Birding spots · Washington

Best Birding Spots in Thurston County, Washington

Nisqually Flats leads Thurston County's birding spots with 215 species reported, best in fall. 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
Nisqually Flats	215	8,491	142	180	159	187
Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge	183	2,692	117	152	125	147
Nisqually Flats (Leschi Slough)	150	418	73	102	91	96
Nisqually Head	142	960	77	102	60	111
Capitol Point	140	1,484	83	98	91	98
Entrance Channel	138	2,706	83	93	73	101
Woodard Bay Natural Resources Conservation Area	133	798	78	98	72	92
Tolmie	128	578	66	85	72	85
Percival Cove	127	1,098	74	94	82	87
Capitol Lake	122	643	76	73	51	84
Scatter Creek	119	751	60	111	92	73
Washington State Department of Natural Resources (WADNR) State Resource Management Area (southwest)	112	960	52	86	76	64
West Bay Park	110	380	62	67	42	76
West Rocky Prairie	110	220	22	96	83	32
Pioneer Park	109	492	60	93	77	79
Ellis Cove	107	385	56	73	55	55
Simmons Lake	105	789	57	93	70	61
Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve	105	676	37	97	74	44
Woodland Creek Community Park	105	244	57	83	58	61
Millersylvania Memorial	104	367	55	88	70	56
Historical Park	103	434	64	78	54	66
Black River - Mima Prairie Glacial Heritage Preserve	98	252	19	93	61	29
Grass Lake Nature Park	95	386	52	83	67	54
Chehalis Western Trail North	93	238	51	68	62	46
Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge (Waddell Creek)	91	148	34	61	47	27
Chehalis Western Trail North (Chambers Lake)	90	115	53	71	34	46
Scatter Creek (west)	90	110	32	81	63	19
Tumwater Falls Park	89	598	59	53	47	48
Medicine Creek Reservoir	89	157	49	64	45	32
Lake Lucinda	88	352	32	70	63	36
East Bay	87	301	49	59	38	48
Mission Creek Nature Park	84	358	47	74	54	57
Boston Harbor	84	165	55	45	32	47
Scatter Creek (northeast)	83	102	15	67	52	23
Green Cove	78	1,089	49	67	48	45
West Rocky Prairie (Mud Lake)	77	92	15	70	57	4
Entrance Channel (Schneider Creek)	75	171	33	45	24	69
Burfoot Park	75	125	48	44	26	36
Woodard Bay Natural Resources Conservation Area (Woodard Creek)	73	59	35	28	39	13
Frye Cove County Park	70	101	45	30	31	22
Snyder Cove	66	129	33	46	33	25
Capitol Point (Olympia)	65	145	31	35	29	34
Yauger Park	65	126	41	52	14	27
Rocky Prairie Natural Area Preserve	64	111	8	51	54	9
West Bay Park (Percival Point)	63	197	32	36	32	24
East Bay (Howard Point)	62	231	33	37	22	26
Percival Cove (Percival Creek)	62	120	41	33	17	17
Woodard Bay Natural Resources Conservation Area (Chapman Bay)	60	95	32	38	26	30
Mcallister Community Park	60	69	28	49	28	21
Tolmie (Big Slough)	58	97	36	20	14	50