Reference

How many bird species are in Minnesota?

Minnesota has 454 bird species on its official list (Minnesota Ornithologists' Union Records Committee, no date on the list), tied for the 28th highest count of the 46 states with a verified count. It counts every species documented in Minnesota at least once, not only the birds that nest there.

Updated

Minnesota bird list at a glance

From Minnesota’s official list, read on October 3, 2026.
Official count454 species
List’s dateNot given on the list (we read it on October 3, 2026)
Kept byMinnesota Ornithologists' Union Records Committee
Among US statesTied for 28th highest of the 47 US lists (50 states and DC) with a verified count
Official listCurrent List of 454 Minnesota Birds (MOURC)

What does Minnesota’s count include?

  • Every species documented in Minnesota at least once.
  • Not a nesting list: visitors and rare strays count as well as the birds that breed in the state.

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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota; 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.

Minnesota’s state bird

A Common Loon in black-and-white summer plumage on the water, with a gray winter loon behind it
John and Elizabeth Gould, The Birds of Europe (1832–37)

Common Loon

Minnesota’s state bird is the Common Loon (officially, the “loon”), the state bird since 1961. Minnesota Statutes § 1.145. The law names “the loon, Gavia immer”: the Common Loon.

Audubon painted it too: plate 306 of The Birds of America.

Source: Minnesota Statutes § 1.145, State bird (Minnesota Revisor of Statutes), read October 3, 2026. See the state birds of all 50 states, each with its painting.

Birding festivals in Minnesota

Our birding festivals calendar lists 6 in Minnesota, with dates from each festival’s own website:

In winter you can also join a Christmas Bird Count near you; our guide explains how.

More about bird counts

Sources

The count, its date and the details above come from the official list, Current List of 454 Minnesota Birds (MOURC), read on October 3, 2026. We never use eBird’s data or a website’s estimate for a state’s count.