Birding spots · Florida

Best Birding Spots in Manatee County, Florida

Emerson Point Preserve leads Manatee County's birding spots with 220 species reported, best in spring. 80 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
Emerson Point Preserve	220	2,368	143	187	104	171
Leffis Key	192	2,515	77	171	73	142
Perico Preserve	192	1,748	141	158	90	146
Robinson Preserve	187	1,165	140	149	83	130
Perico Bayou	169	985	125	126	89	107
Felts Audubon Preserve	164	1,978	105	121	75	124
Bimini Bay	159	472	65	144	50	45
Bennett Park	146	838	112	102	66	115
Terra Ceia Preserve State Park	146	484	114	105	41	116
Conservatory Park	125	657	81	90	54	99
Joan M. Durante Community Park	124	358	55	111	29	51
Bean Point	123	600	72	78	63	83
James L. Patton Park	122	285	83	82	54	88
Heritage Harbour	118	384	87	67	62	78
Duette Preserve	116	441	85	95	60	55
G.T. Bray Park	113	379	71	92	48	57
Clearwater Lake	112	371	87	83	62	59
De Soto National Memorial	106	291	46	73	41	43
Terra Ceia Preserve State Park (Southeast Head)	106	210	83	57	30	56
Bishops Bayou	101	786	67	70	61	70
Lake Manatee State Park	101	314	61	63	73	70
Tampa Bay Estuarine Ecosystem - Terra Ceia	98	103	66	58	44	64
Neal Preserve	97	268	56	77	33	46
Winston Tract	97	124	76	54	24	40
Piney Point	96	112	78	59	50	60
Heron's Nest Nature Park	95	181	66	64	35	70
Palma Sola Botanical Park	87	94	32	71	20	39
Rye Preserve	86	180	54	45	38	55
Hidden Lake Park	84	131	71	48	28	49
Ward Lake	82	148	51	52	35	47
Coquina Beach Park	81	357	48	44	43	40
Grassy Point Preserve	81	130	26	43	34	56
Edward Chance Reserve	76	169	56	47	23	31
Moody Branch Mitigation Park Wildlife and Environmental Area	76	68	43	23	55	7
Manatee County Beach	71	326	49	50	38	37
Portosueno Park	66	152	48	35	19	40
Anna Maria Bayfront Park	66	117	40	47	26	25
Bob Gardner Community Park	66	74	52	36	24	27
Edward Chance Reserve (west)	65	55	47	34	10	10
Clearwater Lake (northeast)	63	61	43	32	30	30
Sea Breeze Point	61	147	57	14	2	28
Greer Island Park	57	110	31	32	33	28
Sunny Shores Park	57	75	49	9	15	23
Bradenton Waterfront Park	56	107	33	35	27	21
Bimini Bay (Anna Maria)	48	108	35	26	29	18
Longboat Pass	47	70	22	27	17	18
Pride Community Park	42	70	21	30	6	14
State Road 64 Boat Ramp	37	74	22	15	4	15
Birding spot near Old Miakka	119	829	95	80	57	88
Birding spot near Ellenton (north)	115	239	70	92	58	71