Backyard Bird Bingo: Free Printable Cards for Kids (Winter Feeder Birds)

Backyard bird bingo turns a winter morning at the window into a game. This free printable has two bingo cards with the same 16 common winter feeder birds in different spots, so two kids (or a kid and a grown-up) can play against each other. Each square gives the bird’s size and one field mark, taken from our backyard bird ID chart by color.

Free to print and share for personal or classroom use. No sign-up needed.

How to play

1. Print one card per player. Card A and Card B have the same birds in different places.
2. Sit where you can see the feeder. Check a box when you spot that bird and agree on what it is.
3. The first player with four in a row, across, down or corner to corner, calls BINGO.
4. Keep going for a blackout card, or start a backyard bird life list with every bird you saw.

The size tags help a lot with kids: SPARROW means smaller than your hand, ROBIN is about a soda can, and CROW is bigger than a football. They follow the size classes the Cornell Lab of Ornithology uses.

The 16 birds on the cards

These are common winter feeder birds, but not every bird lives everywhere. If one never visits your yard, check a range map for your area and let it be the hard square.

• Northern Cardinal (ROBIN): Pointed crest, black face, thick orange bill; female tan with red tinges.
• Blue Jay (ROBIN): Blue with a crest, black necklace, white wing bars; loud “jay!”
• Black-capped / Carolina Chickadee (SPARROW): Black cap and bib, white cheeks, gray back; “chick-a-dee-dee.”
• Dark-eyed Junco (SPARROW): Slate gray or brown hood, white belly, flashing white outer tail feathers.
• Tufted Titmouse (SPARROW): Gray with a pointed crest, big black eye, peach sides.
• White-breasted Nuthatch (SPARROW): Blue-gray back, white face; creeps headfirst down trunks.
• Downy Woodpecker (SPARROW): Small, white back stripe, short stubby bill; male has a red nape spot.
• Hairy Woodpecker (ROBIN): Downy’s big twin: same pattern, bill as long as the head.
• House Finch (SPARROW): Red head and chest fading to streaky brown belly; female plain streaky.
• American Goldfinch (SPARROW): Drab olive in winter, with black wings. Bouncy flight.
• Mourning Dove (ROBIN): Soft gray-brown, long pointed tail, small head; wings whistle on takeoff.
• Northern Mockingbird (ROBIN): Gray with white wing flashes and long tail; copies other birds.
• American Robin (ROBIN): Brick-orange breast, gray back, dark head.
• European Starling (ROBIN): Short tail, glossy with white speckles in winter; tight flocks.
• Yellow-rumped Warbler (SPARROW): Gray-brown with a bright yellow rump patch; the winter warbler.
• American Crow (CROW): All black, fan-shaped tail, “caw”; walks on lawns in groups.

Make it a real count

Bingo is a good warm-up for real community science. The Christmas Bird Count runs December 14 to January 5, and families inside a count circle can count from their own feeder. For counting all winter, our Project FeederWatch tally sheet lists 36 common feeder birds. You’ll find more in our free printables.

Sources: field marks from the Spark Lark Backyard Bird ID Chart by Color; size classes follow the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Christmas Bird Count dates from the National Audubon Society (audubon.org), read November 8, 2026.