Over 450 bird species have been documented in Maryland, and over half of these species have nested in the State. More than 100 species are considered vagrant or accidental in Maryland, having been found only once or a handful of times. About eleven species are extinct, extirpated from Maryland as breeding species, or have not been recorded as breeding in the state in recent years (ca. past 20 years) and may be extirpated. These species include Bachman’s Sparrow, Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Swainson’s Thrush, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Roseate Tern and Greater Prairie Chicken.

Seventy-two species of birds are rare, threatened or endangered in Maryland. For a complete list of rare animals in Maryland, please click here. Species such as the Mute Swan, House Sparrow, European Starling, and House Finch are not native to Maryland.

Least Terns by Mitch Adolph, MD DNR Photo Contest

Quick Bird FAQ

• Help! I’ve found a baby/sick/injured bird, what do I do
• Nuisance Wildlife Information
• Guide to Birding in Maryland
  • Guia de Observacion de Aves en Maryland​​
    
• How to Help Birds & Other Wildlife in Backyards

Northern Cardinals by Ronald Lutz, MD DNR Photo Contest

Bird Checklists

For the Official List of the Birds of Maryland, 2020 version, compiled by the MD/DC Records Committee of the Maryland Ornithological Society, please click here. Species ordering and names conform to the Check-List of North American Birds, 60th edition, by the American Ornithological Society. This list includes vagrants, accidentals and species considered extirpated or extinct.

For a printable checklist of Maryland birds, please click here.

Select Bird Factsheets

• Pied-billed GrebePodilymbus podiceps
• Horned GrebePodiceps auritus
• Snowy Egret Egretta thula
• Canada Goose Branta canadensis
• Tundra Swan Cygnus columbianus
• Wood Duck Aix sponsa
• Hooded Merganser Lophodytes cucullatus
• Osprey Pandion haliaetus
• Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
• Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
• Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis
• Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
• American Kestrel Falco sparverius
• Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus
• Black Vulture Coragyps atratus​
• Ruffed Grouse Bonasa umbellus
• Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo
• Northern Bobwhite Quail Colinus virginianus
• American Woodcock Scolopax minor
• Barn owl Tyto alba
• Eastern screech-owl Megascops asio
• Great horned Owl Bubo virginianus
• Snowy Owl Bubo scandiaca
• Long-eared Owl Asio otus
• Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus
• Northern Saw-whet Owl Aegolius acadicus
• Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris
• Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus
• Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens
• American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
• Purple Martin Progne subis
• White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis
  
• American Robin Turdus migratorius
• Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis
• Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
• Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum
• Yellow Warbler Dendroica petechia
• White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis
• Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
  
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus
• Baltimore Oriole Icterus galbula
• ​American Goldfinch Spinus tristis