Birds of South Dakota

The South Dakota Ornithologists' Union had 440 species on the state list as of October 2021, 67 of them accidental and 21 casual. The Missouri River splits the state into East River, where the glaciated prairie is dotted with thousands of pothole wetlands and the towns are, and West River, drier and rougher, with the Badlands and the Black Hills at the far end.

Most of the album is East River: robins and grackles in the shelterbelts, Red-winged Blackbirds in every slough, Mallards and Canada Geese on every pothole, a meadowlark on every third fence post. The Black Hills add a whole second cast, western birds like the Western Tanager and the Mountain Bluebird that never come down to the plains.

The South Dakota album

These are the 100 birds people report most often in South Dakota, 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 from the cottonwoods before dawn from April to July. The Red-winged Blackbird is second, a rasping conk-la-ree from cattails, ditches and any wet spot with a stalk to hold onto, from the day the ice goes out. The Mourning Dove coos from the grain bins, the Canada Goose and the Mallard talk from every pond, and the Common Grackle creaks like a rusty gate from the spruce in the yard.

The Western Meadowlark is the sound of the state, a rich, bubbling, flute-like whistle from a fence post over open grass, starting in March while there is still snow in the ditches. The Black-capped Chickadee whistles fee-bee from the shelterbelt, the American Goldfinch bounces over calling po-ta-to-chip, and the Killdeer shouts its own name over gravel roads and parking lots. The House Sparrow and the starling round out the dozen, chattering from the farm buildings.

The regions, by ear

East River and the prairie potholes

Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge, 21,498 acres of marsh, open water, grassland, cropland and river woods along the James River in north-central South Dakota, is the loudest place in the state twice a year. More than 266 bird species have been recorded there and more than 123 nest on the refuge. In fall the Snow Goose migration peaks at around 500,000 birds, and spring flights have reached more than 1.2 million.

The Missouri River

The big reservoirs and the cottonwood bottoms below the dams: Bald Eagles in winter below Oahe and Fort Randall, Least Terns and Piping Plovers on the sandbars in summer, and Sandhill Cranes bugling overhead in spring and fall.

The Badlands and West River

Badlands National Park sits where eastern and western birds meet, and 206 species have been identified there, 67 of them nesting. Golden Eagles, Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls hunt the mixed-grass prairie, meadowlarks sing from the buttes, and Rock Wrens trill from the eroded walls. Farther out, Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge near Martin holds sandhills, marsh and prairie and winters the High Plains population of Trumpeter Swans.

The Black Hills

Ponderosa pine and granite. Western Tanagers, Mountain Bluebirds, Red-breasted Nuthatches. Custer State Park covers more than 71,000 acres of prairie and mountains and runs a bison herd of about 1,400, and along the Wildlife Loop Road the meadowlarks sing over the herd.

Best months to listen

March and April are the geese and the first meadowlarks. May is the peak everywhere: prairie birds on territory, warblers in the shelterbelts and river woods, and the Black Hills coming alive a little later. June mornings are long and loud until the heat, so start at first light. October is the second goose season and the pheasant roosters crowing in the stubble. Winter is chickadees and juncos at the feeder, and eagles on the open water below the dams.

Places worth the drive

• Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge, near Aberdeen: hundreds of thousands of Snow Geese in spring and fall, marsh birds in summer.
• Badlands National Park, west of Kadoka: 206 species, Golden Eagles and prairie songbirds among the buttes.
• Custer State Park, in the Black Hills: mountain birds, bison and the Wildlife Loop Road.

None of it is required. A farmyard with a shelterbelt and a slough, or a Sioux Falls park along the river, gives you the first 20 cards in Warble by May.

Listen before you go

Three of the common South Dakota 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 South Dakota. Updated September 30, 2026.