Where to Bird
Indiana
Please click on one of the regions below.
- The star represents that we currently offer site guides in the county.
Indiana Avifauna Overview:
While Indiana is not well-known for birding, the state does offer some amazing opportunities. From the thousands of Sandhill Cranes that visit Jasper-Pulaski FWA to warbler migration throughout the state to the Snow Geese at Gibson Lake to hunting for rarities along the lakefront, you are sure to find birding excitement all year round. Be sure not to miss the immense wetlands of Goose Pond FWA and Kankakee Sands as well as the extensive forests in the southern tier of the state.
Regional Overviews:
North: The northern section of the state encompasses lakefront habitat along Lake Michigan, woodland habitat in the northeast, many inland lakes, and Amish country providing grassland habitat making this area of the state as diverse as any.
Highlights: Waterfowl, Shorebirds, Jaegers, Gulls, Terns, Flycatchers, Vireos, Thrushes, Warblers, Winter Finches
Central: This area of the state has a few big reservoirs, some reclaimed strip mines and many small woodlands around Indianapolis. The city creates many unique opportunities for mini fallouts to occur consisting mainly of woodland passerines.
Highlights: Cuckoos, Flycatchers, Vireos, Thrushes, Warblers, Sparrows
South: The southern part of the state is mostly comprised of forest habitat but also has lots of reclaimed strip mines that create grassland habitat, and also has some big bodies of water including the Ohio River and Monroe Reservoir. This part of the state also includes some great extensive marsh habitat.
Highlights: Waterfowl, Bitterns, Egrets, Herons, Eagles, Hawks, Rails, Shorebirds, Owls, Nightjars, Flycatchers, Vireos, Thrushes, Warblers, Sparrows
Recent Sighting: To find recent sightings from thoughout the state, check out the post on IN-BIRD.
Commonly Occurring Birds throughout most of Indiana (if looking in the correct habitat and during the correct season):
Complete Checklist of Indiana Birds
- Loons:
- Common Loon
- Cormorants:
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Bitterns:
- American Bittern
- Least Bittern
- Waders:
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Green Heron
- Black-crowned Night-Heron
- Waterfowl:
- Swans:
- Mute Swan
- Geese:
- Canada Goose
- Snow Goose
- Dabbling Ducks:
- Wood Duck
- Mallard
- American Black Duck
- Gadwall
- Northern Pintail
- American Wigeon
- Northern Shoveler
- Blue-winged Teal
- Green-winged Teal
- Diving Ducks:
- Canvasback
- Redhead
- Ring-necked Duck
- Lesser Scaup
- Common Goldeneye
- Bufflehead
- Hooded Merganser
- Common Merganser
- Red-breasted Merganser
- Ruddy Duck
- Diurnal Raptors:
- Turkey Vulture
- Northern Harrier
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Red-shouldered Hawk
- Broad-winged Hawk
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Rough-legged Hawk
- Bald Eagle
- Osprey
- American Kestrel
- Upland Game Birds:
- Northern Bobwhite
- Ring-necked Pheasant
- Wild Turkey
- Gruiformes:
- American Coot
- Virginia Rail
- Sora
- Sandhill Crane
- Shorebirds:
- Black-bellied Plover
- American Golden Plover
- Semipalmated Plover
- Killdeer
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Solitary Sandpiper
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Dunlin
- Pectoral Sandpiper
- White-rumped Sandpiper
- Semipalmated Sandpiper
- Least Sandpiper
- Stilt Sandpiper
- Short-billed Dowitcher
- American Woodcock
- Wilson’s Snipe
- Gulls:
- Bonaparte’s Gull
- Ring-billed Gull
- Herring Gull
- Terns:
- Caspian Tern
- Common Tern
- Forster’s Tern
- Black Tern
- Pigeons and Doves:
- Mourning Dove
- Rock Pigeon
- Cuckoos:
- Yellow-billed Cuckoo
- Black-billed Cuckoo
- Owls:
- Short-eared Owl
- Great Horned Owl
- Barred Owl
- Eastern Screech-Owl
- Goatsuckers:
- Whip-poor-will
- Common Nighthawk
- Swifts:
- Chimney Swift
- Hummingbirds:
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird
- Kingfishers:
- Belted Kingfisher
- Woodpeckers:
- Red-headed Woodpecker
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Hairy Woodpecker
- Northern Flicker
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Flycatchers:
- Olive-sided Flycatcher
- Eastern Wood-Pewee
- Acadian Flycatcher
- Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
- Willow Flycatcher
- Alder Flycatcher
- Least Flycatcher
- Eastern Phoebe
- Great Crested Flycatcher
- Eastern Kingbird
- Vireos:
- Red-eyed Vireo
- Warbling Vireo
- Philadelphia Vireo
- White-eyed Vireo
- Yellow-throated Vireo
- Blue-headed Vireo
- Jays and Crows:
- Blue Jay
- American Crow
- Larks:
- Horned Lark
- Swallows:
- Purple Martin
- Northern Rough-winged Swallow
- Bank Swallow
- Tree Swallow
- Cliff Swallow
- Barn Swallow
- Chickadees, Nuthatches and their Allies:
- Tufted Titmouse
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Carolina Chickadee
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Brown Creeper
- Wrens:
- Carolina Wren
- House Wren
- Winter Wren
- Sedge Wren
- Marsh Wren
- Dippers, Kinglets, and Gnatcatchers:
- Golden-crowned Kinglet
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
- Thrushes:
- Eastern Bluebird
- American Robin
- Wood Thrush
- Veery
- Swainson’s Thrush
- Gray-cheecked Thrush
- Hermit Thrush
- Mimids:
- Gray Catbird
- Northern Mockingbird
- Brown Thrasher
- Starlings, Mynas, and Bulbuls:
- European Starling
- Pipits:
- American Pipit
- Waxwings:
- Cedar Waxwing
- Warblers:
- Northern Parula
- Orange-crowned Warbler
- Tennessee Warbler
- Blue-winged Warbler
- Golden-winged Warbler
- Nashville Warbler
- Yellow Warbler
- Chestnut-sided Warbler
- Magnolia Warbler
- Cape May Warbler
- Black-throated Blue Warbler
- Cerulean Warbler
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Black-throated Green Warbler
- Prairie Warbler
- Palm Warbler
- Pine Warbler
- Bay-breasted Warbler
- Blackpoll Warbler
- Yellow-throated Warbler
- Worm-eating Warbler
- Prothonotary Warbler
- Black-and-white Warbler
- American Redstart
- Ovenbird
- Northern Waterthrush
- Louisiana Waterthrush
- Kentucky Warbler
- Mourning Warbler
- Common Yellowthroat
- Wilson’s Warbler
- Canada Warbler
- Hooded Warbler
- Yellow-breasted Chat
- Tanagers, Cardinals, and their Allies:
- Summer Tanager
- Scarlet Tanager
- Northern Cardinal
- Rose-breasted Grosbeak
- Blue Grosbeak
- Indigo Bunting
- Dickcissel
- Sparrows:
- Eastern Towhee
- American Tree Sparrow
- Field Sparrow
- Chipping Sparrow
- Grasshopper Sparrow
- Henslow’s Sparrow
- Savannah Sparrow
- Vesper Sparrow
- White-throated Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Fox Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Lincoln’s Sparrow
- Swamp Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Lapland Longspur
- Snow Bunting
- Icterids:
- Eastern Meadowlark
- Bobolink
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Rusty Blackbird
- Common Grackle
- Baltimore Oriole
- Orchard Oriole
- Finches and Old World Sparrows:
- Purple Finch
- House Finch
- Pine Siskin
- American Goldfinch
- House Sparrow