Michigan is a place where people who love birds can go to see various species of colorful backyard birds. If you are an experienced bird watcher or like to observe them, Michigan State is the best place to do it.

This state nestles within the Great Lakes region, which houses different habitats, making it one of the top places for bird watching in America. Forty percent of Michigan’s 99,716 square miles is water, which makes it home to an impressive list of birds, totaling 459 more than many other states.

In this piece, we will examine the most common 21 species of colorful backyard birds in Michigan, providing detailed descriptions and tips on how to attract them to your yard.

The Most Common Backyard Birds in Michigan

American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)

Appearance and Behavior

Males: They are bright yellow with black wings and crowns during the breeding season.

Females: Olive-brown with darker wings; less brilliant than males.

Behavior: The birds are social animals, flitting from one place to another, using their acrobatic skills. They feed by hanging on to the topmost part of a plant that has gone to seed and swaying in the breeze. This bird is often seen in groups together with other finches.

Attracting American Goldfinches to Your Yard

Feeders: Use Nyjer seeds or thistle seeds and sunflower seeds.

Habitat: Plan natives like coneflowers and thistles, among others, as sources of food that occurs naturally.

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

Appearance and Behavior

Males: They have a bright red body, a black mask around the face, and a pronounced crest.

Females: Pale brown body with warming tinges on the wings, tail, and crest.

Behavior: This bird does not migrate away since it is mainly found within local territories throughout all four seasons. It prefers dense shrublands where it can easily find seeds, fruits, and insects for foraging purposes.

Attracting Northern Cardinals to Your Yard

Feeders: Sunflower seeds, peanuts, or safflower seeds can be used to feed cardinals.

Habitat: Plant some dense shrubs or small trees such as dogwood or hawthorn that will provide them with necessary shelter or places where they nest at your compound.

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Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)

Appearance and Behavior

Males and Females: Blue body with white face; black necklace; prominent crest;

Behavior: Blue Jays are clever birds that mimic other species’ sounds quite well. They have become famous because of their adventurous spirit, invading plenty of homes looking for acorns for their meals.

Attracting Blue Jays to Your Yard

Feeders: Provide suet, peanuts, and sunflower seeds.

Habitat: Plant oak trees, including nest platforms.

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

Appearance and Behavior

Males and Females: Orange-red breast, gray upperparts, dark head;

Behavior: The species is known for its melodious song, which is mainly heard in the early morning, during which they search for food. They are mainly earthworms and insect scavengers that forage on the ground.

Attracting American Robins to Your Yard

Feeders: You can also give them berries and mealworms plus suet.

Habitat: Keep open lawns with dense shrubs filled with nests.

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Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males: Their upper parts are bright blue, while their throats and breasts are rust red.

• Females: They have duller blue wings, a tail, and grayish bodies.

• Behavior: They often use nest boxes and are cavity nesters. They catch insects on the wing to eat since they feed on insects.

Attracting Eastern Bluebirds to Your Yard

• Feeders: Provide mealworms and fruit pieces.

• Habitat: It can be done by providing nest boxes in open, grassy areas with scattered trees.

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males and Females: Also, have white cheeks, black cap & bib, grey back, tail & wings.

• Behavior: These birds have a “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” call, which is quite distinct from other bird calls. Additionally, they visit feeders frequently as they are friendly little birds known for being curious.

Attracting Black-capped Chickadees to Your Yard

• Feeders: Offer suet, peanuts, or sunflower seeds.

• Habitat: Those who need them should provide nesting sites by planting trees or shrubs that provide cover.

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Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males: Bright orange and black with a solid black head.

• Females: Yellow-orange with brownish wings.

• Behavior: Orioles are known for their woven, hanging nests and their preference for fruit and nectar.

Attracting Baltimore Orioles to Your Yard

• Feeders: Offer orange halves, grape jelly, and nectar.

• Habitat: Plant fruiting trees and shrubs like serviceberry or crabapple.

Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)

Appearance and Behavior

Males and Females: They are black-and-white woodpeckers, and males have a red patch at the back of their heads.

• Behavior: These are downy woodpeckers that can be seen pecking away on tree cylinders and branches.

Attracting Downy Woodpeckers to Your Yard

• Feeders: Provide peanuts, sunflower seeds, or suet feeders.

• Habitat: They need dead trees or logs for foraging and nesting spots naturally.

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House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males: Their backs have streaks with red on their head, chest, throat, and body; Female- Brownish with no red coloring

• Behavior: They are social birds that often visit feeders in flocks and sing melodiously as well.

Attracting House Finches to Your Yard

• Feeders: Give them millet, nyjer seed, or sunflower seeds.

• Habitat: Plant small trees and shrubs for nesting sites.

 Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males and Females: Pale brown with black spots on wings and a long, pointed tail with white edges.

• Behavior: Mourning Doves are ground foragers, feeding on seeds. Their soft, mournful cooing is a familiar sound in suburban areas.

Attracting Mourning Doves to Your Yard

• Feeders: Set out cracked corn, millet, or sunflower seeds in feeders to attract these birds.

• Habitat: They prefer open ground and low shrubs for nesting.

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 Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males: Black upperparts with a bright rose-red patch on the chest and white underparts.

• Females: Brown and streaked, similar to large sparrows.

• Behavior: Grosbeaks are often seen foraging for seeds and insects in the treetops. They have a melodious, robin-like song.

Attracting Rose-breasted Grosbeaks to Your Yard

• Feeders: Put out sunflower seeds and fruit.

• Habitat: Plant deciduous trees and shrubs to provide natural food sources.

 Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males and Females: They have a white belly, a red cap that extends to the nape, and a black as well as white back that is barred.

• Behaviour: Red-bellied Woodpeckers are notorious for being loud in their calls and storing food. They come to bird feeders a lot.

Attracting Rose-breasted Grosbeaks to Your Yard

• Feeders: Give suet, peanuts in the shell, and sunflower seeds.

• Habitat: Put up dead trees or big branches to be left for natural foraging.

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Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males and Females: Grey upperparts with a white face and a distinctive tufted crest.

• Behavior: Tufted titmice are agile, acrobatic feeders that often travel in mixed flocks with chickadees and nuthatches. They have a straightforward, whistled song.

Attracting Tufted Titmice to Your Yard

• Feeders: Sunflower seeds, suet, peanuts.

• Habitat: Deciduous trees for planting and nesting boxes.

White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males and Females: Blue-gray back, white face and underparts, with a black cap.

• Behavior: The white-breasted nuthatches are known for their habit of creeping headfirst down tree trunks. They have a nasal yank-yank call.

Attracting White-breasted Nuthatches to Your Yard

• Feeders: Sunflower seeds, suet, peanuts.

• Habitat: Roosting trees/nesting boxes – large ones for these birds’ use provided in your yard.

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Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

Appearance & Behavior

• Males and Females: Sleek brownish body with yellow-tipped tail; distinctive black mask.

• Behavior: Social birds that fly in flocks often eat berries. Their call is high-pitched trilling.

Attracting Cedar Waxwings to Your Yard

• Feeders: Offering fruits like berries or raisins;

• Habitat: Planting berry-producing trees/shrubs like cedar/juniper/serviceberry.

Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males: White belly with a rusty body and black back. · • Females: Brown, unlike the males that are black.

• Behavior: Foraging on the ground, these birds often rummage through leaf litter in search of insects and seeds. They are also known for their “drink-your-tea” call.

Attracting Eastern Towhees to Your Yard

• Feeders: Cracked corn, mixed seeds, suet.

• Habitat: Create nesting spots and cover them with building shrubs where towhees can hide.

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Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males: Dark wings and tail feathers with vibrant blue plumage.

• Females: Have faint streaks of brown with hints of blue on their wings and tails.

• Behavior: Usually seen singing from high perches in open woods, they eat both insects and seeds

Attracting Indigo Buntings to Your Yard

• Feeders: Millet, sunflower seeds, Nyjer seeds.

• Habitat: Plant trees/shrubs that produce fruits/seeds of small size.

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males: They have a yellow shoulder patch and red ones over their whole bodies; otherwise, they can be described as black-colored birds.

• Females: Basically large sparrows that are streaked-brownish in color.

• Behavior: Breeding season usually sees them being highly territorial while in breeding grounds like marshes or fields where they sing the phrase “conk-la-ree.”

Attracting Red-winged Blackbirds to Your Yard

• Feeders: Sunflower seeds, cracked corn.

• Habitat: If feasible, plant wetlands and tall grasses.

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Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males and Females: A black bib and brown body with black spots are visible during flight, while a white rump is apparent in a male bird’s nape or mustache, depending on the locality.

• Behavior: They feed on ants and beetles usually found on the ground. Their loud calls also characterize them.

Attracting Northern Flickers to Your Yard

• Feeders: mealworms, peanuts, suet.

• Habitat: Provide dead trees for these birds to nest and forage.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males: Red throat with an iridescent green body.

• Females: Notched tails with white below and green above them.

• Behavior: Hovering as they feed on nectar via their rapid darting flight is one of the distinguishing features of this species. These birds are highly territorial around feeding areas.

Attracting Ruby-throated Hummingbirds to Your Yard

• Feeders: 4 parts water to 1 part sugar ratio in a sugar-water mixture.

• Habitat: Plant bee balm, salvia, or trumpet vine, which naturally produce copious amounts of nectar.

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White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)

Appearance and Behavior

• Males and Females: Brown upperparts, yellow lores between eyes/bill, as well as white throats.

• Behavior: Often, they scratch leaf litter where they are foraging on the ground to get seeds. The white-throated sparrows have a song that sounds like the words “old Sam Peabody.”

Attracting White-throated Sparrows to Your Yard

• Feeders: Provide mixed seeds, especially millet and sunflower seeds.

• Habitat: Plant dense shrubs and create brush piles for cover.

Tips for Attracting Colorful Birds to Your Backyard

Provide the Right Feeders and Food

Seed Mixes: A combination of millet, sunflower seeds, and safflower will attract numerous species, including cardinals, finches, and goldfinches.

Nectar Feeders: In addition to those listed above, Michigan also has some hummingbirds that need sugar-water solutions (1 part sugar to 4 parts water) within which they can be attracted.

Fruit & Jelly Feeders: Grape jelly or orange halves could be offered to Baltimore Orioles and Cedar Waxwings.

Suet Feeders: The latter attract insect-eating birds such as Nuthatches, Chickadees, and woodpeckers.

Create a Diverse Habitat

Native Plants: Some native flowers, shrubs, and trees attract different birds and insects that feed on them. Consider sunflowers, coneflowers, and serviceberries.

Wildflowers: Birds can find seeds and cover in wildflower meadows.

Tickets: Many songbirds depend on dense shrubs or thickets for nesting or feeding sites.

Water Sources

Bird Baths: Birds need a bird bath to drink from it. The bath should be cleaned frequently, and rocks should be added inside to make it look attractive to birds.

Ponds: Ponds often attract more birds while acting as an essential resource source where they get water or cool their bodies down.

Nest Boxes

Install Birdhouses: Properly positioned and sized nest boxes will attract many species, including Eastern Bluebirds and Tree Swallows.

Varied Heights: Install nest boxes at various heights to accommodate different species. Bluebirds, for example, like low boxes about 5-6 feet off the ground.

Shelter and Perches

Deciduous and evergreen Trees serve as natural shelters against weather conditions, especially during winter. Cardinals love sitting in dense foliage among other tree-perching birds.

Brush Piles: Create brush piles using natural debris that can serve as hiding places from predators.

Limit Pesticides

Chemicals should be reduced or eliminated to maintain a healthy ecosystem because they support insect populations that provide food sources for many bird species.

Provide Ground Feeding Areas

Put some seed on the ground, which ground-feeding birds such as American Robins and Song Sparrows can eat.

Seasonal Considerations:

Winter: Keep supplying your backyard with bird food throughout winter since birds require calories to stay warm during cold months.

Migration: Springtime brings migratory changes in Michigan; during spring & fall, keep your feeders stocked with food/nesting material shelves/boxes available.

Conclusion

Michigan’s habitats are so diverse that they create a perfect spot for many types of beautiful wild birds. You can experience the beauty of these birds in your backyard as long as you understand the likes and dislikes of these commonly seen bird species and provide them with appropriate food and shelter. For someone who already knows a lot about birds or is just starting to know about them, there is no doubt that Michigan’s wide range of avian forms will make one fall in love.

FAQs

What Time Do Birds Typically Wake Up?

Typically, birds wake up at sunrise, which acts as their natural alarm clock. However, this can be very different depending on factors such as individual species, habitat, and weather conditions.

Are Birds’ Wake-Up Times Seasonal?

Birds do change their wake-up times due to the varying amounts of daylight across seasons. It often results in them waking up earlier during summer with longer days while they sleep late when winter days are shorter.

Why Do Birds Wake Up So Early?

Early morning offers abundant feeding opportunities, so many birds capitalize on them before the competition starts. Besides, early morning calls play a significant role in attracting mates and defending territories.

Do All Bird Species Wake Up at the Same Time?

Do all species rise at dawn? Crows typically rouse at daybreak, but night owls, such as owls, do it during twilight hours or nighttime itself.