Birding spots · Illinois

Best Birding Spots in Champaign County, Illinois

Homer Lake Forest Preserve leads Champaign County's birding spots with 207 species reported, best in spring. 47 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
Homer Lake Forest Preserve	207	1,728	88	178	104	147
Spring Lake	198	1,916	100	178	108	147
Crystal Lake Park (Busey Woods)	165	2,527	31	159	92	130
Crystal Lake Park	164	3,133	50	160	93	118
Weaver Park	158	962	29	108	53	122
Meadowbrook Park	156	1,816	57	145	100	125
Middle Fork River Forest Preserve	151	244	22	131	68	77
University of Illinois Arboretum	141	770	47	120	54	99
Kaufman Park	139	1,012	50	106	56	84
Heritage Park	139	379	15	119	45	89
Sagamon River Land Acquisition Pro	135	253	41	103	63	87
Champaign County Forest Preserve	132	387	33	113	62	74
Mabery Gelvin Botanical Garden	125	331	29	105	66	66
Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve	113	120	22	101	45	45
Homer Lake Forest Preserve (north)	112	123	30	76	52	55
St. Joseph Wetland	99	188	27	62	58	39
Mattis Lake	97	305	46	72	45	30
Mattis Park	96	215	18	72	35	51
Busey Woods	94	416	40	56	36	74
Perkins Road/ Judge Webber Park	90	56	21	65	46	25
Homer Lake Forest Preserve (Veazel Branch)	89	123	22	77	33	27
University of Illinois Conservatory and Plant Collection	87	260	15	56	36	61
Carle Park	79	168	16	68	16	41
Mattis Lake (northwest)	77	82	11	72	21	5
Dana Colbert, Sr. Community Park	65	436	33	41	20	35
Robert C. Porter Family Park	59	157	14	49	37	14
Boneyard Greenway	51	182	22	32	20	12
Mattis Lake (north)	37	125	8	18	11	25
W Side Park	32	53	3	26	8	6
Birding spot near Penfield (north)	172	160	27	133	83	125
Birding spot near Penfield	165	212	22	155	69	57
Birding spot near Savoy	148	1,424	40	127	74	90
Birding spot near Champaign	141	523	30	123	48	52
Birding spot near Penfield (north)	136	120	9	89	71	90
Birding spot near Penfield (Sugar Creek)	126	161	28	109	61	48
Birding spot near Urbana (southwest)	124	302	45	116	47	27
Birding spot near Urbana (northeast)	106	66	4	88	30	45
Birding spot near Bondville	85	536	14	79	38	9
Birding spot near Lake of the Woods	84	93	11	57	35	50
Birding spot near Homer	77	64	6	64	10	18
Birding spot near Champaign (south)	71	83	21	30	15	42
Birding spot near Urbana	66	497	34	47	27	36
Birding spot near Champaign (southwest)	47	60	0	0	46	14
Birding spot near Urbana (southwest)	30	56	11	25	10	2
Birding spot near Sadorus	29	77	2	24	13	5
Birding spot near Champaign (southeast)	27	90	16	12	0	2
Birding spot near Savoy (southeast)	26	156	7	19	18	9