Reference
How many bird species are in New Jersey?
New Jersey has 509 bird species on its official list (New Jersey Bird Records Committee, September 2026), the 12th highest count of the 46 states with a verified count. It counts species of natural origin, extinct ones such as the Labrador Duck included; species of uncertain origin are listed separately.
Updated
New Jersey bird list at a glance
| Official count | 509 species |
|---|---|
| List’s date | September 2026 |
| Kept by | New Jersey Bird Records Committee |
| Extinct | 5 species, such as the Labrador Duck |
| Among US states | 12th highest of the 47 US lists (50 states and DC) with a verified count |
| Official list | New Jersey State List (7 September 2026) |
What does New Jersey’s count include?
- Species of natural origin recorded in New Jersey, as of September 2026.
- 5 extinct species: the Labrador Duck, Greater Prairie-Chicken, Passenger Pigeon, Eskimo Curlew and Carolina Parakeet.
- Rare species on the committee's review list are marked; they're part of the 509, not extra.
- Not counted: species whose wild origin is uncertain, listed at the end.
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 New Jersey 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 New Jersey; 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.
New Jersey’s state bird
American Goldfinch
New Jersey’s state bird is the American Goldfinch (officially, the “eastern goldfinch”). New Jersey calls it the eastern goldfinch; birders call it the American Goldfinch.
Audubon painted it too: plate 33 of The Birds of America.
Source: New Jersey State Symbols (NJ.gov, State of New Jersey), 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: New York 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.