Birding spots · North Carolina

Best Birding Spots in Buncombe County, North Carolina

Beaver Lake leads Buncombe County's birding spots with 212 species reported, best in spring. 75 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
Beaver Lake	212	9,607	102	182	112	172
Bass Pond	201	1,638	101	158	97	139
Buncombe County Park	194	2,850	96	150	107	166
The Lagoon	188	1,934	97	144	94	149
Lake Julian Park	186	3,850	101	153	92	142
Long Valley Branch	185	1,413	79	145	109	142
LeRoy Lake	157	703	77	114	74	127
Lake Ashnoca	132	1,550	51	112	68	112
Buncombe County Park (Parkway Forest)	124	369	45	92	80	83
Camp Deer Lake	122	1,079	43	105	68	83
Lake Powhatan	120	444	43	104	65	65
Sandy Mush Game Land (northeast)	120	170	26	111	42	42
Lake Ashnoca (Sulphur Springs)	116	881	49	94	64	95
Botanical Gardens at Asheville	105	881	50	90	44	70
Bull Creek	105	334	44	75	44	81
Sandy Mush Game Land	104	198	23	100	51	5
Lake Tomahawk	103	634	50	78	59	55
Sandy Mush Game Land (Kuykendall Branch)	103	139	37	89	45	60
Sandy Mush Game Land (east)	102	91	48	78	47	67
City of Asheville - French Broad River Park	96	213	28	69	59	65
Bass Pond (Rooul Branch)	94	223	54	66	36	38
Black Mountain Gap (Bald Knob)	89	187	0	29	36	86
Sandy Mush Game Land (east 2)	87	63	37	72	26	48
Weaverville	86	171	22	60	28	65
Bent Creek Experimental Forest	83	147	27	60	36	38
Blue Ridge Parkway	82	319	2	49	39	64
Tanbark Ridge	80	396	0	73	58	0
Botanical Gardens at Asheville (Montford Hills)	79	204	40	46	39	47
Blue Ridge Parkway (Swannanoa Hills)	78	211	19	64	36	33
Blue Ridge Parkway (Bull Gap)	75	245	8	68	52	23
Lookout Mountain	74	260	30	50	37	48
Craven Gap	74	204	5	59	38	28
Balsam Gap	72	304	0	38	51	58
Craggy Flats	72	209	0	51	55	30
Lake Ashnoca (Malvern Hills)	71	91	34	52	26	47
Sandy Mush Game Land (east 3)	69	51	9	47	40	31
Blue Ridge Parkway (Swan Mountain)	67	234	0	58	51	2
Blue Ridge Parkway (Rice Knob)	67	175	4	61	34	9
City of Asheville - Carrier Park	67	94	17	48	36	27
Buttermilk Creek	67	72	19	30	28	39
Sandy Mush Game Land (Turkey Creek)	67	67	27	50	14	37
Owenby Cove	66	128	17	49	31	22
Beetree Gap	64	145	0	53	49	8
Craggy Flats (Craggy Knob)	61	116	0	31	44	18
Blue Ridge Parkway (Roaring Gap)	60	128	0	56	31	1
Craggy Flats (Pinnacle Gap)	57	115	0	25	46	6
Buncombe County Park (Enka)	57	67	13	25	9	41
Blue Ridge Parkway (northeast)	56	97	1	52	32	5
Town of Woodfin Open Space	56	51	3	15	44	28
Tanbark Ridge (High Swan)	55	95	0	48	36	4