12 Types of Red Birds Found In Georgia! (ID GUIDE)

Did you see a RED bird in Georgia?

Common Red Birds in Georgia

If so, I’m sure you’re wondering what type of bird it was! Luckily, you can use the guide below to help you figure it out!

There are 12 birds in Georgia that are considered “red.”

For the purpose of this article, I included primarily red and partially red birds.

Fortunately, many species of RED birds visit bird feeders, so you have a chance of attracting them to your yard. If you’re incredibly fortunate, you may even see one at my bird feeding station right now!

I have a LIVE high-definition camera watching my bird feeders 24/7. 🙂


#1. Northern Cardinal

  • Cardinalis cardinalis

Types of Red Birds found in Georgia

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Males are a stunning red with a black mask and throat.
  • Females are pale orangish-brown with red on their crest, wings, and tail.
  • Both sexes have a crest on their head and a short, thick bill perfect for cracking seeds.

Without a doubt, the Northern Cardinal is one of the most popular and recognizable RED birds in Georgia. They are not only beautifully colored, but they are common to see at bird feeders!

Northern Cardinal Range Map

northern cardinal range map

And with a bit of practice, it’s easy to identify Northern Cardinals by their songs and sounds. Interestingly, unlike most other songbirds in Georgia, even females sing.

  • The most common song you will probably hear is a series of clear whistled melodies that sound like the bird is saying “birdie-birdie-birdie” or “cheer-cheer-cheer.” (Listen below!)
YouTube video

#2. House Finch

  • Haemorhous mexicanus

Red Birds species that live in Georgia

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Males are rosy red around their heads and upper breasts. They have brown streaks on their back, tail, and belly.
  • Females are brown with streaks on their back, tail, and belly.
  • Both sexes have notched tails and conical beaks designed to eat seeds.

It’s common to see these red birds in Georgia near people.

Look for them around buildings, backyards, parks, and other urban and suburban areas. As you can see, only males are red.

House Finch Range Map

 

house finch range map

House Finches are often the first birds to discover new bird feeders. These birds are intensely curious and rarely travel alone, so their arrival often helps other birds find your feeders too! I see them eating sunflower seed, Nyjer seed, and safflower in my yard.

House Finches have an enjoyable song, which can be heard year-round. Listen below to a series of jumbled, warbled notes.

YouTube video

#3. American Robin

  • Turdus migratorius

american robin red birds in Georgia

Identifying Characteristics:

  • A beautiful thrush that features a rusty red breast and a dark head and back.
  • Look for a white throat and white splotches around the eyes.
  • Both sexes are similar, except that females appear paler.

American Robins are one of the most familiar red birds in Georgia!

Although I think their breast looks orange, many others consider it rusty red.

They inhabit a wide variety of habitats and naturally are found everywhere, from forests to the tundra. But these thrushes are comfortable around people and are common to see in backyards.

American Robin Range Map

american robin range map

Even though they’re abundant, American Robins rarely visit bird feeders because they don’t eat seeds. Instead, their diet consists of invertebrates (worms, insects, snails) and fruit. For example, I see robins frequently in my backyard, pulling up earthworms in the grass!

These red birds also commonly nest near people. Look for an open, cup-shaped nest with 3-5 beautiful, distinctive sky blue eggs.

American Robins sing a string of clear whistles, a familiar sound in spring. Many people describe its song as sounding like the bird is saying, “cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up.” Listen below.

YouTube video

#4. Scarlet Tanager

  • Piranga olivacea

scarlet tanager red birds in Georgia

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Stocky bird with a yellowish gray and dull tipped bill.
  • Males are bright red contrasted against black wings and tails.
  • Females and immature males have greenish-yellow bodies and dark wings and tails. Juvenile males have darker wings and tails.

Most people have never seen this red bird before in Georgia.

But, if you have, you’re one of the lucky ones! Scarlet Tanagers are hard to see because they live high up in the trees in the forest canopy. But, listening to their distinct song will help guide you to their location.

These red birds prefer deciduous forests, parks, pine-oak woodlands, and suburban areas with large, tall trees.

Scarlet Tanager Range Map

scarlet tanager range map

Scarlet Tanagers are strong fliers that, can migrate long distances in the fall and spring. To attract these red beauties, you need fruit bushes in your yard. Scarlet Tanagers don’t eat from feeders. Instead, they prefer fruit-bearing plants like blackberries, mulberries, raspberries, juneberries, and strawberries.

Their song is a series of short blended whistling notes that alternates high and low pitches. Both sexes give a call note that sounds like they’re saying “chick-burr,” a dead giveaway you’re hearing a Scarlet Tanager.

YouTube video

#5. Summer Tanager

  • Piranga rubra

summer tanager red birds in Georgia

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Medium-sized bird with a blunt bill.
  • Males are brilliant red with a fuller body a larger head, and a shorter bill.
  • Females are medium-sized with yellow bodies, greenish on the back and wings, with a longer bill.

Summer Tanager males are one of the few COMPLETELY red birds in Georgia.

This species is found high among treetops searching for flying insects. They also move slowly through the tree, and on the branches hunting for insects.

Look for this bird in open oak, hickory, or mixed oak-pine woodlands. You can also find this tanager in orchards, parks, or along roadsides.

Summer Tanager Range Map

summer tanager range map

Believe it or not, Summer Tanagers eat bees and wasps!

How do they not get stung? Once caught, these red birds beat their victim against a branch before eating it, so they’re less likely to suffer an injury.

Summer Tanager males sing a song with variations but typically consists of five or more parts with two to four notes. Listen below.

YouTube video

#6. Purple Finch

  • Haemorhous purpureus

purple finch red birds in Georgia

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Small, with a conical seed-eating bill.
  • Males have a raspberry red head, breast, and back.
  • Females have prominent streaks of white and brown below, with strong facial markings, including a whitish eyebrow and a dark line down the side of the throat.

Males are described as looking like they were dipped in raspberry juice.

Look for these beautiful red birds to visit feeders in Georgia, especially during winter. Your best chance to attract them is using black-oil sunflower seeds. Having conifer trees in your yard is also a great way to encourage these finches to visit.

Purple Finch Range Map

purple finch range map

Purple Finches can be challenging to identify because they look incredibly similar to the more common House Finch. I’ve made this mistake many times, believing that I saw a Purple Finch when it was, in fact, just another House Finch. To tell them apart, look at their back. The Purple Finch’s back has red coloring, while the back of a House Finch has none.

Males sing a rich, musical warble. Listen below!

YouTube video

#7. Red Crossbill

  • Loxia curvirostra

red crossbill pic

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Sparrow-sized. Look for their distinctive crisscrossed bills (which means the upper and lower tips of their beak don’t align; they cross, like crossing your fingers)
  • Males are red overall with darker brownish-red wings and white wing bars.
  • Females are full-bodied and yellowish with dark unmarked wings.

As their name suggests, Red Crossbills have crisscrossed bills, similar to if you cross your fingers. They adapted these oddly shaped bills to help them break into tightly closed cones, giving them an advantage over other red bird species in Georgia.

They’re found in large coniferous forests during their breeding season, mainly spruce, pine, Douglas-fir, hemlock, or larch with recent cone crops. But in winter, they wander wherever they need to go to find food. While not incredibly common, these red birds will sometimes visit bird feeders in Georgia and eat sunflower seeds.

Red Crossbill Range Map

red crossbill range map

Red Crossbills are highly dependent on conifer seeds. They even feed them to their babies instead of insects like most other songbirds. These finches typically breed in late summer but can breed any time during the year if a large enough cone crop is available.

Males sing a variably sweet warble, which sounds like “chipa-chipa-chipa, chee-chee-chee.”Females rarely sing, but call notes are sharp and metallic.

YouTube video

#8. Red-bellied Woodpecker

  • Melanerpes carolinus

red bellied woodpecker

This woodpecker’s name can be confusing since their bellies don’t contain much red coloring other than a dark red wash.

Most of the red on the Red-bellied Woodpecker is on their head. In fact, the red coloring is the only way to tell males and females apart! This is because males have a bright red plumage that extends from their beaks to their necks, while females only have red on the back of their necks.

Red-bellied Woodpecker Range Map

red-bellied-woodpecker-range-map

These slightly red birds are a common sight at feeders in Georgia!

I see Red-bellied Woodpeckers almost daily in my backyard. They love eating peanuts, sunflower seeds, and suet (especially popular during the winter months).

Press PLAY below to hear a Red-bellied Woodpecker! Another great way to find this woodpecker is to learn its calls! It’s quite common to hear them in forests and wooded suburbs and parks. Listen for a rolling “churr-churr-churr.”


#9. Red-headed Woodpecker

  • Melanerpes erythrocephalus

Red-headed Woodpeckers are characterized by a large red head and a larger bill than most other species. Their back is entirely black, except for white wing patches, which contrasts against the pure white belly. Because of their bold patterning, these birds are sometimes called the “flying checkerboard.” 🙂

Red-headed Woodpecker Range Map

red-headed-woodpecker-range-map

Unfortunately, populations of Red-headed Woodpeckers have declined in Georgia by over 70% in the past 50 years! The main culprit is habitat loss due to the destruction of giant beech forests, which produce beechnuts, one of their favorite foods.

If you happen to find yourself in the correct habitat of these birds, be sure to listen for them! Their most common call is a shrill “tchur,” which sounds similar to a Red-bellied Woodpecker, except it’s a bit more higher-pitched and doesn’t roll as much.


#10. Rose-breasted Grosbeak

  • Pheucticus ludovicianus

red breasted grosbeak pic

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Stocky birds with a large, triangular bill. About the size of an American Robin.
  • Males have black backs and wings, with a distinctive red mark on their white breast.
  • Females are heavily streaked with a white eyebrow and a pale bill.

It’s easy to see how these beautiful finches got their name. One look at the males, and you’ll immediately notice the bright red plumage topping their white breast. On the other hand, females can be hard to identify, as they look similar to many other birds.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak Range Map

rose breasted grosbeak range map

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks like to visit bird feeders, where it uses its large triangular bill to crack open seeds. I’ve never seen one of these finches use a tube feeder; I don’t think the perches provide enough space for them. The best way to attract them is to set out sunflower seeds on a platform feeder.

These red birds are known for their beautiful song in Georgia. It sounds similar to an American Robin but better! Listen for a long series of notes that rise and fall. If you hear one, make sure to look for the male singing from an elevated perch.

YouTube video

#11. Painted Bunting

  • Passerina ciris

painted bunting pic

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Stocky bird with a short thick bill.
  • Males have a bright red back, tail, belly, a blue head, with green, and yellow on their sides, and some on their back.
  • Females are bright yellowish-green with a cream-white eyering.

The male Painted Bunting is primarily bright red, but its other vibrant colors make it look like it just flew out of a painting!

These bright birds migrate to Georgia for breeding. Look for them in open areas with low vegetation and scattered trees and shrubs. Occasionally, they visit bird feeders.

Painted Bunting Range Map

painted bunting range map

Males are one of the most colorful red birds in the United States!

Unfortunately, the Painted Bunting is often caught and sold as caged birds illegally in Mexico because of their beauty.

Painted Bunting males sing a loud and clear song full of high-pitched musical notes. Listen below.


#12. Vermilion Flycatcher

  • Pyrocephalus rubinus

vermillion flycatcher pic

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Small bird with a flat head and short, thin bill.
  • Males are a fiery red with a brownish-black streak color through the eye, also on the back and wings.
  • Females are brownish with a reddish belly.

Their scientific name (Pyrcephalus) means “fire-headed,” which describes these red birds well and helps identify them!

Vermilion Flycatchers are found in open shrubbery country areas like farmlands, shrublands, deserts, and canyon mouths in all seasons.

Vermillion Flycatcher Range Map

vermillion flycatcher range map

These red birds spend most of their time in Georgia sitting on exposed perches, waiting to catch flying insect prey (hence the name). They fly out in a quick swoop, grab their game, and quickly get back to their same perch to consume. If they catch a grasshopper or a butterfly, they typically smash it against a tree to overpower and soften it before eating.

Males sing a straightforward chirpy song that is repeated. Listen below to the “pit-pit-pitasee.”


Do you need additional help identifying a red bird you have seen?

If so, this field guide should be able to help you.


Which of these red birds have you seen before in Georgia?

Leave a comment below!

To learn more about other birds that live near you, check out these guides!

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2 Comments

  1. Saw a scarlet tanager today in Grayson, GA… I’m not sure when they molt, but this one had a good bit of orange color in it’s feathers. This is the first one I’ve seen since April 2020. Back then, I lived in Decatur, GA and a creek ran through our back yard. A flock of scarlet tanagers visited for a couple of weeks to eat the berries off some trees growing around the creek. I’ve never seen a bird in the U.S. with such intensely rich colors. They looked like living flames!

  2. I came here because I saw a Scarlet Tanager and needed identification. Thank you! I feel so lucky!