Reference
How many bird species are in Massachusetts?
Massachusetts has 524 bird species on its official list (Massachusetts Avian Records Committee, January 2026), the 9th highest count of the 46 states with a verified count. It includes extinct species, species no longer found in Massachusetts and introduced ones; birds of uncertain origin are on a separate list.
Updated
Massachusetts bird list at a glance
| Official count | 524 species |
|---|---|
| List’s date | January 2026 |
| Kept by | Massachusetts Avian Records Committee |
| Among US states | 9th highest of the 47 US lists (50 states and DC) with a verified count |
| Official list | MARC Official State List |
What does Massachusetts’s count include?
- Extinct species, and species no longer found in Massachusetts.
- Introduced species.
- Not counted: birds of uncertain origin, on a supplemental list.
- Species names and order follow the Clements Checklist (2025 version).
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 Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts; 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.
Massachusetts’s state bird
Black-capped Chickadee
Massachusetts’s state bird is the Black-capped Chickadee (officially, the “chickadee”). Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 2, Section 9. The law names the chickadee (Penthestes atricapillus, an older scientific name of the Black-capped Chickadee).
This picture is plate 353 of Audubon’s The Birds of America.
Source: Massachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title I, Chapter 2, Section 9 (Massachusetts Legislature), archived copy (the copy saved on November 14, 2025), 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: Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.
- 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.