Home | Index | Nature  | Best Cities | Weather | Map it | Google  

Top Ten Birding Trails

 
Lake Champlain Birding Trail, Vermont and New York - The first birding trail to cross state lines, the Lake Champlain trail loops for 300 miles to 87 birding sites in Vermont and New York. Besides tracing the 110-mile-long lake and its islands, dunes, and cliffs, this trail crosses a mosaic of dairy farms, marshes, grasslands, and woodlands as well, showcasing the trail's northeasterly location as a magnet for wayfaring birds.
 

Central Coast Birding Trail, California - This beautiful coastal region provides superb birding in all seasons and is especially noted for its resident land birds and migratory waterbirds. Fully exploring this trail requires traveling to sites in four counties; the sites include Pinnacles National Monument in Monterey, La Jolla Canyon in Ventura, Barka Slough in Santa Barbara, and Machesna Wilderness in San Luis Obispo.
 
 

Colonial Coast Birding Trail, Georgia - The Colonial Coast trail aptly weaves birdwatching into the state's historical roots, encouraging visitors to stop at Civil War forts and plantations, as well as at freshwater wetlands, woodlands, and tidal rivers. Though the driving route parallels Interstate 95, the staffs of visitors' centers along the way can offer plenty of birdwatching suggestions that will get both skilled birders and novices off the beaten path.
 

Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail - The first functioning leg of the statewide Virginia trail extends along the coastal plain-tying together more than 225 birding sites through a series of 18 driving loops that also take in the region's rich culture and history. The newly completed Mountain phase features 34 loops of expansive mountain vistas and endless forest trails.
 

Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail - Often called the great-granddaddy of birding trails, the Texas coastal trail was the first-and at approximately 2,110 miles, it's still the biggest-birding trail around. It links more than 300 sites and 41 counties along Texas's Gulf Coast, providing a colorful road map to well over half of the 600 species found in the state. 
 

Great River Birding Trail, Mississppi River Basin - The Trail is a system of easily-accessible sites that are along or close to the Great River Road such as parks, overlooks, and wildlife refuges where people can observe a variety of bird species and enjoy the scenic beauty of the river valley.
 

Southeastern Arizona Birding Trail - The convergence of four distinct bioregions-the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, and the Sierra Madre and the Rocky Mountains-provides a prime mix of habitats for more than 400 species of birds. Summer is the richest viewing season, with highlights including elegant trogons, painted redstarts, and more than a dozen species of hummingbirds, but the birding is superior at any time of year.
  

Great Washington Birding Trail, Spencer Island, WA - The Cascades Loop features two-thirds of Washington's 365 bird species. There are 68 sites on the loop from Edmonds to the Skagit, across the mountains to Lake Chelan and back through Leavenworth. This is the first of six planned routes. The Coulee Corridor is under development, and then a loop around the Olympic Peninsula is planned.
 

John James Audubon Birding Trail, Kentucky - The first, 35-mile segment of trail starts at John James Audubon State Park in western Kentucky and boasts a 1,775-acre waterfowl refuge along the route. Three more driving tours lead birders through agricultural fields, small caves, and reclaimed mining sites, where they can check off the more than 200 species on the trail's checklist.  
 

Great Florida Birding Trail - The eastern section of the soon-to-be-statewide Florida trail is a network of 135 sites spread throughout 18 counties, grouped into clusters within an hour's drive of one another. The layout highlights many sites all but lost among Florida's vast tourist industry, making many of the state's 470 species, from roseate spoonbills to endangered scrub jays, a cinch to find.
 

Bird Watching Websites

The American Bird Conservancy

Birdwatching Dot Com - About Wild Birds and Birding

American Birding Association: we're about birds, birding, birders

Birding.com

www.birder.com

Bird Watcher's Digest

Bird Watching on the Olympic Peninsula

Alaska Bird Observatory

Other Bird Links
Bird ON!
Birding Hotspots Around the World
Birding in Canada
Birding on the Net
Birding the Americas (Trip Reports)
Birdlife Data Zone
Birds to Watch 2
BirdSource: monitoring programs online .
Birdzilla
Christmas Bird Count Database Project
Christmas Bird Counts
Neotropical Bird Club
NHBS (Natural History Book Service) BookNet
Northern Prairie Science Centre
Ornithology.com
Peterson On-Line
The Virtual Birder
Where to watch birds around the world
Wild Bird Omnibus and complete Bent Life History Series
Wildbirds.com