North Carolina has a wide range of backyard birds. And In this article, I’ll list and explain all the backyard birds of North Carolina In Detail.
Note: If you’re short on time I have compiled a table of all the backyard birds with identification and their Diet. You can also read about these birds in detail below.
| Backyard Birds in North Carolina | Length | Weight | Identification(Color) | Diet/Favorite Food |
| Northern Cardinal | 21-24 cm | 43 gm (1.5 Oz) | Males are red with a black patch around their faces. Females have brown shades with red highlights and beaks. | Sunflower seeds, millet, milo, peanut hearts. |
| Carolina Wren | 12-14 cm | 18-23 gm (0.6-0.8oz) | Shy Birds with Brownish feather tones, white eyebrow stripes, and an upright tail. | Insects, spiders, caterpillars, crickets, beetles, moths, and Grasshoppers. |
| Black-Capped Chickadee | 10-15 cm | 12 gm (0.4oz) | Small bird with a big round head. They have black caps and beaks, white cheeks, with a gray back, wings, and tail. | They eat seeds, different berries, insects, suet, sunflower seeds, peanut butter, and spiders. |
| Tufted Titmouse | 15-17 cm | 21 gm (0.74 oz) | Gray backs with a hint of white underneath and large eyes. | Insects like caterpillars, ants, beetles, spiders, snails, and wasps. Also nuts, berries, seeds, and shelled seeds. |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | 23-27 cm | 72 gm (2.5oz) | A pale red belly with a red cap b&w stripped back. | Insects, spiders, nuts, seeds, acorns, pine cones, grapes, oranges, hackberries, mangoes, sunflower seeds, peanuts. |
| American Robin | 23-28 cm | 77 gm (2.7 oz) | These birds have black heads and backs with a hint of red or orange on their breast. | Mostly insects, berries, earthworms. In early summer, insects make up the majority of the diet; they also feed on many earthworms, snails, spiders, and other invertebrates. |
| Indigo Bunting | 4.7-5.1 in (12-13 cm) | 0.4-0.6 oz (12-18 g) | This bird is covered in blue color, with slightly shiny blue on his head and a shiny, silver-gray bill. | This bird’s diet mostly consists of insects, seeds, and berries. |
| Mourning Dove | 22-36 cm | 120 gm (4.2 oz) | Soft brown in color with hints of black on the wings. | Millet, black sunflower seeds, nyjer, cracked corn, peanut hearts. |
| White-throated Sparrow | 15-19 cm | 21 gm (0.7oz) | These birds have a distinctive black and white combination on throats, heads, and bills. They also exhibit tones of brown and gray. | They feed on seeds of grasses and weeds, and fruits like sumac, grape, mountain ash, blackberry, blueberry along with various seeds. |
| American Goldfinch | 11-13 cm | 14 gm (0.4oz) | They are quite popular, with bright yellow and black colors in males. The female counterparts however tend to be dull brown in shade. | Mostly seeds, some insects. Diet is primarily seeds, especially those of the daisy (composite) family, also those of weeds and grasses, and small seeds of trees such as elm, birch, and alder. Also eats buds, the bark of young twigs, maple sap. |
| Eastern Towhee | 17-23 cm | 40 gm (1.4oz) | Large Birds with a black throat, head and back with reddish tinted sides, white belly, and long tails. However, the females have some shades of brown as well. | Black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, cracked corn, millet |
| Northern Mockingbird | 21-26 cm | 47-51 gm (1.6-1.7oz) | Small heads and long tails, with gray-brown body color. They have white wing bars. | Hawthorns, mulberries, blackberry brambles. |
| Eastern Bluebird | 16-21 cm | 30 gm (1.05oz) | These birds are small thrushes with comparatively bigger heads that are round in shape, with large bellies and large eyes. The males are deep blue and red whereas the females are gray and blue, with a hint of orange-brown. | They eat a wide variety of insects and mealworms. |
| House Finch | 14 cm | 19-22 gm (0.67-0.77oz) | These birds have a redhead and breast in the males and a brown streak of colors in females. They are generally noisy and move in flocks. | Seeds, buds, and fruits like thistle, cactus, cherries, apricots, plums, blackberries, figs, and strawberries. |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird | 2.8-3.5 in (7-9 cm) | 0.1-0.2 oz (2-6 g) | This bird has a bright emerald or golden-green on the back and crown, with a gray-white underbody. | The majority of their diet consists of nectar, insects, and small invertebrates. |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 14 cm | 12.5 gm (0.4oz) | Gray with flashes of yellow, with slightly brownish tones in females. | Insects and fruits like wax myrtle and bayberry. |
Backyard Birds Of North Carolina In Different Seasons
Winter Backyard Birds
- Northern Cardinal (57%)
- Carolina Chickadee (55%)
- Carolina Wren (51%)
- Tufted Titmouse (48%)
- American Crow (41%)
- Red-bellied Woodpecker (39%)
- Mourning Dove (37%)
- White-throated Sparrow (36%)
- Eastern Bluebird (35%)
- Downy Woodpecker (35%)
- Blue Jay (32%)
- Song Sparrow (32%)
- Dark-eyed Junco (31%)
- American Robin (30%)
- Yellow-rumped Warbler (29%)
- House Finch (29%)
- American Goldfinch (28%)
- Northern Mockingbird (28%)
- Eastern Towhee (25%)
- White-breasted Nuthatch (25%)
Summer Backyard Birds
- Northern Cardinal (61%)
- Carolina Wren (52%)
- Mourning Dove (46%)
- Carolina Chickadee (42%)
- American Crow (40%)
- Tufted Titmouse (40%)
- Eastern Towhee (36%)
- American Robin (33%)
- Blue Jay (32%)
- Northern Mockingbird (31%)
- Eastern Bluebird (30%)
- Red-bellied Woodpecker (30%)
- American Goldfinch (29%)
- House Finch (26%)
- Indigo Bunting (26%)
- Downy Woodpecker (24%)
- Chipping Sparrow (23%)
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird (22%)
- Barn Swallow (21%)
- Common Grackle (20%)
- Red-eyed Vireo (20%)
Backyard Birds Of North Carolina In Detail
Northern Cardinal
The Northern Cardinal, often known as the common redneck, red-necked cardinal, or just cardinal, is a common bird in the Cardinalidae family.
It’s most common in central Canada, from Ontario to Quebec to New York, and west through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras to southern Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
In the wild, these birds can be seen foraging on aquatic insects and larva in dense forests on the upper slopes of steep cliffs or near lakes and rivers.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract Northern Cardinals to your backyard then feed them sunflower seeds, peanut hearts, millet, and milo.
Carolina Wren
Carolina Wren is a tiny bird that falls between the American Goldfinch and the House Finch in size. They have a round body, short neck, flathead, vigorous tail fluttering.
They have a Rusty brown upper body with black bands on the wings and tail. A buff underbelly and a white brow line.
They’re frequent backyard feeders and can be found in wooded or densely overgrown regions.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract Carolina Wrens to your backyard feeder then feed them Suets, hulled sunflower seeds, or peanut hearts in big tube feeders or on-platform feeders.
Black-Capped Chickadee
The black-capped chickadee is one of North America’s most well-known birds, and it may be found in a range of habitats across the continent. The chickadee is a common winter visitor to backyards.
These birds are normally singing at this time of year, although they can also be seen in other seasons.
Black-capped chickadees are a common sight on the edges of rolling hills and tiny meadows in southern Ontario, Canada, where they forage for grass and other food sources before winter.
The music of the birds is especially delightful at this time of year. A birch tree is one of the most common sites to find the bird.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract Black-capped Chickadees to your backyard then feed them suet, sunflower seeds, and peanuts or peanut butter.
If you put a new feeder in your backyard they’ll be the first ones to notice it and if you try they’ll even eat from your hands. You can also use nest boxes filled with some wood shavings.
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse is related to chickadees, but instead of a black bib, they have a crest.
They are a little bird, but a huge titmouse; larger than chickadees, they are around the size of a junco or House Finch. The body is rounded, the tail is long and full, the head is large, and the legs are lengthy.
They are dark blue-gray on top and pale on the bottom. Their size is emphasized by the black feathers surrounding the eye.
They live in parks and deciduous woods with a dense canopy. Their distribution is increasing north and west, with origins in the eastern and southeastern United States. Backyard bird feeders may be assisting this species’ northward expansion.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract Tufted Titmice to your backyard then feed them sunflower seeds, suet, and peanuts on tube feeders, suet cages, and platform feeders.
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
For a backyard bird, Red-bellied Woodpeckers are rather enormous. In size, they are between a Starling and an American Robin. They are a smaller version of the Northern Flicker.
They have a big head and a short tail. They cling to tree stems with short stiff tails and sturdy short legs. They have a Pale-gray body with several thin black-and-white bands over the back and wings. Males have a red nape that extends forward on the crown.
These birds may be found in a variety of habitats, including oak, hickory, and pine forests.
They may be found eastward from Florida northward just to the southern boundary of the New England states, from the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains in the lower 48 states, from Texas to extreme southern Canada, and eastward from Florida to the southern limit of the New England states. It clings to the tree trunk and bigger branches in traditional woodpecker form.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract Red-bellied Woodpeckers to your backyard then place a suet feeder in your yard with some of their favorite meals.
American Robin
The American Robin is a tiny songbird that belongs to the common thrush family, the Turdidae family, and the genus Thrush.
Their breasts are reddish-orange, while their head, back, wings, and tail are all covered with black feathers. They also have long pointed beaks and white patterns on the margins of their wings.
They are timid and like to live in woodland settings. They are herbivores in their native environment, eating berries, leaves, and insects.
They are migratory birds that migrate from the southern United States to the cooler portions of Canada and Mexico in the winter and then back north in the summer.
The American Robin can be seen scavenging for food along roadways, in droughts, and in flooded fields in search of earthworms and other tiny invertebrates.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract American Robin to your backyard then feed them sunflower seeds, suet, peanut hearts, fruit, and mealworms.
You can either disperse food on the ground or use a platform feeder. You can also grow some berry-yielding plants like juniper, sumac, hawthorn, and dogwood.
Indigo Bunting
Indigo Buntings are little birds with vivid blue males and brown females with black streaks on their wings and tails.
They migrate from their nesting areas in the eastern United States to Florida, Central and South America, and the Caribbean for the winter.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract Indigo Buntings to your backyard then feed them seeds like nyjer and thistle and you can use insects on feeders.
Mourning Dove
The mourning dove is a native member of the Columbidae family of doves. The mourning dove, rain dove, wetland dove, turtle dove, and, more lately, simply the mourning dove are all names given to the species.
It’s currently largely recognized in the southeastern United States, as well as Ohio, Arkansas, Florida, and Ontario, Canada. It also frequents metropolitan locations, including major cities, pastures, farm fields, parks, resorts, and even some residential areas.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract Mourning Dove to your backyard then you can either distribute millet on the ground or use a platform feeder to feed them sunflower seeds, nyjer, cracked corn, and peanut hearts.
White-Throated Sparrow
The white-throated Sparrow is a common passerine found across North America and southern Europe’s maritime areas. White-throated sparrows, unlike most other birds, are rarely seen during the winter months.
This is due to the fact that they move southward in the spring when the temperature is mild, allowing them to survive the hard winter circumstances.
They are frequently spotted in deciduous woods or forested regions near the shoreline or river banks in the fall and winter when they are least likely to be seen. Insects, tiny fish, and berries, as well as the leaves of trees and shrubs, are among their favorite foods.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract White-throated Sparrow to your backyard then feed them sunflower seeds and peanuts in tube feeders or suet feeders
American Goldfinch
The American goldfinch, often known as the black-throated goldfinch or just goldfinch, is a lovely little North American bird. Each year, they are known to move considerable distances, some as far north as southern Mexico and all the way down to the Canadian border’s eastern tip.
Marshes, backyards, meadows, woodlands, brushlands, fields, hedgerows, tall grasses, and oaks are just a few of the environments they like. However, they prefer spruce and oak trees and may be found in groves near creeks, rivers, and streams.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract American Goldfinches to your backyard then grow some thistles and milkweed in your yard. You can also use a bird feeder with foods like sunflower and Nyjer seed.
Eastern Towhee
The Eastern Towhee was recently divided from the Rufous-sided Towhee, resulting in the Eastern Towhee and the Spotted Towhee.
A White-crowned Sparrow’s length; bigger than a House Finch, but smaller than a Starling or Red-winged Blackbird. Large head, long rounded tail, and hefty compared to other sparrows.
Conical and short. Above, blackish with rusty sides and a white belly. Females are paler and browner than males. The tail corners are white. The wing patch is white.
How To Attract Them: If your yard has overgrown borders, they will frequent feeders for falling seeds, as well as platform feeders for black oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, cracked corn, and millet.
Northern Mockingbird
Throughout the year, and especially at night, Northern mockingbirds sing from exposed perches. They have an endless supply of their own distinctive short phrases that they repeat three times each, but they regularly intersperse other birds’ songs.
They have long tails and are slender. Legs that are long, Gray with white spots on the wing and tail and darker above.
Edge environments with dispersed trees and shrubs, parks, and residential areas are preferred. They may be found in the eastern and southern United States, the West Indies, and as far south as Mexico.
In the summer, birds migrate a little further north. They bravely protect their nests from intruders, such as other birds and cats.
They don’t come to feeders very regularly, although they will come to open grass areas.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract Northern Mockingbirds to your backyard then you must plant some fruiting trees or shrubs, such as hawthorns, mulberries, and blackberry brambles.
Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Bluebirds are a little bigger than House Finches. The length is similar to the White-crowned Sparrow, but the proportions are different. Chunky, with a huge head and a short tail.
Straight, slim, and bent at the tip. Males are bright blue on top (including the wings and tail), rusty orange on the bottom, and white on the belly and under the tail. Females are often lighter, nearly grey in color.
Grasslands, pastures, golf courses, and open woodland margins are all good places to look. They live in the eastern United States and the Middle American highlands.
In the summer, reach the far north-eastern United States and far south-eastern Canada, before retreating in the winter. They utilize nest boxes often, however, the entry hole must be smaller than a starling’s head and without a perch.
How To Attract Them: If your yard is reasonably wide and roomy, you may attract more Eastern Bluebirds to your yard by providing mealworms in nest boxes.
House Finch
Originally a Western bird, it may now be found across the United States. Other red finches exist, but house finches are the ones that are most likely to be found in residential environments.
From bill tip to tail tip, the House Finch is around 6 inches long. Goldfinches and chickadees are smaller. White-crowned Sparrows and Spotted/Eastern towhees are smaller.
With a medium-long notched tail, he has a medium-sized physique. With a round head. Males have a crimson head, chest, and rump (occasionally orange or yellow).
Small flocks can be seen on wires, on treetops, and in shrubs. Originally, these areas were deserts and grasslands. They’re presently most frequent in rural and urban locations.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract House Finches to your backyard then feed them black oil sunflower seeds or nyjer seeds in tube feeders or platform feeders.
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird
The male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have an iridescent red throat and a vivid green back and crown with a gray-white underbelly. Female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have brownish crowns and sides and are green on the back and white underside.
They are the only hummingbirds that breed in eastern North America, after which it migrates to Central America.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds to your backyard then set up hummingbird feeders with a mix of sugar and water. You can also plant red or orange tubular blooms as well.
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler is a common winter visitor to treetops and weedy regions in the southern United States.
Chickadees and goldfinches are smaller than these birds. They are smaller than juncos and House Finches. With a shorter tail, plump and neckless.
In the spring, the breeding plumage is blue-gray on the top portions, black on the sides and breast, yellow on the rump, and yellow on the sides. Both types have grey-brown upper plumage and creamy cream lower plumage in the winter.
During the nesting season, they are usually found in coniferous or mixed woods in the western Alps. Open regions with fruiting shrubs and scattered trees in the winter.
Breed across Canada and Alaska, as well as in western coniferous woods. Throughout Middle America, winter may be found on both coasts and in the southern regions.
How To Attract Them: If you want to attract a Yellow-rumped Warbler to your backyard then feed them sunflower seeds, suet, raisins, and peanut.
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