Birding spots · California

Best Birding Spots in Orange County, California

San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve leads Orange County's birding spots with 259 species reported, best in fall. 351 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
San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve	259	14,224	186	213	177	220
Huntington Beach Central Park	250	7,470	158	188	145	209
Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve	239	7,437	179	181	151	191
Mile Square Regional Park	224	4,306	155	157	131	189
Harriett M. Wieder Regional Park	212	2,271	142	173	124	177
San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve (southwest)	203	2,486	151	156	137	168
Huntington Beach Central Park (southwest)	203	1,322	133	149	102	160
Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve (southeast)	201	5,000	155	147	120	158
Irvine Regional Park	199	5,805	154	172	110	155
Huntington Beach Central Park (Lake Huntington)	199	1,735	129	147	101	169
Bolsa Bay	196	1,598	144	147	113	151
Laguna Niguel Regional Park	194	3,209	144	163	104	153
William R Mason Regional Park	193	2,364	129	154	108	145
Irvine Lake	182	655	139	133	109	145
Fairview Park	180	1,494	122	149	88	115
Fletcher Retarding Basin	176	1,086	123	142	108	132
Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve	168	914	128	124	89	121
Carbon Canyon Regional Park	165	1,144	115	140	92	123
Upper Newport Bay	165	482	130	133	89	112
Yorba Regional Park	164	817	111	116	91	116
Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve (east)	164	752	112	118	112	123
Santa Ana River Trail	162	1,289	115	96	122	118
South-Quail Hill Open Space Preserve	161	1,740	103	129	90	104
Santa Ana River Trail (Peralta Hills)	161	777	120	102	107	121
Peters Canyon Regional Park	161	584	104	128	102	98
Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve	156	506	129	121	83	107
San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve (Irvine)	155	603	98	134	85	84
Los Cerritos Wetlands	153	911	100	125	95	109
Talbert Nature Preserve (Regal Mobile Club Estates)	153	279	100	106	80	80
Crystal Cove	151	1,141	98	111	96	111
Ralph B. Clark Regional Park	151	842	112	127	85	103
Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve (Big Canyon)	150	426	115	115	78	103
Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve (northeast)	149	346	121	109	76	96
Gilman Park	148	2,384	72	106	79	133
South-Bommer Canyon Open Space Preserve	147	650	85	122	78	80
Dana Cove	146	2,159	94	95	85	96
Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve (Sunset Beach)	146	827	118	109	91	106
Santa Ana River Trail (west)	145	340	104	100	89	108
Huntington Beach Central Park (west)	144	755	95	103	79	103
Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve (southeast 2)	143	417	114	95	81	101
Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve (northeast 2)	142	332	100	113	80	99
Doheny State Beach	141	1,024	99	90	77	111
San Diego Creek & Bike Path (Sand Canyon Wash)	141	339	89	106	101	83
Oak Canyon Nature Center	140	420	76	113	75	82
Fairview Park (north)	140	362	95	104	81	95
Ted Craig Regional Park	139	698	100	99	73	101
Santa Ana River Trail (Rancho Huntington Mobile Home Park)	139	348	100	98	65	82
Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (San Diego Creek)	139	314	114	94	59	101
Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve (The Narrows)	139	238	107	109	61	79
Huntington Beach Central Park (Ocean View Estates)	138	753	81	109	70	99