Birding spots · Minnesota

Best Birding Spots in Rice County, Minnesota

Cowling - Lower Arboretum leads Rice County's birding spots with 184 species reported, best in spring. 27 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
Cowling - Lower Arboretum	184	1,320	36	168	99	128
Cowling - Upper Arboretum	150	877	27	139	68	102
River Bend Nature Center	149	323	20	133	68	79
Roberds Lake	131	395	28	107	55	85
Nerstrand Big Woods State Park	125	616	24	100	74	54
Lyman Lakes (Northfield)	109	491	22	82	39	67
Lyman Lakes	94	542	29	64	37	49
Sakatah Lake State Park (The Narrows)	92	120	4	76	22	14
Two Rivers Park	91	126	12	89	22	2
Wells Lake	88	277	23	77	16	37
Sakatah Lake State Park (east)	87	82	6	74	33	14
Spring Creek Park	74	193	3	44	35	43
Cody Lake	71	71	0	54	21	29
Cannon River Reservoir	57	66	4	42	5	10
King Mill Park	48	118	26	31	4	7
Riverside Lions Park	43	126	14	31	27	21
Birding spot near Northfield	171	864	20	159	72	98
Birding spot near Dennison	127	407	0	95	48	77
Birding spot near Lonsdale	125	164	1	114	67	43
Birding spot near Dundas (southeast)	119	215	11	100	76	69
Birding spot near Dundas (east)	106	181	4	101	53	32
Birding spot near Dundas (Millersburg)	102	169	0	95	46	16
Birding spot near Dennison (south)	99	360	7	75	78	48
Birding spot near Dundas	91	218	1	67	57	60
Birding spot near Northfield (southeast)	66	243	15	56	22	21
Birding spot near Dundas (east)	35	50	0	26	23	0
Birding spot near Northfield (Cannon River Reservoir)	33	60	5	31	0	3