Birding spots · New Jersey

Best Birding Spots in Essex County, New Jersey

West Essex Park leads Essex County's birding spots with 157 species reported, best in spring. 42 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
West Essex Park	157	1,556	78	139	92	119
South Mountain Reservation	149	974	51	129	84	111
Hilltop Reservation	147	616	49	129	89	116
South Mountain Reservation (Orange Reservoir)	146	673	63	97	70	114
Great Piece Meadows Preserve	141	386	46	107	83	88
Weequahic Park	137	462	70	116	52	62
Memorial Park	131	1,662	57	117	63	100
Clarks Pond	129	458	55	115	61	86
Verona Lake	124	931	58	98	60	68
Brookdale Park	117	472	40	110	42	66
Montclair Sanctuary	116	401	0	59	10	107
Alonzo Bonzal Wildlife Preserve	115	651	45	109	49	62
Newstead North	113	209	7	80	29	94
South Mountain Reservation (Maplewood)	112	306	26	102	37	72
Branch Brook Park	110	210	33	91	36	73
Newark Riverfront Park	107	256	29	69	62	48
Mills Reservation	106	230	19	97	28	66
Hilltop Park	104	108	25	74	49	71
Waterland Park	103	410	31	95	41	51
Norman Samuels Plaza	102	425	22	82	26	72
West Essex Park (southwest)	102	116	34	59	61	54
Commonwealth Water Company Reservoir Number Three	99	337	67	68	30	70
East Orange Water Reserve	98	145	45	62	57	55
Becker Park	86	117	27	65	39	40
Branch Brook Park (Hendricks Pond)	81	77	5	65	13	48
South Mountain Reservation (Beech Brook)	76	60	5	65	22	22
Meadowland Park	74	241	37	55	34	43
South Mountain Reservation (Mayapple Hill)	72	256	24	55	39	42
Eagle Rock Reservation	68	91	10	48	23	35
Cedar Grove Reservoir	64	135	34	18	16	45
West Essex Park (Beaufort)	63	84	22	41	30	23
Grover Cleveland Park	62	70	0	49	25	39
Taylor Park	59	70	17	55	16	4
Hartshorn Arboretum Bird Sanctuary	53	96	25	44	13	19
Maplecrest	52	350	27	35	18	29
New Street Plaza	44	134	8	31	2	25
Montclair Gardens	44	69	13	29	17	24
Memorial Park (Nutley)	40	73	13	25	15	15
Memorial Park (Montclair)	36	87	12	21	27	12
Birding spot near Pine Brook	165	1,065	60	109	91	137
Birding spot near Roseland	150	429	67	114	85	107
Birding spot near Elizabeth (northwest)	31	282	10	10	22	10