Birds breed in winter, too!
Birds are incredible and some of them lay eggs when snow is still on the ground! We’ve put together a guide full of tips on how to find 30 early nesting species, from owls and corvids to cavity nesters and city slickers. Use this guide to learn what’s breeding in the first few months of the year and see how many you can find!
Tips are provided on the following species that lay eggs in January to early April:
- Owls
- Barn Owl
- Great Horned Owl
- Barred Owl
- Eastern Screech-Owl
- Other Raptors
- Bald Eagle
- Golden Eagle
- Northern Goshawk
- Peregrine Falcon
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Game Birds
- Ruffed Grouse
- Spruce Grouse
- American Woodcock
- Wild Turkey
- Corvids
- Canada Jay
- Common Raven
- American Crow
- Fish Crow
- Cavity Nesters
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Black-capped Chickadee
- City Slickers
- Rock Pigeon
- Mourning Dove
- House Sparrow
- European Starling
- Monk Parakeet
- Misfits
- Horned Lark
- Northern Cardinal
- Red Crossbill
- White-winged Crossbill
The breeding dates are taken from the second Breeding Bird Atlas so you may notice some dates for young that are earlier than egg dates. This is because of a lack of data and not an error. We will be updating these dates based on your observations in the current Atlas.