Birding spots · Michigan

Best Birding Spots in Leelanau County, Michigan

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore leads Leelanau County's birding spots with 205 species reported, best in spring. 60 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
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore	205	1,572	40	163	149	112
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (south)	181	1,320	25	154	121	110
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Port Oneida)	159	604	37	126	114	78
Narada Lake	147	626	4	121	102	58
Glen Haven	146	683	35	115	79	51
Herman Park	143	316	12	101	81	95
Chippewa Run Natural Area	141	448	16	120	95	91
Leelanau State Park	138	390	4	119	80	48
Lighthouse West Natural Area	131	356	7	119	81	53
North Bar Lake	126	229	0	106	67	62
Leelanau State Park (Cat Head Bay)	117	222	9	95	82	45
Tucker Lake	113	314	0	102	71	43
Hidden Lake	113	198	2	92	68	36
Kehl Lake Natural Area	110	185	7	80	84	39
Teichner Preserve	105	304	24	86	72	24
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (east)	105	292	17	61	81	44
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Old Baldy Dune)	103	254	5	89	75	12
Dimmicks Point	100	56	0	82	48	0
Sleeping Bear Dunes Wilderness Area (Old Baldy Dune)	99	164	3	85	65	29
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (southeast)	98	247	1	73	81	30
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (northeast)	98	104	5	79	69	19
DeYoung Natural Area	94	177	15	82	39	30
Shell Lake	94	132	1	70	66	26
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Shauger Hill)	93	154	0	55	64	26
Houdek Dunes Natural Area	92	157	4	58	71	24
School Lake (Bass Lake)	91	233	0	66	57	39
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Sleeping Bear Bay)	91	116	0	58	74	21
Marina Beach Park	83	303	21	60	47	31
Garthes Pond	79	183	33	24	63	26
Sleeping Bear Dunes Wilderness Area (Empire Bluffs)	78	203	4	56	51	25
Provemont Pond Park	78	140	12	48	53	14
D H Day State Park	78	106	0	51	45	19
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (southeast)	78	84	4	43	61	28
Sandy Point	78	67	0	26	54	14
Sleeping Bear Dunes Wilderness Area (Devils Hole (historical))	76	68	1	24	60	24
Leland River	74	519	26	37	55	32
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Glen Haven)	74	103	1	67	48	0
Palmer Woods Forest Reserve	72	105	8	52	58	36
Tucker Lake (Leelanau Schools)	70	84	1	32	53	15
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (northeast 3)	68	56	0	55	39	0
Sleeping Bear Dunes Wilderness Area (north)	67	93	0	26	51	9
Peterson Park	65	145	15	37	48	26
Empire Beach Park	64	88	7	52	26	4
Cedar River Preserve	61	54	0	10	50	9
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (northeast 2)	59	75	0	36	36	13
Fulton Park	50	53	8	35	20	19
Sutton Park	49	92	2	24	34	15
Swanson Preserve	45	62	4	20	29	3
Omena Beach Park	38	67	0	6	27	8
Cedar Creek	35	74	18	15	14	1