Birding spots · Iowa

Best Birding Spots in Polk County, Iowa

Saylorville Recreation Area (north) leads Polk County's birding spots with 231 species reported, best in spring. 69 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
Saylorville Recreation Area (north)	231	1,673	62	189	124	179
Saylorville Recreation Area (Corydon (historical))	224	1,186	38	178	124	189
Saylorville Recreation Area (northwest)	222	1,546	54	170	132	169
Jester Park	210	735	57	187	131	135
Saylorville Recreation Area (Big Creek)	197	999	42	171	94	148
Saylorville Recreation Area	186	1,723	73	160	77	121
Jester Park (Andrews)	185	564	60	133	82	139
Saylorville Recreation Area (southeast)	177	867	40	158	106	130
Waterworks Park	172	1,058	54	152	87	121
Saylorville Recreation Area (north)	170	577	36	120	89	114
Saylorville Recreation Area (Camp Dodge)	161	690	79	86	51	127
Polk City Refuge	158	705	70	99	61	113
Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt	156	328	28	142	82	70
Big Creek State Park	155	561	56	120	66	104
Greenwood Park	148	730	26	141	85	87
Big Creek Wildlife Management Area	148	500	64	115	52	93
Jester Park (northwest)	147	254	20	90	97	70
Walnut Woods State Park	146	643	46	130	66	90
Raccoon River Park	146	318	31	124	68	69
Paul Errington Marsh Waterfowl Production Area	145	512	14	120	55	78
Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt (Old Channel)	144	137	27	126	66	44
Trestle to Trestle Trail	139	434	37	113	74	95
Saylorville Recreation Area (Rock Creek)	138	1,401	68	76	40	115
Saylorville Recreation Area (northeast)	138	502	36	106	43	93
Terra Lake	137	382	34	110	69	81
Dale Maffit Reservoir (east)	128	360	57	107	54	41
Gray's Lake Park	126	406	32	110	40	55
Brown's Woods	120	235	26	103	59	50
Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt (southeast)	114	129	19	97	76	23
Carney Marsh	113	161	6	99	47	47
Big Creek Lake	113	129	18	71	39	71
Fisher Lake	110	108	22	97	44	14
Saylorville Recreation Area (northwest 2)	109	100	29	89	48	41
Jester Park (northwest 3)	106	172	38	56	57	61
Jester Park (north)	105	66	2	63	55	18
Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt (southeast)	103	127	1	86	59	27
Easter Lake Park	98	147	26	81	51	50
Big Creek Wildlife Management Area (Little Creek)	98	138	28	53	49	47
Corydon (historical)	94	80	15	64	43	56
Lew Clarkson Park	88	78	17	78	39	34
Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt (southwest)	86	102	10	73	58	23
Yellow Banks	83	92	23	57	42	21
Jester Park (northwest 2)	78	221	37	49	36	24
Sycamore North (Fisher Lake)	78	64	25	55	21	33
Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt (southwest)	77	168	31	60	32	39
Thomas Mitchell Park	77	77	19	43	45	34
Big Creek Wildlife Management Area (south)	76	78	30	37	27	20
Walnut Woods State Park (northeast)	75	80	15	61	35	24
Saylorville Recreation Area (northwest 3)	67	61	21	20	31	32
Fisher Lake (2)	66	99	29	43	11	0