Birds of Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee had 447 species on the state list as of January 2026, 89 of them accidental and 60 casual. Between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh the state is mostly forest, ridge after parallel ridge running northeast to southwest, and the ridges do two things for birds: they hold one of the biggest blocks of eastern hardwood forest left, full of thrushes and warblers in June, and they funnel hawks south every fall.

The everyday album, though, belongs to the towns and the farm valleys. Cardinal, robin, jay, dove, crow and Song Sparrow are the first six voices from Erie to Lancaster.

The Pennsylvania album

These are the 100 birds people report most often in Pennsylvania, 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 starts singing in February, cheer, cheer, cheer from the top of a hemlock, and leads the album all year. The American Robin is the dawn bird from March to July, the Blue Jay screams from the oaks and mimics hawks, and the Mourning Dove coos from the wires. The American Crow is in every county in every month.

The Song Sparrow sings its notes-buzz-trill from any brushy edge. The American Goldfinch bounces over calling po-ta-to-chip and nests late, in July, when the thistle seeds. The Red-bellied Woodpecker's rolling churr and the Downy's soft whinny come from the same suet feeder, the Tufted Titmouse whistles peter, peter, peter, and the Carolina Wren shouts teakettle from under the deck, loudest on the coldest mornings, as if to make a point.

The regions, by ear

Philadelphia and the southeast

John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, next to the Philadelphia airport, protects the largest remaining freshwater tidal marsh in Pennsylvania. Set aside by Congress in 1972, it has recorded more than 300 species of birds, 85 of them nesting, around a 145-acre impoundment that is drained in early fall for shorebirds and refilled for ducks. Egrets, warblers and sandpipers stop on the Atlantic Flyway a short ride from downtown.

The Ridge and Valley

Farm valleys between long forested ridges. Eastern Meadowlarks and Bobolinks in the hayfields, Eastern Bluebirds on the fence lines, and on the ridges the Wood Thrush fluting at dusk, the Ovenbird shouting teacher and the Scarlet Tanager singing hoarsely from the oaks. Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, 2,600 acres on the Kittatinny Ridge in Berks and Schuylkill counties, started in 1934 when Rosalie Edge leased 1,400 acres and hired wardens to stop the hawk shooting. Its count is the longest record of raptor migration in the world, and an average of about 20,000 hawks, eagles and falcons pass the lookouts each late summer and fall, from late August into early December.

The Pennsylvania Wilds

The northern tier and the Allegheny Plateau: big second-growth forest, hemlock ravines and elk. Ruffed Grouse drum in the aspen and young hardwoods, Hermit Thrushes sing in the evening, Blackburnian and Black-throated Green Warblers buzz from the hemlocks, and Barred Owls ask who cooks for you along the creeks.

Lake Erie and the west

Presque Isle, the sandy hook curling into Lake Erie at Erie, is the state's migrant trap, catching songbirds in spring and waterbirds through fall.

Best months to listen

April brings the first big wave: phoebes, towhees, Ruffed Grouse drumming in the woods and woodcocks peenting in wet fields at dusk. May is the peak, warblers in every park and the residents on territory. June is the month for the ridges, when the Wood Thrush and the tanagers sing from first light to dark. September and October are hawk season on the Kittatinny, mostly silent but hard to beat. Winter is the feeder: cardinal, titmouse, Carolina Wren, junco, and the first cardinal song in late February to close the loop.

Places worth the drive

• Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Kempton: some 20,000 raptors a fall past the lookouts, late August to early December.
• John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, Philadelphia: more than 300 species in a tidal marsh beside the airport.
• Presque Isle State Park, Erie: the Lake Erie migrant trap in April and May.

None of it is required. A rowhouse yard in Philadelphia or a feeder in State College gives you the first 20 cards in Warble by April.

Listen before you go

Three of the common Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania. Updated September 30, 2026.