Top Birding Locations

Top Birding Locations

11. Big Bend, Texas
Deep in the heart of Texas, or at least in a remote corner of the state, Big Bend National Park extends along the Mexican border from the Rio Grande lowlands to almost 8,000 feet in the Chisos Mountains. In its varied arid habitats, more species of birds have been recorded than at any other national park in the United States -- nearly 450 species! Only at Big Bend can you find Colima Warblers and other exciting birds in such well-known sites as Boot Canyon, Green Gulch, Panther Junction, Dugout Wells, Laguna Meadows, Rio Grande Village, Cottonwood Campground, Blue Creek Canyon and Daniel's Ranch.

As you drive and hike through the park, you may encounter some of the local specialties, such as Scaled Quail, a Zone-tailed Hawk, Chihuahuan Ravens, Gray-breasted Jays, Lucifer Hummingbirds and Colima Warblers. Other interesting species include Pyrruloxias, Hepatic Tanagers, White-throated Swifts, Canyon Towhees, plus Rufous-crowned, Black-chinned and Black-throated Sparrows. Other species to search for include Verdins, Cactus Wrens, Canyon and Rock Wrens, Golden-fronted and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Vermilion Flycatchers, Black Phoebes, White-winged and Inca Doves, Elf Owls, Flammulated Owls, Black-capped Vireos, Painted Redstarts, Crissal Thrashers, Greater Roadrunners, and if you are especially lucky, a rare Varied Bunting.

Big Bend is the best place in the United States to see Lucifer Hummingbirds, plus Blue-throated, Magnificent, Black-chinned and White-eared Hummingbirds can be seen along with migrant Broad-tailed and Rufous Hummingbirds. Many birds migrate along the Rio Grande River Valley, so if you want to bolster your checklist of sightings for the area, plan a spring or fall field trip.

12. Platte River, Nebraska
The trumpeting calls of Sandhill Cranes have echoed across millennia of time, and each spring, they herald the force of northward migration. The sounds of thousands of cranes mingle with geese, ducks, meadowlarks and other species that stop along the Platte River Valley in central Nebraska each March. On the remnant prairies, Sharp-tailed Grouse dance on leks, performing ancient displays and emitting eerie calls that echoed across the Great Plains when endless herds of bison dominated this land. Yes, the birds that fill the valley of the Platte each March and April can take you back to primitive beginnings. Even the towns along Highway 30 from North Platte to Kearney remind you of simpler times in a more rural America.

You can reach the Platte River Valley by flying into Grand Island, where you can search for Bald Eagles, which are common along the river during spring. An attractive event for many birders is the Wings Over the Platte Festival in Grand Island, which is held annually in mid-March to coincide with the peak of Sandhill Crane migration, when one-half million birds may invade the region.

The Rainwater Basin south of Kearney will provide an exciting side trip to witness large flocks of Snow Geese, White-fronted Geese and a diversity of ducks during migration stopovers. Over one million geese and up to five million ducks have been counted during spring aerial census!

13. Monterey Bay, California
If you are a seafarer, there is no better pelagic birding opportunity in the United States than a cruise from Monterey Bay. Fall cruises from Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey will take you about 10 miles offshore during a seven-hour outing and often result in sightings of Sooty Shearwaters, Black-vented Shearwaters, Buller's and Pink-footed Shearwaters, Black and Ashy Storm Petrels, Tufted Puffins, Cassin's Auklets, Rhinoceros Auklets, Xantus' Murrelets, Pigeon Guillemots, Common Murres, Red and Red-necked Phalaropes, Parasitic and Pomarine Jaegers, Sabine's Gulls, Arctic Terns and more, ranging from single birds to large flocks. During a similar winter cruise, you can also hope for Black-footed Albatrosses, Northern Fulmars, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Short-tailed Shearwaters and more alcids.

Closer to shore, you should see Western, Herring and Heermann's Gulls; Brown Pelicans, Great Blue Herons, Double-crested and Pelagic Cormorants; Common and Red-throated Loons, and maybe a Pacific Loon; Western, Clark's and Eared Grebes; Elegant, Caspian and Forster's Terns; and Red-breasted Mergansers. During any pelagic trip, you can expect the unexpected -- a species rarely encountered in the area. Past trips have sighted Streaked, Wedge-tailed and Manx Shearwaters; Redbilled Tropicbirds, Layson Albatrosses, Leach's Storm Petrels and Horned Puffins. For a greater chance of seeing harder-to-find seabirds, consider a trip to the Monterey Seavalley 15 to 25 miles offshore. You should also see marine mammals, including a variety of whales and dolphins, plus seals, sea lions and sea otters.

14. Snake River Valley, Idaho
Nowhere else can you find such concentrations of nesting birds of prey -- Golden Eagles, Prairie Falcons, Swainson's Hawks, Ferruginous Hawks, Red-tails, Northern Harriers and American Kestrels. Nearly 1,000 nesting pairs of raptors are known to use the rugged landscape carved by the Snake River. Most raptor watchers travel to the Snake River Birds of Prey Natural Area during late spring and early summer, when raptors are tied to nesting territories and can be seen at their nesting sites on steep cliffs and widely dispersed trees.

The surrounding sagebrush grasslands attract such species as Burrowing Owls, Long-billed Curlews, Cliff and Violet-green Swallows, Sage Thrashers, Lazuli Buntings and Sage Sparrows. A variety of ducks, shorebirds and waterbirds can also be seen, including Cinnamon Teal, Black-necked Stilts, American Avocets, Western Grebes and Clark's Grebes. During winter, nesting species are joined by Bald Eagles, Rough-legged Hawks, Merlins, Cooper's Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, and occasional sightings of Peregrine Falcons, Ospreys and Northern Goshawks.

Some favorite birding locations include Bruneau Dunes State Park, Ted Trueblood Wildlife Management Area, Swan Falls Dam, Dedication Site and C.J. Strike Reservoir.

15. Sand Lake, South Dakota
Fall migration starts early at Sand Lake in South Dakota as post-nesting birds assemble. Birders can see concentrations of Franklin's Gulls building to one-half million, a quarter-million Mallards, 12,000 American White Pelicans, and many grebes, coots and ducks. By October, Arctic-nesting Snow Geese amass to one million strong, and Tundra Swans may number 5,000 by the end of the month. Eagles follow the waterfowl, and may number as many as 100 during peak concentration periods from mid-October to freezeup -- usually about the second week in November.

Birders can enjoy good views of Ring-necked Pheasants, the state bird, plus a variety of sparrows, buntings, Western Meadowlarks and Horned Larks. Ferruginous and Swainson's Hawks can be seen hunting grassland rodents throughout the summer and early fall, along with more common Redtails, Northern Harriers and American Kestrels. Shorebirds assemble when dry water conditions in the surrounding prairie potholes provide mudflats and open shorelines.

16. Nome, Alaska
Settled as a gold-mining town, Nome is certainly a gold mine for birders. It is the best location in western Alaska to see Arctic species, such as Bristle-thighed Curlews, Spectacled and Steller's Eiders, scoters and other ducks, Arctic and Pacific Loons, Bar-tailed Godwits, American and Pacific Golden Plovers, Red-necked Phalaropes, Rock Sandpipers, Parasitic and Long-tailed Jaegers, Arctic and Aleutian Terns, Willow and Rock Ptarmigan, Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs. Don't forget to keep an eye peeled for a Gyrfalcon. The diversity of shorebirds is especially interesting on their nesting territories where they display in their breeding plumage.

Also attractive are Eurasian birds that spill over into western Alaska, such as Arctic Warblers, Bluethroats, White and Yellow Wagtails and Northern Wheatears. Nome is also a great site to find rare Asian and Arctic species -- gulls, shorebirds, passerines and waterfowl rank highest as possibilities.

17. Hakalau Forest, Hawaii
The volcano, Mauna Kea, and the Pacific Ocean offer spectacular scenes in opposite directions from the forested slopes of the Big Island. In the spectacular tract of native forest protected as Hakalau Forest, birders find some of the most beautiful and unique birds found anywhere. Hawaiian honeycreepers have evolved in vivid red, yellow and olive colors with diverse bill shapes -- long, short, thin and curved, and short and broad bills -- that allow each species to feed on different foods in areas they cohabit. The native names of these spectacular birds, so foreign-sounding to haolis (mainland birders), include I'iwis, Apapanes, Hawaiian Amakihis, Omaos, Elepaio, Akepas, Hawaii Creepers and the infamous "Akis" (short for Akiapolaaus).

Other native birds can be seen along the way to the forest edge, including Hawaiian Hawks, Hawaiian Ducks and, if you are lucky, a Hawaiian Owl. A number of introduced species can also be seen, such as Sky Larks, Erkel's Francolins, Chukars and Japanese White-eyes.

This unique forest refuge is a short drive west of Hilo, or across the Saddle Road east of Kona. Hakalau Forest should rank high on every birder's list of things to do in Hawaii.

18. Bosque del Apache, New Mexico
Against classic western landscapes, the trumpeting calls of flocks of Sandhill Cranes mix with the incessant calls of Snow Geese and Ross' Geese as the big birds glide to a graceful landing to feed among thousands of their kind, along with Mallards, Northern Pintails and Green-winged Teal in refuge cornfields. This is the classic fall and winter scene at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, the best location to observe and photograph wintering species in the great Southwest.

Last winter, birders could find more than 15,000 Sandhill Cranes, 15,000 Snow Geese, a few hundred Canada Geese and 38,000 ducks. Check for families of geese with gray-colored immature birds, as well as sub-flocks of little Ross' Geese among Snow Goose flocks. Raptors include a number of Bald Eagles and an occasional Golden Eagle, Northern Harriers, Redtails, American Kestrels and a rare Peregrine Falcon or Merlin. Also watch for Greater Roadrunners, Ringnecked Pheasants, Northern Flickers, and Black and Say's Phoebes. Check all Sandhills for a slightly larger white crane -- a Whooping Crane. Two still survive from an experimental flock, plus a rare partial albino Sandhill was present last winter.

19. Dry Tortugas, Florida
West of Key West, where the Gulf of Mexico meets the Caribbean Sea, migrating passerine birds, especially warblers and vireos, make landfall at a historic national park after flying from wintering areas and staging areas in Central and South America and the Caribbean islands. From mid-April through the first 10 days in May, Garden Key attracts birders who hope for a weather system to push a fallout of migrating songbirds on the island. Among the ruins of historic Fort Jefferson, birders flock to the only freshwater source -- the fountain -- in hope of seeing Cape May Warblers, Black-throated Blues, Chestnut-sided, Blue-winged, Black-throated Greens, Yellow-throated, Prothonotary, Worm-eating and Hooded Warblers that may populate the island after a fallout, along with Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, Scarlet and Summer Tanagers, Painted Buntings and Black-billed Cuckoos.

Seabirds include Sooty Terns and Brown Noddies (that nest on Bush Key), Magnificent Frigatebirds (nesting on Long Key), Brown Boobies, occasional Black Noddies and rarer Masked Boobies. One Red-footed Booby was also present last spring.

20. Machias Seal Island
Many birders' favorite summer birding trip includes a cruise to the famous little treeless island 10 miles off the coast of Maine to view and photograph Atlantic Puffins. Machias Seal Island also offers the possibility of viewing Razorbills, Arctic and Common Terns, Leach's Storm Petrels, Common Murres and Great Cormorants -- usually at close range from walking trails and photo-observation blinds. On the cruise to the island, you may see other seabirds like Northern Gannets and an assortment of gulls, petrels and shearwaters. If the ocean is not calm, it may not be possible to land at Machias Seal Island, although the ship captain always tries to get you close enough to view the birds.

After your morning cruise to the puffin isle, stop at one of the great American parks. Acadia National Park protects a stretch of Maine's rugged, rocky coastline and a few outlying islands, with headquarters in Bar Harbor. Mount Desert Island provides a combination of seabirds and warblers during summer. As many as 18 species of warblers nest in the pine woodlands, along with Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Swainson's Thrushes, Boreal Chickadees, plus Lincoln Sparrows that inhabit the bog wetlands. Along the shorelines, watch for Common Eiders, Black Guillemots, Leach's Storm Petrels, Greater Black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls. Also watch for three other exciting species -- Bald Eagles, Ospreys and Common Loons.

During winter, Maine birders head just south of the Massachusetts border to Newburyport and Cape Ann. Wintering sea ducks, Brant, alcids and rare gulls -- including an occasional Glaucous or Iceland Gull -- can be found along coastal locations like the mouth of the Merrimack River and Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island. Scope for Common and Red-throated Loons, Northern Gannets, Razorbills, Greater Cormorants and Red-necked Grebes, plus Brant, Oldsquaws, Greater Scaup, Barrow's Goldeneyes, Harlequin Ducks, Common Eiders and an occasional King Eider. Look for Snow Buntings and Rock Sandpipers and other wintering species, and be aware of the possibility of seeing a rare Snowy Owl -- although Short-eared Owls are more commonly found. Shorebirds are also common during late summer and early fall.

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