Birds of Kentucky

425 bird species have been recorded in Kentucky on eBird, the global citizen-science database run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 424 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
• African Collared DoveStreptopelia roseogrisea
• Alder FlycatcherEmpidonax alnorum
• Allen’s HummingbirdSelasphorus sasin
• 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 FlamingoPhoenicopterus ruber
• American Golden PloverPluvialis dominica
• American GoldfinchSpinus tristis
• American Herring GullLarus smithsonianus
• American KestrelFalco sparverius
• American OystercatcherHaematopus palliatus
• 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
• AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
• Anna’s HummingbirdCalypte anna
• Arctic TernSterna paradisaea
• Ash-throated FlycatcherMyiarchus cinerascens

The full checklist — 424 birds of Kentucky in our library

• Acadian Flycatcher
• African Collared Dove
• Alder Flycatcher
• Allen’s Hummingbird
• American Avocet
• American Barn Owl
• American Bittern
• American Black Duck
• American Cliff Swallow
• American Coot
• American Crow
• American Flamingo
• American Golden Plover
• American Goldfinch
• American Goshawk
• American Herring Gull
• American Kestrel
• American Oystercatcher
• American Pipit
• American Redstart
• American Robin
• American Tree Sparrow
• American White Ibis
• American White Pelican
• American Wigeon
• American Woodcock
• American Yellow Warbler
• Anhinga
• Anna’s Hummingbird
• Arctic Tern
• Ash-throated Flycatcher
• Bachman’s Sparrow
• Bachman’s Warbler
• Baird’s Sandpiper
• Bald Eagle
• Baltimore Oriole
• Band-rumped Storm Petrel
• Band-tailed Pigeon
• Bar-headed Goose
• Barn Swallow
• Barred Owl
• Barrow’s Goldeneye
• Bay-breasted Warbler
• Bell’s Vireo
• Belted Kingfisher
• Bewick’s Wren
• Black Scoter
• Black Skimmer
• Black Swan
• Black Tern
• Black Vulture
• Black-and-white Warbler
• Black-bellied Whistling Duck
• Black-billed Cuckoo
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Black-capped Petrel
• Black-chinned Hummingbird
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• Black-headed Grosbeak
• Black-headed Gull
• Black-legged Kittiwake
• Black-necked Grebe
• Black-necked Stilt
• Black-throated Blue Warbler
• Black-throated Green Warbler
• Black-throated Grey Warbler
• Blackburnian Warbler
• Blackpoll Warbler
• Blue Grosbeak
• Blue Jay
• Blue-grey Gnatcatcher
• Blue-headed Vireo
• Blue-winged Teal
• Blue-winged Warbler
• Bobolink
• Bonaparte’s Gull
• Brant Goose
• Brewer’s Blackbird
• Brewer’s Sparrow
• Broad-winged Hawk
• Brown Booby
• Brown Creeper
• Brown Pelican
• Brown Thrasher
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Brown-headed Nuthatch
• Budgerigar
• Buff-breasted Sandpiper
• Bufflehead
• Burrowing Owl
• Cackling Goose
• California Gull
• Canada Goose
• Canada Warbler
• Canvasback
• Cape May Warbler
• Carolina Chickadee
• Carolina Parakeet
• Carolina Wren
• Caspian Tern
• Cave Swallow
• Cedar Waxwing
• Cerulean Warbler
• Chestnut-sided Warbler
• Chimney Swift
• Chipping Sparrow
• Chuck-will’s-widow
• Chukar Partridge
• Cinnamon Teal
• Clapper Rail
• Clay-colored Sparrow
• Cockatiel
• 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
• Curlew Sandpiper
• 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
• Eurasian Collared Dove
• Eurasian Teal
• Eurasian Tree Sparrow
• Eurasian Wigeon
• European Goldfinch
• Evening Grosbeak
• Ferruginous Hawk
• Field Sparrow
• Fish Crow
• Forster’s Tern
• Franklin’s Gull
• Fulvous Whistling Duck
• Gadwall
• Glaucous Gull
• Glaucous-winged Gull
• Glossy Ibis
• Golden Eagle
• Golden-crowned Kinglet
• Golden-winged Warbler
• Grasshopper Sparrow
• Great Black-backed Gull
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Crested Flycatcher
• Great Egret
• Great Horned Owl
• Great Shearwater
• Greater Prairie Chicken
• Greater Scaup
• Greater White-fronted Goose
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Green Heron
• Green-tailed Towhee
• Grey Catbird
• Grey Kingbird
• Grey Plover
• Grey-cheeked Thrush
• Greylag Goose
• Groove-billed Ani
• Gull-billed Tern
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Harlequin Duck
• Harris’s Sparrow
• 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-billed Woodpecker
• Kentucky Warbler
• Killdeer
• King Eider
• King Rail
• Kirtland’s Warbler
• Lapland Longspur
• Lark Bunting
• Lark Sparrow
• Laughing Gull
• Least Bittern
• Least Flycatcher
• Least Sandpiper
• Least Tern
• LeConte’s Sparrow
• Lesser Black-backed Gull
• Lesser Goldfinch
• Lesser Nighthawk
• Lesser Scaup
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Limpkin
• Lincoln’s Sparrow
• Little Blue Heron
• Little Gull
• Little Stint
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• Long-billed Murrelet
• Long-eared Owl
• Long-tailed Duck
• Long-tailed Jaeger
• Louisiana Waterthrush
• Magnificent Frigatebird
• Magnolia Warbler
• Mallard
• Mandarin Duck
• Marbled Godwit
• Marsh Wren
• Merlin
• Mexican Violetear
• Mississippi Kite
• 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 Gannet
• Northern Harrier
• Northern House Wren
• Northern Mockingbird
• Northern Parula
• Northern Pintail
• Northern Raven
• Northern Red Bishop
• 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
• Painted Bunting
• Palm Warbler
• Parasitic Jaeger
• Passenger Pigeon
• Pectoral Sandpiper
• Peregrine Falcon
• Philadelphia Vireo
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Pine Siskin
• Pine Warbler
• Pink-footed Goose
• Piping Plover
• Plumbeous Vireo
• Pomarine Jaeger
• Prairie Falcon
• Prairie Warbler
• Prothonotary Warbler
• Purple Finch
• Purple Gallinule
• Purple Martin
• Red Crossbill
• Red Fox Sparrow
• Red Knot
• Red Phalarope
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Red-breasted Merganser
• Red-breasted Nuthatch
• Red-cockaded Woodpecker
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Red-necked Grebe
• Red-necked Phalarope
• Red-necked Stint
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Red-throated Loon
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Reddish Egret
• Redhead
• Redpoll
• Ring-billed Gull
• Ring-necked Duck
• Rock Dove
• Rock Wren
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak
• Roseate Spoonbill
• Ross’s Goose
• Rough-legged Buzzard
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Ruddy Duck
• Ruddy Turnstone
• Ruff
• Ruffed Grouse
• Rufous Hummingbird
• Rusty Blackbird
• Sabine’s Gull
• Sagebrush Sparrow
• Sand Martin
• Sanderling
• Sandhill Crane
• Sandwich Tern
• Sargasso Shearwater
• Savannah Sparrow
• Say’s Phoebe
• Scarlet Tanager
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Scott’s Oriole
• Sedge Wren
• Semipalmated Plover
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Sharp-shinned Hawk
• Short-billed Dowitcher
• Short-billed Gull
• Short-eared Owl
• Smith’s Longspur
• Snow Bunting
• Snow Goose
• Snowy Egret
• Snowy Owl
• Solitary Sandpiper
• Song Sparrow
• Sooty Tern
• Sora
• Spotted Rail
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Spotted Towhee
• Stilt Sandpiper
• Summer Tanager
• Sunda Zebra Finch
• Surf Scoter
• Swainson’s Hawk
• Swainson’s Thrush
• Swainson’s Warbler
• Swallow-tailed Kite
• Swamp Sparrow
• Swan Goose
• Tennessee Warbler
• Townsend’s Solitaire
• Tree Swallow
• Tricolored Heron
• Trumpeter Swan
• Tufted Duck
• Tufted Titmouse
• Tundra Swan
• Turkey Vulture
• Two-barred Crossbill
• Upland Sandpiper
• Varied Thrush
• Veery
• Vermilion Flycatcher
• Vesper Sparrow
• Virginia Rail
• Western Cattle Egret
• Western Grebe
• Western Kingbird
• Western Meadowlark
• Western Sandpiper
• Western Tanager
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• White-cheeked Pintail
• White-crowned Sparrow
• White-eyed Vireo
• White-faced Ibis
• White-rumped Sandpiper
• White-tailed Kite
• White-throated Sparrow
• White-winged Dove
• White-winged Scoter
• 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 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 Kentucky by bird group

• Ducks, Geese & Swans of Kentucky (51 species)
• New World Warblers of Kentucky (39 species)
• Sandpipers & Allies of Kentucky (32 species)
• Gulls, Terns & Skimmers of Kentucky (26 species)
• New World Sparrows of Kentucky (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.