Reference
How many bird species are in Delaware?
Delaware has 432 bird species on its official list (Delaware Bird Records Committee, July 2025), tied for the 36th highest count of the 46 states with a verified count. Four species awaiting the committee's review are not counted yet. Introduced birds now living wild, such as the Mute Swan, are counted.
Updated
Delaware bird list at a glance
| Official count | 432 species |
|---|---|
| List’s date | July 2025 |
| Kept by | Delaware Bird Records Committee (Delaware Ornithological Society) |
| Among US states | Tied for 36th highest of the 47 US lists (50 states and DC) with a verified count |
| Official list | Delaware State List of Bird Species |
What does Delaware’s count include?
- Introduced species living wild, such as the Mute Swan.
- Not counted yet: 4 species awaiting the committee's review.
- Not counted: one gull the committee accepted as one of two look-alike species without saying which, and the subspecies listed in an addendum.
Why might you see a different number?
A state’s count is every species ever accepted on its official list, so a figure from another year, or one that counts something else, won’t match.
Every state’s list follows its own rules: see why the counts differ from state to state.
How do you count your own Delaware list?
Your state list is every species you’ve seen in the state. If you log your sightings in eBird, it lets you filter your life list by place, a state included (eBird’s My eBird help page, updated March 28, 2025), and the data download you can ask for gives the state of every sighting: our guide shows how to download your own eBird data. On paper, count the species you’ve seen in Delaware; what is a life list? explains how birders keep their lists.
If you’d like your whole life list in print, Birdfolio turns it into a hardcover book, each species beside a classic painting.
Delaware’s state bird
Blue hen chicken
Delaware’s state bird is the blue hen chicken. Delaware Code, Title 29, § 304. A breed of farm chicken, not a wild species, so there is no wild-bird painting of it.
Source: Delaware Code, Title 29, Chapter 3: State Emblems (Delaware General Assembly), read October 3, 2026. See the state birds of all 50 states, each with its painting.
More about bird counts
- How many bird species are in each state: all 50 states, DC and Canada, each from its official list.
- Bird lists of nearby states: Maryland and Pennsylvania.
- State birds of all 50 states, each with its classic painting.
- How many bird species are in the US and Canada, and how birders count them.
- Bird splits and lumps: when one species becomes two, state lists change too.