of backwater lakes, bottomland forest and restored wetland from Peoria down to the Mississippi. Chautauqua refuge was set up in 1936 as a sanctuary for the millions of birds that move along the river, and it is a Ramsar wetland and a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve site. Emiquon, 2,631 acres where the Spoon River meets the Illinois, was farmed for decades and is now wetland again, with White-faced Ibis in summer. Bald Eagles are abundant along the whole valley in winter.

Central prairie and farmland

Big fields, hedgerows and a few prairie remnants. Eastern Meadowlarks whistle from the fence posts, Dickcissels buzz their own name from the roadside, Horned Larks tinkle over bare ground, and Killdeer cry over every gravel lot.

The southern hills

Oak-hickory ridges and swamp. Crab Orchard refuge, 44,000 acres near Carbondale with three lakes and a 4,050-acre wilderness, has six pairs of nesting Bald Eagles, Wild Turkeys, and songbirds like Eastern Bluebird, Indigo Bunting, White-eyed Vireo and Summer Tanager. The Barred Owl asks who cooks for you from the bottomlands after dark.

Best months to listen

Late April through May is the peak. Residents are singing for territory, and the lakefront and the river woods are full of warblers. June and early July are the nesting season, still loud at dawn. Fall migration is long and quieter, September and October for songbirds, October and November for ducks on the Illinois River. Winter is eagles along the rivers, owls on the lakefront and juncos and chickadees at the feeder. In any season, the first two hours of light carry the song.

Places worth the drive

• Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, Chicago: 349 species on 15 acres, warblers in May, owls in winter.
• Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, near Havana: Illinois River backwaters, ducks and shorebirds on migration, eagles in winter.
• Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge, near Lewistown: 2,631 acres of restored wetland where the Spoon River meets the Illinois.
• Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, near Carbondale: 44,000 acres of lakes and oak-hickory forest, nesting Bald Eagles, southern songbirds.

None of them is required. A yard with a feeder and a maple hands you the first 25 cards of the Warble album by May.

Listen before you go

Three of the common Illinois 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.

Wood Duck 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.

Questions people ask

Nearby albums

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