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Free Printable Backyard Bird Guide
Backyard Birds of the Northeast is an eight-page guide to the 15 birds you're most likely to see at a feeder in New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania — how to recognize each one, exactly what to feed it, and what to expect at your feeder month by month.
Compiled from Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon, and state wildlife agency guidance.
What's inside
These are the actual pages — what you see here is exactly what you'll print.
Page by page
- Page 1 — Cover.
- Page 2 — Welcome. A quick word on seed, and four tips for getting started.
- Pages 3–5 — Meet your visitors. All 15 birds, each with its scientific name, the marks that tell it apart, its three favorite foods, and the feeder it prefers.
- Page 6 — The seed cheat sheet. Black-oil sunflower, sunflower hearts, safflower, nyjer, white proso millet, suet, peanuts, cracked corn, mealworms, and fruit — matched to the birds they bring in and the feeder that serves them best.
- Page 7 — The feeder calendar. Month by month: who's arriving and leaving, when to hang the hummingbird feeder, when to start suet, and the bear-country rule.
- Page 8 — Your spotting checklist. Tick off each bird the first time it visits your yard.
The 15 birds in the guide
- Northern Cardinal
- Blue Jay
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Tufted Titmouse
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- American Goldfinch
- House Finch
- Downy Woodpecker
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Mourning Dove
- Dark-eyed Junco
- White-throated Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Carolina Wren
- American Robin
Want to see them first? Each one has a photo and a fuller description in our online guide to backyard birds of the Northeast.
How to get the most out of it
- Print pages 2–8 and skip the cover if you're watching your ink — page 1 is solid dark green.
- Keep the checklist by the window you look out most. Jot the date next to each first sighting; by spring you'll have a record of your yard's regulars.
- Pin the calendar where you'll see it. Page 7 tells you what to do each month — from hanging the hummingbird feeder in late April to starting suet in October.
- Start with the box on page 6. One bag of black-oil sunflower seed in a tube or hopper feeder brings in most of the birds in the guide. Our bird food guide goes deeper.
- Give a new feeder a week or two. Birds need time to find it. If it still sits empty, work through why birds aren't coming to your feeder.
Who it's for
The guide is written for backyards in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It's built for beginners — no binoculars or bird-watching experience needed — and for anyone who has wondered, “What is that bird at the feeder?”
Common questions
Is the guide really free?
Yes. There's no payment, no account, and no email sign-up. Click the download button and the PDF saves straight to your computer or phone.
How do I print it?
The guide uses standard US Letter pages (8.5 × 11 inches). Open the PDF in any viewer and print as usual. Color looks best, but black-and-white works fine. To save ink, skip page 1 — the cover is solid dark green.
I don't live in the Northeast. Is it still useful?
Partly. Most of these 15 birds are common across much of the eastern United States, and the seed cheat sheet works anywhere. Farther south, the Carolina Chickadee replaces the Black-capped, and in the West the cast of feeder birds is quite different.
Which chickadee will I see in southern New Jersey or around Philadelphia?
Probably the Carolina Chickadee — a near twin of the Black-capped. Its range reaches into southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania. Food, feeders, and habits are the same, so the guide's advice applies either way.
How is the PDF different from the online guide?
The online Northeast Backyard Birds page has a photo and a longer description for each bird. The PDF is the compact version made for paper: one card per bird, a one-page seed cheat sheet, a month-by-month feeder calendar, and a checklist to keep by the window.
Print it, pin it, start naming your visitors
Backyard Birds of the Northeast — 15 birds, their favorite foods, a seed cheat sheet, a month-by-month feeder calendar, and a spotting checklist on eight printable pages.
Download the Free PDF