Seasonal Presence and Relative Frequency of Selected Species

Alabama Birding Highlights

This list summarizes the seasonal presence of selected bird species in Alabama, indicating whether each species occurs year-round, during the breeding season, or during the non-breeding season (winter and migration). Within each seasonal category, species are numbered and ordered from least to most frequently observed in the United States based on eBird frequency data. This ordering reflects how commonly a species has been observed by U.S. birders over time and is used here as a relative priority indicator, not as a measure of local abundance or the likelihood of encountering a species at a specific site or season within Alabama.

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Alabama Birding Highlights

Year-round Residents

  1. Red-cockaded Woodpecker

  2. Bachman’s Sparrow

  3. King Rail

  4. Seaside Sparrow

  5. Snowy Plover

  6. American Woodcock

  7. Reddish Egret

  8. Northern Gannet

  9. Limpkin

  10. Clapper Rail

  11. Northern Bobwhite

  12. Black Skimmer

  13. American Oystercatcher

  14. Common Ground Dove

  15. Yellow-crowned Night Heron

  16. Mottled Duck

  17. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

  18. Yellow-throated Warbler

  19. Royal Tern

  20. Brown-headed Nuthatch

  21. Anhinga

  22. Tricolored Heron

  23. Boat-tailed Grackle

  24. Little Blue Heron

  25. White Ibis

Breeding Residents

  1. Gray Kingbird

  2. Swainson’s Warbler

  3. Chuck-will’s-widow

  4. Magnificent Frigatebird

  5. Cerulean Warbler

  6. Purple Gallinule

  7. Swallow-tailed Kite

  8. Kentucky Warbler

  9. Sandwich Tern

  10. Worm-eating Warbler

  11. Mississippi Kite

  12. Blue-winged Warbler

  13. Roseate Spoonbill

  14. Louisiana Waterthrush

  15. Prothonotary Warbler

  16. Least Tern

  17. Dickcissel

  18. Painted Bunting

  19. Hooded Warbler

  20. Prairie Warbler

  21. Orchard Oriole

  22. Summer Tanager

  23. Black-throated Green Warbler

  24. Scarlet Tanager

  25. Baltimore Oriole

  26. Indigo Bunting

Non-breeding Residents

  1. Black-whiskered Vireo

  2. Groove-billed Ani

  3. Whooping Crane

  4. LeConte’s Sparrow

  5. Nelson’s Sparrow

  6. Henslow’s Sparrow

  7. Bronzed Cowbird

  8. Red Knot

  9. Piping Plover

  10. Sedge Wren

  11. Lesser Black-backed Gull

  12. Black Scoter

  13. Greater White-fronted Goose

  14. Marbled Godwit

  15. Vermilion Flycatcher

  16. Ruddy Turnstone

  17. Sanderling

  18. American Black Duck

  19. Mississippi Kite

  20. Scarlet Tanager

  21. Blue-winged Warbler

  22. Baltimore Oriole

  23. Roseate Spoonbill

  24. Indigo Bunting

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