Birding spots · California

Best Birding Spots in San Benito County, California

Paicines Reservoir leads San Benito County's birding spots with 167 species reported, best in fall. 75 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
Paicines Reservoir	167	839	106	105	109	127
San Felipe Lake	138	179	85	100	61	74
Hain Wilderness Area	125	2,051	78	112	83	91
McCabe Canyon	111	1,113	65	87	61	78
San Justo Reservoir	108	140	70	61	36	68
Hain Wilderness Area (Monolith)	106	657	59	86	62	64
Apricot Park	106	198	66	76	39	53
Moses Spring	97	430	50	83	56	56
Pinnacles National Park	96	636	60	70	48	65
Pinnacles National Park (Little Pinnacles)	92	557	48	73	53	58
Bear Gulch	92	321	49	72	41	46
Anzar Lake	92	162	52	72	59	33
San Benito County Historical and Recreational Park	90	406	54	70	43	51
Hain Wilderness Area (Machete Ridge)	86	270	49	66	47	53
Pinnacles National Park (northeast)	85	212	50	68	37	40
Pinnacles National Park (Oak Tree Spring)	84	219	47	57	37	51
Fremont Peak State Park	84	158	34	64	50	41
Hain Wilderness Area (West Fork Chalone Creek)	81	197	45	70	34	43
Williamson Valley	80	77	45	35	41	58
Pinnacles National Park (McCabe Canyon)	77	336	50	57	43	41
Moses Spring (Monolith)	74	198	35	58	48	43
Moses Spring (Scout Peak)	73	154	40	62	30	40
Sulphur Springs	72	102	51	35	22	21
Oak Tree Spring	71	206	44	57	46	39
Hain Wilderness Area (High Peaks)	70	223	41	49	36	44
Panoche Valley Preserve	70	147	36	42	21	31
Pinnacles National Park (west)	67	156	40	40	21	37
Bear Gulch Reservoir	67	126	31	35	36	48
Pinnacles National Park (Frog Canyon)	66	68	39	57	28	28
Vista Park Hill Community Park	65	84	24	48	14	38
Dry Lake	60	142	49	39	8	6
Abbe Park	55	77	30	25	24	28
Bitterwater Canyon	53	94	37	28	5	17
Hain Wilderness Area (northeast)	49	63	37	39	1	21
Griswold Canyon	48	66	15	41	3	12
Las Aguilas Creek	48	54	40	24	3	5
Panoche Valley Preserve (northwest)	43	130	36	21	17	24
Panoche Valley Preserve (west)	35	70	29	21	0	11
Panoche Valley Preserve (northwest)	31	130	27	19	4	12
Birding spot near Hollister (north)	142	248	94	113	60	93
Birding spot near Hollister	120	332	78	73	60	84
Birding spot near Hollister (north)	97	263	81	54	37	45
Birding spot near Hollister (Lone Tree Creek)	86	89	42	67	43	33
Birding spot near Hollister (northeast)	86	61	27	50	48	40
Birding spot near Tres Pinos	79	285	59	54	40	46
Birding spot near Hollister (east)	79	76	31	68	34	30
Birding spot near Three Rocks (Panoche)	78	99	15	47	27	61
Birding spot near Aromas	78	78	27	65	24	50
Birding spot near Tres Pinos (west)	77	252	45	49	28	27
Birding spot near Soledad	77	118	49	49	41	46