Reference
How many bird species are in Vermont?
Vermont has 398 bird species on its official list (Vermont Bird Records Committee, August 26, 2025), the 44th highest count of the 46 states with a verified count. It includes the extinct Passenger Pigeon and 2 birds no longer found in Vermont, the Loggerhead Shrike and Henslow's Sparrow.
Updated
Vermont bird list at a glance
| Official count | 398 species |
|---|---|
| List’s date | August 26, 2025 |
| Kept by | Vermont Bird Records Committee (Vermont Center for Ecostudies) |
| Among US states | 44th highest of the 47 US lists (50 states and DC) with a verified count |
| Official list | Vermont Bird Checklist (last updated 26 August 2025) |
What does Vermont’s count include?
- Every species with an accepted specimen, photo or written description from Vermont.
- The Passenger Pigeon, now extinct, and 2 species no longer found in Vermont: the Loggerhead Shrike and Henslow's Sparrow.
- Introduced species, such as the House Sparrow and European Starling.
- A few hypothetical species: single records without a photo or a second observer's confirmation (the list marks them H).
- Species names follow the American Ornithological Society's 66th supplement (July 2025).
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 Vermont 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 Vermont; 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.
Vermont’s state bird
Hermit Thrush
Vermont’s state bird is the Hermit Thrush. Vermont Statutes, Title 1, § 497.
This picture is plate 58 of Audubon’s The Birds of America.
Source: Vermont Statutes, Title 1, Chapter 11 (Vermont General Assembly), archived copy (the copy saved on February 17, 2026), read October 3, 2026. See the state birds of all 50 states, each with its painting.
Birding festivals in Vermont
Our birding festivals calendar lists 2 in Vermont, with dates from each festival’s own website:
- Herricks Cove Wildlife Festival, Herricks Cove: dates not announced yet (2026 festival: May 3, 2026)
- Dead Creek Wildlife Day, Addison: dates not announced yet (2026 festival: October 3, 2026)
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: Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York.
- 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.