Birding spots · North Carolina

Best Birding Spots in Durham County, North Carolina

Newcombs Lake leads Durham County's birding spots with 178 species reported, best in fall. 47 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
Newcombs Lake	178	731	66	120	103	152
Falls Lake State Recreation Area	167	958	91	94	55	143
Sandy Creek Park	160	5,522	82	141	90	117
Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association Preserve	125	1,704	73	103	63	87
Little Creek	119	154	16	21	89	79
Noname (Buck Branch)	117	489	63	93	58	77
Quail Roost	115	168	76	79	13	52
Triangle Land Conservancy - Horton Grove Preserve	114	500	47	97	64	77
City of Durham - Westover Park	112	629	58	99	41	86
Hill Demonstration Forest	112	178	28	92	53	72
Eno River Diabase Sill Plant Conservation Preserve	110	290	51	88	52	91
Panther Creek	110	205	49	79	42	65
Clark Lake	108	788	53	86	72	66
City of Durham Open Space	105	904	59	92	66	77
Eno River State Park (east)	105	396	37	90	52	74
Beef Cattle Field Laboratory	102	124	68	72	10	36
Duke Gardens	99	774	54	80	51	68
City of Durham Open Space (north)	99	166	46	87	57	63
South Ellerbee Creek Trail	86	217	45	67	37	41
City of Durham - Whippoorwill Park	85	152	40	63	47	60
City of Durham - Old Chapel Hill Road Park	85	88	47	73	37	29
Duke Forest (northeast)	81	126	24	69	46	27
City of Durham Open Space - West Point Park	79	102	33	60	38	45
Meadowmont Park	76	50	44	64	12	0
City of Durham - Rock Quarry Park and Museum of Life and Science	69	160	42	51	33	35
Durham - C M Herndon Park	64	62	28	47	36	26
City of Durham - Northgate Park	61	88	33	39	33	29
Indian Trail Park	61	75	28	45	12	22
Leigh Farm State Historic Site	60	63	29	47	20	19
Duke Forest (northeast)	58	54	25	46	25	15
Parkwood Lake	56	109	55	11	0	19
Falls Lake State Recreation Area (Lick Creek)	50	61	38	0	9	12
Duke Forest (The American Village)	49	52	12	41	17	9
Durham Central Park	27	67	25	9	0	0
Birding spot near Butner	185	1,990	95	159	101	148
Birding spot near Butner (southeast)	142	481	71	119	76	92
Birding spot near Gorman	128	261	50	87	84	99
Birding spot near Carolina Meadows	124	360	65	106	79	72
Birding spot near Chapel Hill (Eastwood Park)	114	344	51	91	58	68
Birding spot near Chapel Hill (east)	102	213	51	78	66	66
Birding spot near Durham	100	743	57	83	55	70
Birding spot near Durham (south)	98	335	53	88	45	67
Birding spot near Carolina Meadows (Blands)	89	104	36	78	34	30
Birding spot near Durham (southeast)	84	156	49	78	35	29
Birding spot near Durham (northeast)	62	114	42	30	35	12
Birding spot near Durham (east)	52	98	27	40	20	20
Birding spot near Durham (east)	46	108	25	35	23	22