Birding spots · Massachusetts

Best Birding Spots in Franklin County, Massachusetts

Rawson Island leads Franklin County's birding spots with 179 species reported, best in spring. 59 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
Rawson Island	179	2,797	83	148	99	123
Thompson Pond	157	463	48	105	100	131
Pine Hill	155	861	52	118	85	108
Barton Island	147	1,218	58	129	48	82
Lily Pond (Deep Hole)	143	661	40	123	39	87
Barton Cove	139	494	41	124	29	63
Bassett Pond	136	356	30	114	90	91
Bennett Meadow	129	263	35	116	51	62
Hells Kitchen	127	501	9	103	83	87
Montague Plains Wildlife Management Area	122	951	37	108	92	68
Unity Park	120	715	52	91	61	67
Woods Ice Pond	118	625	42	91	67	73
Great Swamp	116	798	24	92	37	64
Lily Pond (Doctors Island)	113	300	16	96	38	51
Great Meadow	113	189	19	74	24	83
Quabbin Reservoir Watershed (north)	110	151	33	90	59	61
Northfield State Forest	103	224	9	90	68	58
Lake Wyola Reservoir	103	150	5	83	32	59
Cranberry Pond	101	209	0	95	38	26
Atkins Reservoir	95	338	24	85	65	49
Ruggles Pond	94	117	13	79	77	20
South Sugarloaf Mountain	93	330	22	78	47	30
Orange Wildlife Management Area	92	162	4	65	52	54
Leverett Pond (Mountain Brook)	90	245	12	78	46	30
Quabbin Reservoir Watershed (Browns Hill)	90	98	6	72	60	41
Cranberry Pond (Ox Hill)	89	113	17	75	50	26
Turners Falls Reservoir	88	287	19	64	50	38
Connecticut River Greenway State Park (Deerfield River)	87	141	35	69	28	30
Second Moose Plain	86	105	32	51	23	50
High Ledges Wildlife Sanctuary	84	274	5	74	55	47
Cranberry Swamp	84	141	2	49	68	33
Chard Pond	83	158	14	79	27	26
Mountain Brook	81	127	13	70	41	27
Fuller Swamp Brook	80	127	29	46	37	52
Pauchaug Brook Wildlife Management Area	80	75	23	58	33	24
Pond Brook	76	53	8	73	12	9
Leyden Wildlife Management Area	75	62	10	57	53	33
Lake Mattawa	72	263	33	42	15	44
Ames Pond (South Brook)	71	51	0	49	47	27
Highland Park (Sachem Head)	70	101	9	65	23	15
Mohawk Trail State Forest	68	65	4	29	49	21
Montague Power Canal Reservoir	66	88	28	40	34	29
Rocky Mountain Park	66	88	5	53	37	12
Greene Swamp	64	58	0	54	36	9
Pelham Lake	60	66	0	39	38	2
Quabbin Reservoir Watershed (Fairview Hill)	59	73	22	26	27	26
Shingle Swamp	58	131	12	36	34	26
Quabbin Reservoir Watershed (West Branch Swift River)	56	51	12	21	29	18
Riverside Cemetery	53	94	30	26	14	23
Otter Pond	52	68	6	43	33	16