Reference
How many bird species are in Kansas?
Kansas has 492 bird species on its official list (Kansas Bird Records Committee, March 31, 2026), the 16th highest count of the 46 states with a verified count. It includes 2 extinct species and 1 no longer found in Kansas, which the printed field checklist leaves out.
Updated
Kansas bird list at a glance
| Official count | 492 species |
|---|---|
| List’s date | March 31, 2026 |
| Kept by | Kansas Bird Records Committee (Kansas Ornithological Society) |
| Among US states | 16th highest of the 47 US lists (50 states and DC) with a verified count |
| Official list | Kansas Checklist, full details (updated March 31, 2026) |
What does Kansas’s count include?
- 2 extinct species and 1 no longer found in Kansas. The printed field checklist leaves these 3 out.
- Not counted: one bean goose record not settled as a Taiga or a Tundra Bean-Goose.
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 Kansas 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 Kansas; 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.
Kansas’s state bird
Western Meadowlark
Kansas’s state bird is the Western Meadowlark (officially, the “western meadow lark”), the state bird since 1937. K.S.A. 73-901, after a vote of Kansas school children.
Source: K.S.A. 73-901, Designation (Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes), read October 3, 2026. See the state birds of all 50 states, each with its painting.
Birding festivals in Kansas
Our birding festivals calendar lists 2 in Kansas, with dates from each festival’s own website:
- Kansas Crane Festival, Sterling: November 6–8, 2026
- Kansas Lek Treks, Hays: April 7–11, 2027
In winter you can also join a Christmas Bird Count near you; our guide explains how.
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: Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
- 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.