Birding spots · California

Best Birding Spots in San Diego County, California

Quivira Basin leads San Diego County's birding spots with 257 species reported, best in fall. 679 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
Quivira Basin	257	10,306	176	190	137	218
San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve	224	6,462	176	190	139	187
Fort Rosecrans	217	2,668	66	129	97	194
Famosa Slough Wildlife Reserve	212	4,942	147	163	115	170
Tijuana River Valley Regional Park (east)	210	3,110	136	163	118	170
Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge	202	3,134	151	159	106	145
San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve (Lux Canyon)	201	2,269	137	172	130	147
Murray Reservoir	199	2,448	143	146	98	141
Batiquitos Lagoon Ecological Reserve	199	1,743	145	166	121	154
Santee Lakes Regional Park	197	3,075	149	160	108	155
San Luis Rey River Trail	195	983	139	149	121	169
Lake Henshaw	195	590	125	116	121	145
Tijuana River Valley Regional Park	194	5,717	118	154	114	169
Sweetwater Reservoir	191	755	125	128	131	144
Ellen Browning Scripps Neighborhood Park	190	4,587	134	122	101	140
Guajome Regional Park	190	1,425	138	148	115	157
Lake Cuyamaca	189	1,238	109	127	119	150
San Dieguito Lagoon	188	997	123	144	122	133
Border Field State Park	188	736	104	136	106	119
Batiquitos Lagoon Ecological Reserve (San Marcos Creek)	187	910	127	156	116	139
Murray Reservoir (Del Cerro Reservoir)	186	1,698	132	136	92	151
Lindo Lake Park	177	2,191	141	152	93	132
Mission Bay Park	176	3,745	135	132	104	138
Hodges Reservoir	176	1,640	138	152	103	118
Lake O'Neill	176	333	103	124	101	132
San Diego Safari Park	175	1,545	131	129	97	114
Kendall Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve	173	1,584	144	110	82	128
San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge	173	1,550	130	126	82	135
Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge (Tijuana River)	173	697	122	131	84	111
Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge (Oneonta Slough)	171	2,555	136	138	108	135
Torrey Pines State Reserve	171	1,718	118	131	95	115
Cabrillo National Monument	169	2,658	96	122	70	131
City of San Diego Open Space	165	579	123	123	89	118
Ramona Grasslands Preserve	164	1,202	128	131	72	102
Chula Vista Bayfront Park	163	1,915	127	125	104	117
Kit Carson Park	163	1,379	121	132	88	115
Harbor Beach	162	1,331	123	103	89	130
Morena Reservoir	162	254	84	98	84	124
Jacumba Community Park	161	757	98	132	81	132
San Dieguito River Park	161	666	115	136	93	106
Ramona Municipal Water District	160	2,510	124	113	90	108
Lake Cuyamaca (Cuyamaca (historical))	159	1,066	99	120	90	112
Lake Calavera Preserve	157	904	101	110	91	106
Hollis Lake	156	2,002	98	134	95	127
San Dieguito Lagoon Ecological Reserve	156	885	110	127	89	95
Spring Canyon	155	2,294	95	140	91	101
San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge (Imperial Beach)	155	1,037	99	116	99	97
Torrey Pines State Reserve (Soledad Canyon)	155	1,015	93	141	76	86
Lake Hodges	155	557	108	122	93	107
San Dieguito Lagoon (west)	155	539	97	118	83	102