Birding spots · Iowa

Best Birding Spots in Johnson County, Iowa

Coralville Lake leads Johnson County's birding spots with 232 species reported, best in spring. 61 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
Coralville Lake	232	735	62	203	141	147
Sand Lake City Park	230	2,979	72	217	118	162
Coralville Recreation Area	198	532	37	162	100	140
Lake Macbride State Park	194	890	56	164	100	153
Cedar River Crossing Addition	193	564	38	167	100	132
Swan Lake	188	687	41	152	96	94
Coralville Recreation Area (west)	186	329	21	150	123	69
Timber Lake	182	639	9	164	106	101
Lake MacBride	180	1,067	68	142	77	143
Wisniewski Pond	175	475	31	103	115	117
Water Plant Park	174	1,004	50	138	91	112
F.W. Kent Park	165	703	41	145	87	106
Hickory Hill Park	164	2,281	50	157	80	114
Coralville Recreation Area (east)	161	261	8	121	78	111
Sycamore Wetlands	157	526	55	136	74	86
Lake MacBride (southwest)	146	295	39	103	61	103
Coralville Recreation Area (southwest)	146	228	21	122	82	64
Coralville Lake (southeast)	145	553	20	141	52	63
Coralville Lake (Plum Creek)	143	131	35	117	78	29
Coralville Lake (Turkey Creek)	142	639	51	103	72	96
Coralville Recreation Area (west)	142	208	2	132	70	22
MacBride Recreation Area	139	445	39	107	73	72
Randall Park	131	242	27	107	64	90
Coralville Recreation Area (Wisniewski Pond)	130	295	11	105	90	32
Central Park	120	700	63	86	34	39
Sandy Beach Public Use Area	117	162	19	100	18	53
Cardinal Creek	112	196	21	108	49	33
Matson Pond	111	166	39	55	24	76
Coralville Lake (east)	109	182	27	68	5	80
Turkey Creek Preserve	104	185	24	99	44	43
Coralville Lake (southeast 2)	103	163	18	85	47	52
Coralville Lake (south)	103	134	1	78	67	29
Hanging Rock Ridge Wildlife Management Area	101	149	6	95	39	21
Lake Macbride State Park (southeast)	100	275	7	63	70	50
Redbird Farms Wildlife Management Area	100	100	24	77	43	51
Rotary Camp Cardinal Park	100	99	13	90	53	23
Coralville Lake (Curtis (historical))	97	132	7	69	58	44
Ryerson Woods	92	119	7	66	27	66
City Park	91	211	32	69	36	48
Ciha Fen	91	89	8	74	66	23
Oakdale	90	140	19	82	15	45
Goose Lake Pond	88	404	41	73	0	53
Rotary Camp Cardinal Park (Vernon)	86	61	19	35	15	78
Coralville Lake (southeast 3)	85	101	30	51	32	61
West Lake	83	307	30	51	38	49
Coralville Lake (Twin View Heights)	79	68	1	70	0	23
Edgewater Park	78	117	22	51	52	34
F.W. Kent Park (northeast)	68	265	28	51	30	24
Happy Hollow Park	67	212	36	42	22	41
Dovetail Recreation Area	66	65	26	51	32	14