Complete field guide to every bird species recorded in Washington. Browse by name, filter by taxonomic family or order, and tap any species for photos, range maps, songs, and identification tips.
All sighting data is sourced from eBird, the world's largest citizen science database for birds. Use this guide to discover what birds live in Washington, learn their calls, and plan birding trips to the best hotspots in the region.
Washington's list of more than 520 species spans two states' worth of habitat in one: albatrosses and puffins off the Pacific coast, temperate-rainforest specialties like Varied Thrush and Marbled Murrelet on the Olympic Peninsula, and sagebrush country east of the Cascades where Sage Thrashers sing at dawn.
Winter is the underrated season. The Skagit and Samish Flats fill with tens of thousands of Snow Geese and swans and one of the densest winter raptor concentrations in the country, Puget Sound rafts with sea ducks, and the Okanogan Highlands offer a taste of boreal Canada — Sharp-tailed Grouse, Bohemian Waxwings, and redpolls — without leaving the state.
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Where to bird in Washington
Westport pelagics
The Northwest's premier deep-water trips: Black-footed Albatrosses following the boat, Sooty Shearwater rivers, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels, and Tufted Puffins, with something rare on nearly every fall run.
Skagit & Samish Flats
Winter's great show: clouds of Snow Geese, Trumpeter and Tundra Swans in the fields, and raptors everywhere — Rough-legged Hawks, falcons, harriers, and Short-eared Owls hunting at dusk.
Grays Harbor / Bowerman Basin
In the last week of April, hundreds of thousands of northbound shorebirds crowd the estuary at high tide — Western Sandpipers and dowitchers in swirling flocks with Peregrines in pursuit.
Discovery Park, Seattle
The city's 500-acre migrant trap on Puget Sound: seawatching from West Point, winter Harlequin Ducks and loons offshore, and forest trails that have recorded most of western Washington's songbirds.
Mount Rainier National Park
Paradise and Sunrise put subalpine birding on a boardwalk: Sooty Grouse hooting from the firs, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches on the snowfields, and White-tailed Ptarmigan for those willing to hike the high ridges.
The Okanogan Highlands
Winter's northern outpost: Sharp-tailed Grouse in the water birch, Bohemian Waxwing and redpoll flocks, Golden Eagles over the coulees, and — in invasion years — Northern Hawk Owls on the snags.
Columbia Basin & Potholes
Shrub-steppe and seep lakes: breeding Sage Thrashers, Sagebrush Sparrows, and Long-billed Curlews, spring waterfowl by the thousand, and Sandhill Cranes staging near Othello each March.
Dungeness Spit & Ediz Hook
The Strait of Juan de Fuca's seabird highway: Rhinoceros Auklets and Marbled Murrelets on the water, Brant on the eelgrass, and Long-tailed Ducks among the winter rafts.
Neah Bay
The far northwest corner and the state's rarity capital — fall storms and its end-of-the-road geography have delivered everything from Asian vagrants to unprecedented seabird counts.
Washington birding by season
Spring (March–May) — Shorebird tides and sagebrush song
Grays Harbor peaks in late April with one of the West Coast's great shorebird spectacles, while east of the Cascades the shrub-steppe comes alive with thrashers, sparrows, and curlews.
Summer (June–August) — From rainforest to alpine
Varied Thrushes and Marbled Murrelets in the old growth, puffins and auklets at the coastal colonies, and Sooty Grouse and rosy-finches in the high country — three life zones in a weekend.
Fall (September–November) — Pelagic prime time and vagrant hunting
Westport trips hit their stride with shearwaters, jaegers, and albatrosses, while Neah Bay's vagrant season delivers the state's best rarities on every good storm.
Winter (December–February) — Geese, sea ducks, and the frozen north
Skagit's Snow Geese and raptors, Puget Sound's Harlequin and Long-tailed Ducks, and the Okanogan's boreal winter cast make Washington one of the best cold-season states in the country.
All 578 bird species recorded in Washington
Every species on this list has been recorded in Washington on eBird. Tap any bird for photos, range maps, songs, and identification tips.