Reference
How many bird species are in Virginia?
Virginia has 494 bird species on its official list (Virginia Avian Records Committee, December 2025), the 14th highest count of the 46 states with a verified count. Four extinct species are listed separately after the main list, which marks whether each species is backed by physical evidence or sight records alone.
Updated
Virginia bird list at a glance
| Official count | 494 species |
|---|---|
| List’s date | December 2025 |
| Kept by | Virginia Avian Records Committee (Virginia Society of Ornithology) |
| Among US states | 14th highest of the 47 US lists (50 states and DC) with a verified count |
| Official list | Official State Checklist (effective December 2025) |
What does Virginia’s count include?
- Each species is marked by its evidence: physical evidence, sight records only, uncertain origin, or historical records.
- Introduced species, marked as established or not.
- Listed separately: 4 extinct species, and one sand-plover record not identified to species.
- Subspecies shown in the table are not counted.
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 Virginia 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 Virginia; 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.
Virginia’s state bird
Northern Cardinal
Virginia’s state bird is the Northern Cardinal (officially, the “Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)”). Code of Virginia § 1-510.
Audubon painted it too: plate 159 of The Birds of America.
Source: Code of Virginia § 1-510, Official emblems and designations (Virginia Law), read October 3, 2026. See the state birds of all 50 states, each with its painting.
Birding festivals in Virginia
Our birding festivals calendar lists 2 in Virginia, with dates from each festival’s own website:
- Winter Wildlife Festival, Virginia Beach: January 23–31, 2027
- Virginia Osprey Festival, Colonial Beach: April 10, 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: District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
- 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.