Favorite Places for Bird Photography

Listed here are some of the locations in the U.S. and Canada which I personally have found to be rewarding for bird photography.  Outside North America, I have photographed in Costa Rica and Europe (England, France, and Spain). Contact us for more advice.

In New York City, my favorite places are Central Park in Manhattan and Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Queens. Especially in Central Park, photographers will find a good number of birds used to people and thus approachable. Both sites are widely listed among the best birding spots in the U.S.   (For a superb leader for birding walks, see Resources)

In Florida, two places in the Everglades have been reliably productive: the Anhinga Trail and Shark Valley, as well as a number of spots on the Gulf Coast: Tigertail Beach (on Marco Island), Little Estero Lagoon (near Fort Myers Beach), the Venice Rookery (in Venice), and Fort DeSoto Park (near St. Petersburg).

In central New Mexico, Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (on the Rio Grande) is a wintering spot for many thousands of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese, as well as Bald Eagles, other raptors, and much else. The landscape provides starkly beautiful backdrops.

Southern California offers great variety: Newport Back Bay and Bolsa Chica (in Huntington Beach) have many waders and shorebirds, as do many locations in San Diego. Inland, Anza Borrego State Park and the Salton Sea offer desert environments.

Southeastern Arizona is excellent, especially during the spring migration. Even the Tucson area offers opportunities, notably Sweetwater Wetlands in the city itself.

Point Pelee, Ontario, is a peninsula (and a Canadian National Park) jutting southeastward into Lake Erie (an hour east of  Detroit) which serves as a migrant trap for warblers (e.g. the male Blackburnian at the top of these pages) and many other species.  On spring days when migrants are plentiful, photographic opportunities can be sometimes be excellent. A good web site is: www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/on/pelee/index_e.asp
 

We recently spent two weeks in the Canadian Rocky Mountains (between Banff and Jasper).  Even in August, the birding outdid our expectations and there were good chances for bird photography―not to speak of breathtaking landscapes!

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