# What is the best bird in North America?

> Backyard regulars against continental heavyweights. Some of these you can see from a kitchen window; one of them nearly disappeared.

*By YPB Team · Published August 27, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-bird-in-north-america*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Bald Eagle** — score 1000/1000
   The continent's national bird, back from 487 breeding pairs to more than 71,000.
2. **Northern Cardinal** — score 692/1000
   The official state bird of seven states, and the most-chosen bird in the country.
3. **Ruby-throated Hummingbird** — score 436/1000
   A three-gram bird that crosses the Gulf of Mexico in a single flight.
4. **Wild Turkey** — score 435/1000
   Benjamin Franklin's preferred national bird, hunted to scarcity and reintroduced.
5. **Mallard** — score 435/1000
   The ancestor of almost every domestic duck and the default duck of the northern hemisphere.
6. **American Robin** — score 435/1000
   The lawn thrush whose first appearance is treated as the start of spring.
7. **Blue Jay** — score 356/1000
   A loud, intelligent corvid that mimics hawk calls to clear a feeder.
8. **Great Horned Owl** — score 356/1000
   The continent's most widespread owl, hunting everything up to skunks.
9. **American Goldfinch** — score 356/1000
   A seed-eating finch that moults from olive to bright yellow every spring.
10. **Sandhill Crane** — score 356/1000
   A metre-tall crane whose Nebraska migration gathers hundreds of thousands of birds.
11. **Pileated Woodpecker** — score 356/1000
   A crow-sized woodpecker that chisels rectangular holes into dead trees.
12. **California Condor** — score 261/1000
   Down to 22 individuals in 1987, now flying again over Arizona and California.
13. **Greater Roadrunner** — score 145/1000
   A ground cuckoo of the southwest that really does outrun people, and eats rattlesnakes.
14. **Snowy Owl** — score 145/1000
   An Arctic breeder that irrupts south into the northern states some winters.
15. **Common Loon** — score 145/1000
   The northern lake diver whose wail is the sound of Canadian and Minnesotan summers.

Tags: nature, animals, north america, birds