Birds of Iowa

448 bird species have been recorded in Iowa on eBird, the global citizen-science database run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 447 of them have a full profile in the Birbs encyclopedia — start with the well-known birds below, browse the complete list, then check which are being reported near you right now.

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Birds to know first

• Acadian FlycatcherEmpidonax virescens
• Acorn WoodpeckerMelanerpes formicivorus
• Alder FlycatcherEmpidonax alnorum
• American AvocetRecurvirostra americana
• American Barn OwlTyto furcata
• American BitternBotaurus lentiginosus
• American Black DuckAnas rubripes
• American Cliff SwallowPetrochelidon pyrrhonota
• American CootFulica americana
• American CrowCorvus brachyrhynchos
• American Golden PloverPluvialis dominica
• American GoldfinchSpinus tristis
• American Herring GullLarus smithsonianus
• American KestrelFalco sparverius
• American PipitAnthus rubescens
• American RedstartSetophaga ruticilla
• American RobinTurdus migratorius
• American Tree SparrowSpizelloides arborea
• American White IbisEudocimus albus
• American White PelicanPelecanus erythrorhynchos
• American WigeonMareca americana
• American WoodcockScolopax minor
• American Yellow WarblerSetophaga aestiva
• Ancient MurreletSynthliboramphus antiquus
• AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
• Anna’s HummingbirdCalypte anna
• Arctic TernSterna paradisaea
• Baird’s SandpiperCalidris bairdii
• Baird’s SparrowCentronyx bairdii
• Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus

The full checklist — 447 birds of Iowa in our library

• Acadian Flycatcher
• Acorn Woodpecker
• Alder Flycatcher
• American Avocet
• American Barn Owl
• American Bittern
• American Black Duck
• American Cliff Swallow
• American Coot
• American Crow
• American Golden Plover
• American Goldfinch
• American Goshawk
• American Herring Gull
• American Kestrel
• American Pipit
• American Redstart
• American Robin
• American Tree Sparrow
• American White Ibis
• American White Pelican
• American Wigeon
• American Woodcock
• American Yellow Warbler
• Ancient Murrelet
• Anhinga
• Anna’s Hummingbird
• Arctic Tern
• Baird’s Sandpiper
• Baird’s Sparrow
• Bald Eagle
• Baltimore Oriole
• Bar-tailed Godwit
• Barn Swallow
• Barred Owl
• Barrow’s Goldeneye
• Bay-breasted Warbler
• Bell’s Vireo
• Belted Kingfisher
• Bewick’s Wren
• Black Rail
• Black Scoter
• Black Swan
• Black Tern
• Black Vulture
• Black-and-white Warbler
• Black-backed Woodpecker
• Black-bellied Whistling Duck
• Black-billed Cuckoo
• Black-billed Magpie
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• Black-headed Grosbeak
• Black-headed Gull
• Black-legged Kittiwake
• Black-necked Grebe
• Black-necked Stilt
• Black-tailed Gull
• Black-throated Blue Warbler
• Black-throated Green Warbler
• Black-throated Grey Warbler
• Black-throated Sparrow
• Blackburnian Warbler
• Blackpoll Warbler
• Blue Grosbeak
• Blue Jay
• Blue-grey Gnatcatcher
• Blue-headed Vireo
• Blue-winged Teal
• Blue-winged Warbler
• Bobolink
• Bohemian Waxwing
• Bonaparte’s Gull
• Boreal Chickadee
• Boreal Owl
• Brambling
• Brant Goose
• Brewer’s Blackbird
• Broad-billed Hummingbird
• Broad-winged Hawk
• Brown Booby
• Brown Creeper
• Brown Pelican
• Brown Thrasher
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Budgerigar
• Buff-breasted Sandpiper
• Bufflehead
• Burrowing Owl
• Cackling Goose
• California Gull
• Canada Goose
• Canada Jay
• Canada Warbler
• Canvasback
• Cape May Warbler
• Carolina Parakeet
• Carolina Wren
• Caspian Tern
• Cave Swallow
• Cedar Waxwing
• Cerulean Warbler
• Chestnut-collared Longspur
• Chestnut-sided Warbler
• Chimney Swift
• Chipping Sparrow
• Chuck-will’s-widow
• Chukar Partridge
• Cinnamon Teal
• Clark’s Grebe
• Clark’s Nutcracker
• Clay-colored Sparrow
• Common Eider
• Common Gallinule
• Common Goldeneye
• Common Grackle
• Common Ground Dove
• Common Loon
• Common Merganser
• Common Nighthawk
• Common Pheasant
• Common Starling
• Common Tern
• Common Yellowthroat
• Connecticut Warbler
• Cooper’s Hawk
• Crested Caracara
• Curlew Sandpiper
• Curve-billed Thrasher
• Dark-eyed Junco
• Dickcissel
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Downy Woodpecker
• Dunlin
• Eastern Bluebird
• Eastern Kingbird
• Eastern Meadowlark
• Eastern Phoebe
• Eastern Screech Owl
• Eastern Towhee
• Eastern Warbling Vireo
• Eastern Whip-poor-will
• Eastern Wood Pewee
• Egyptian Goose
• Eskimo Curlew
• Eurasian Collared Dove
• Eurasian Teal
• Eurasian Tree Sparrow
• Eurasian Wigeon
• Evening Grosbeak
• Ferruginous Hawk
• Field Sparrow
• Fish Crow
• Fork-tailed Flycatcher
• Forster’s Tern
• Franklin’s Gull
• Fulvous Whistling Duck
• Gadwall
• Garganey
• Glaucous Gull
• Glaucous-winged Gull
• Glossy Ibis
• Golden Eagle
• Golden-crowned Kinglet
• Golden-crowned Sparrow
• Golden-winged Warbler
• Grasshopper Sparrow
• Great Black-backed Gull
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Crested Flycatcher
• Great Egret
• Great Grey Owl
• Great Horned Owl
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Greater Prairie Chicken
• Greater Scaup
• Greater White-fronted Goose
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Green Heron
• Green-tailed Towhee
• Grey Catbird
• Grey Partridge
• Grey Plover
• Grey-cheeked Thrush
• Grey-crowned Rosy Finch
• Greylag Goose
• Groove-billed Ani
• Gyrfalcon
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Harlequin Duck
• Harris’s Sparrow
• Heermann’s Gull
• Helmeted Guineafowl
• Henslow’s Sparrow
• Hermit Thrush
• Hooded Merganser
• Hooded Oriole
• Hooded Warbler
• Horned Grebe
• Horned Lark
• House Finch
• House Sparrow
• Hudsonian Godwit
• Hudsonian Whimbrel
• Iceland Gull
• Inca Dove
• Indian Peafowl
• Indigo Bunting
• Ivory Gull
• Kentucky Warbler
• Killdeer
• King Eider
• King Rail
• Lapland Longspur
• Lark Bunting
• Lark Sparrow
• Laughing Gull
• Lazuli Bunting
• Least Bittern
• Least Flycatcher
• Least Sandpiper
• Least Tern
• LeConte’s Sparrow
• Lesser Black-backed Gull
• Lesser Goldfinch
• Lesser Scaup
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Lewis’s Woodpecker
• Limpkin
• Lincoln’s Sparrow
• Little Blue Heron
• Little Gull
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Long-billed Curlew
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• Long-billed Murrelet
• Long-eared Owl
• Long-tailed Duck
• Long-tailed Jaeger
• Louisiana Waterthrush
• MacGillivray’s Warbler
• Magnificent Frigatebird
• Magnolia Warbler
• Mallard
• Mandarin Duck
• Marbled Godwit
• Marsh Wren
• Merlin
• Mexican Violetear
• Mississippi Kite
• Monk Parakeet
• Mottled Duck
• Mountain Bluebird
• Mourning Dove
• Mourning Warbler
• Muscovy Duck
• Mute Swan
• Myrtle Warbler
• Nashville Warbler
• Nelson’s Sparrow
• Neotropic Cormorant
• Northern Bobwhite
• Northern Cardinal
• Northern Flicker
• Northern Harrier
• Northern Hawk-Owl
• Northern House Wren
• Northern Mockingbird
• Northern Parula
• Northern Pintail
• Northern Raven
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow
• Northern Saw-whet Owl
• Northern Shoveler
• Northern Shrike
• Northern Waterthrush
• Olive-sided Flycatcher
• Orange-crowned Warbler
• Orchard Oriole
• Osprey
• Ovenbird
• Pacific Loon
• Pacific Wren
• Painted Bunting
• Palm Warbler
• Parasitic Jaeger
• Passenger Pigeon
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Peregrine Falcon
• Philadelphia Vireo
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Pine Grosbeak
• Pine Siskin
• Pine Warbler
• Pinyon Jay
• Piping Plover
• Pomarine Jaeger
• Prairie Falcon
• Prairie Warbler
• Prothonotary Warbler
• Purple Finch
• Purple Gallinule
• Purple Martin
• Pygmy Nuthatch
• Red Crossbill
• Red Fox Sparrow
• Red Junglefowl
• Red Knot
• Red Phalarope
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Red-breasted Merganser
• Red-breasted Nuthatch
• Red-breasted Sapsucker
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Red-necked Grebe
• Red-necked Phalarope
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Red-throated Loon
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Reddish Egret
• Redhead
• Redpoll
• Ring-billed Gull
• Ring-necked Duck
• Ringed Teal
• Rock Dove
• Rock Wren
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak
• Roseate Spoonbill
• Ross’s Goose
• Ross’s Gull
• Rough-legged Buzzard
• Royal Tern
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Ruddy Duck
• Ruddy Shelduck
• Ruddy Turnstone
• Ruff
• Ruffed Grouse
• Rufous Hummingbird
• Rusty Blackbird
• Sabine’s Gull
• Sage Thrasher
• Sand Martin
• Sanderling
• Sandhill Crane
• Savannah Sparrow
• Say’s Phoebe
• Scarlet Tanager
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Scott’s Oriole
• Sedge Wren
• Semipalmated Plover
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Sharp-shinned Hawk
• Sharp-tailed Grouse
• Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
• Short-billed Dowitcher
• Short-billed Gull
• Short-eared Owl
• Slaty-backed Gull
• Smith’s Longspur
• Snow Bunting
• Snow Goose
• Snowy Egret
• Snowy Owl
• Snowy Plover
• Solitary Sandpiper
• Song Sparrow
• Sora
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Spotted Towhee
• Sprague’s Pipit
• Stilt Sandpiper
• Summer Tanager
• Surf Scoter
• Swainson’s Hawk
• Swainson’s Thrush
• Swainson’s Warbler
• Swallow-tailed Kite
• Swamp Sparrow
• Swan Goose
• Taiga Bean Goose
• Tennessee Warbler
• Thick-billed Murre
• Townsend’s Solitaire
• Townsend’s Warbler
• Tree Swallow
• Tricolored Heron
• Trumpeter Swan
• Tufted Titmouse
• Tundra Bean Goose
• Tundra Swan
• Turkey Vulture
• Two-barred Crossbill
• Upland Sandpiper
• Varied Thrush
• Veery
• Vermilion Flycatcher
• Vesper Sparrow
• Violet-green Swallow
• Virginia Rail
• Western Cattle Egret
• Western Flycatcher
• Western Grebe
• Western Kingbird
• Western Meadowlark
• Western Sandpiper
• Western Tanager
• Western Wood Pewee
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• White-crowned Sparrow
• White-eyed Vireo
• White-faced Ibis
• White-rumped Sandpiper
• White-tailed Kite
• White-throated Sparrow
• White-winged Dove
• White-winged Scoter
• Whooper Swan
• Whooping Crane
• Wild Turkey
• Willet
• Willow Flycatcher
• Wilson’s Phalarope
• Wilson’s Snipe
• Wilson’s Warbler
• Winter Wren
• Wood Duck
• Wood Stork
• Wood Thrush
• Worm-eating Warbler
• Yellow Grosbeak
• Yellow Rail
• Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo
• Yellow-billed Loon
• Yellow-breasted Chat
• Yellow-crowned Night Heron
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• Yellow-throated Vireo
• Yellow-throated Warbler

More places to explore

Birds of Iowa by bird group

• Ducks, Geese & Swans of Iowa (54 species)
• New World Warblers of Iowa (39 species)
• Sandpipers & Allies of Iowa (34 species)
• Gulls, Terns & Skimmers of Iowa (28 species)
• New World Sparrows of Iowa (26 species)

Species lists and counts come from the eBird network; "recorded" means reported by birders to eBird. Tap any bird for its full profile, photos, sounds and ID notes.