Birding spots · California

Best Birding Spots in Santa Barbara County, California

Lake Los Carneros Park leads Santa Barbara County's birding spots with 227 species reported, best in fall. 244 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
Lake Los Carneros Park	227	5,984	158	169	131	196
North Coast Open Space	220	4,278	167	178	131	169
Ocean Beach Park	218	1,562	149	139	133	184
Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve	214	2,974	143	163	142	171
Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve (Devereux Lagoon)	211	2,837	158	179	140	157
Campus Lagoon	200	1,821	161	160	104	152
Andre Clark Bird Refuge	197	2,230	130	137	116	162
Goleta Beach County Park	192	2,935	141	146	114	143
Gaviota State Park	186	537	81	96	61	155
Refugio State Beach	178	621	85	114	70	150
Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve	177	1,339	125	140	90	123
Carpinteria Community Swimming Pool	169	828	86	95	81	156
Sedgwick Reserve	168	2,390	118	145	109	131
Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve - UC Natural Reserve	167	539	114	122	90	115
Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Preserve Forest	164	409	103	72	116	116
Campus Lagoon (Goleta Slough)	162	629	125	116	47	114
Jalama Beach County Park	162	304	89	83	59	128
Carpinteria State Beach	158	857	103	99	84	114
Goleta Slough Ecological Reserve	154	655	101	125	102	85
More Mesa	151	1,069	108	118	76	102
Scorpion Anchorage	147	978	68	79	64	122
Cachuma Lake Recreation Area	144	515	110	90	69	101
Prisoners Harbor	143	768	73	85	69	105
Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve (north)	142	530	83	88	97	113
Ellwood Mesa and Sperling Preserve (Devereux Lagoon)	141	480	89	114	85	95
Goleta Point	139	684	93	101	73	80
Jim May Park	138	397	91	78	74	103
Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve (north)	137	173	93	88	83	77
Chase Palm Park	136	935	95	78	74	99
Waller Park	136	663	112	105	60	97
DeVaul Canyon	135	149	76	74	57	96
Salisbury Canyon Wash	134	515	56	76	65	103
Carpinteria State Beach (Mishopshnow (historical))	133	704	106	90	55	90
Camino Corto Open Space	133	687	80	108	66	80
El Capitán State Beach	132	305	82	93	66	96
Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve	130	481	86	87	64	83
Laguna Blanca	128	209	106	65	46	82
Ellwood Mesa and Sperling Preserve	126	657	70	85	62	107
Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve - UC Natural Reserve (Sandyland Cove)	126	189	96	86	44	92
Mescalitan Island	123	385	85	78	61	71
More Mesa Open Space	123	331	75	87	64	82
Campus Lagoon (Goleta Point)	121	505	68	54	55	100
Chase Palm Park (Mission Creek)	120	325	83	67	29	90
Haskell's Beach	120	184	75	67	52	70
Ellwood	116	1,152	52	54	58	107
El Estero (Old Town)	116	789	77	96	51	81
Chase Palm Park (Sycamore Creek)	116	487	86	79	54	59
River Park	115	192	80	62	56	72
Nojoqui Creek	115	151	76	102	62	59
Devereux Lagoon	113	190	79	79	48	63