Birding spots · California

Best Birding Spots in Mendocino County, California

MacKerricher State Park (Lake Cleone) leads Mendocino County's birding spots with 178 species reported, best in fall. 86 spots in the county have enough data to rank.

Species counts are birds reported at least three times in that season at that spot, 2016–2025. Busy spots list more species simply because more people look, so compare the checklist counts. Spot names come from public map data and hotspot listings.

Spot	Species	Checklists	Winter	Spring	Summer	Fall
MacKerricher State Park (Lake Cleone)	178	843	100	103	111	149
MacKerricher State Park	174	1,252	86	116	108	144
Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens	164	750	100	115	103	122
Garcia River	154	261	98	48	75	117
MacKerricher State Park (Laguna Point)	147	646	72	70	81	112
Navarro River Redwoods State Park	146	344	55	89	96	110
Hotel Gulch	145	108	0	36	91	120
Ten Mile River	143	292	52	72	83	101
Lake Mendocino	130	330	98	77	54	80
Riverside Park	128	1,220	93	105	83	106
Noyo Headlands Park	127	509	78	64	52	81
Point Arena	122	249	57	36	42	96
Willits Rodeo Grounds	122	142	68	80	67	74
Mendocino Headlands State Park	121	532	66	62	67	74
Russian River Reservoir	117	292	80	69	46	75
MacKerricher State Park (northeast)	116	428	56	72	60	71
Mendocino Headlands State Park (Big River)	116	232	56	62	62	71
Coyote Valley Rancheria (historical)	115	121	79	74	34	66
Manchester State Park	114	122	74	37	62	44
Ten Mile Estuary Property	114	85	37	56	48	65
MacKerricher State Park (Ten Mile Beach)	110	97	26	39	55	68
Point Cabrillo Light Station	109	245	47	67	65	67
MacKerricher State Park (Virgin Creek)	104	396	39	56	68	72
MacKerricher State Park (Pudding Creek)	103	248	50	48	52	55
MacKerricher State Park (Fort Bragg)	98	477	64	54	51	60
Hendy Woods State Park	96	206	20	71	69	49
Albion Cove	94	151	39	52	62	44
Dolphin Cove	93	158	40	53	62	43
Garcia River (Hathaway Creek)	93	53	35	12	43	62
Jug Handle State Natural Reserve	92	514	43	55	57	46
Van Damme Beach	92	266	38	64	52	51
Mendocino Headlands State Park (Mendocino Bay)	91	186	46	51	47	50
MacKerricher State Park (southwest)	91	125	53	33	42	38
Van Damme State Park	90	303	49	48	35	54
Caspar Anchorage	89	223	40	40	27	64
Fort Bragg Coastal Park	87	152	54	57	35	37
Greenwood State Beach	87	79	26	31	49	51
Mendocino Headlands State Park (southeast)	83	113	46	57	44	48
China Gulch	82	114	32	40	28	53
Low Gap Regional Park	80	234	48	68	50	50
Stornetta Area of Critical Environmental Concern	80	113	47	24	31	44
Arena Cove	80	90	34	28	34	44
Noyo Bay	79	199	39	42	44	45
Russian Gulch State Park	79	130	35	26	60	36
Caspar Headlands State Beach	79	76	25	7	46	52
Agate Beach (Mendocino)	77	107	42	25	28	44
Mill Pond (Rocky Creek)	77	62	16	63	41	10
Lake Mendocino (Coyote Valley Rancheria (historical))	75	125	37	50	23	38
Stornetta Area of Critical Environmental Concern (Sea Lion Rocks)	74	77	31	40	29	43
MacKerricher State Park (northeast)	71	70	14	16	50	27