Birding spots · Wisconsin

Best Birding Spots in Dane County, Wisconsin

Lakeshore Preserve leads Dane County's birding spots with 209 species reported, best in spring. 265 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
Lakeshore Preserve	209	3,146	78	189	127	175
Uw Arboretum	208	7,732	82	195	123	159
Cherokee Park	205	4,238	67	194	120	162
Lake Kegonsa State Park	203	3,030	59	192	123	164
Governor Nelson State Park	203	2,072	71	179	107	162
Lakeshore Preserve (Picnic Point Marsh)	194	2,767	84	174	104	154
Pheasant Branch Conservancy	193	2,461	67	181	104	128
Indian Lake	191	1,211	43	173	106	161
Strickner's Pond	185	2,876	41	166	84	140
Turville Point Conserv Park	185	2,067	56	173	88	140
Cherokee Lake	185	1,469	43	179	90	135
Capital Springs Centennial State Park and Recreation Area	184	796	34	179	80	98
Tenney Park	178	2,755	69	147	68	131
Uw Arboretum (Pilgrim Village)	177	2,278	45	172	71	95
Brazee Swamp (historical)	177	946	25	168	86	102
Dane County Waterfowl Production Area (Oak Hall)	176	817	36	143	114	112
Lake Barney	175	864	17	130	97	137
Lakeshore Preserve (southeast)	172	1,961	55	147	85	126
Upper Waubesa Fishery Area	172	1,230	72	152	69	91
Governors Island	172	945	66	149	77	131
Fish Camp County Park	169	1,750	64	145	72	124
Lower Wisconsin State Riverway	169	627	30	155	97	67
Uw Arboretum (Vilas Beach)	168	1,178	37	153	71	86
Cherokee Marsh Natural Resource Area - Hovde 2	167	313	38	152	74	86
Parisi Park	164	2,195	38	162	79	104
Dane County Waterfowl Production Area	160	1,846	19	141	93	78
Lakeshore Preserve (Second Point Woods)	160	674	46	144	89	113
Vilas (Henry) Park	159	798	32	152	64	82
La Follette County Park	159	513	47	129	69	95
Goose Lake (south)	158	687	17	149	76	74
Hudson Park	158	681	45	145	52	90
Lake Barney (Barney Swamp)	157	249	25	121	105	80
Indian Mound Park	156	642	46	146	52	63
Owen Conservation Park	155	5,184	41	146	104	124
Dane County Waterfowl Production Area (southwest)	152	955	24	128	91	91
Legion Memorial Park	151	919	58	136	55	50
Edna Taylor Conservation Park	151	914	29	143	88	106
Dawley Conservation Park	151	773	23	134	72	114
Lower Wisconsin State Riverway (Roxbury Creek)	151	420	19	140	77	42
Yahara Place Park	149	1,209	57	140	35	96
Lake Belle View	147	308	29	129	67	51
Glacial Drumlin State Trail (west)	147	171	29	114	94	107
Tiedemans Pond	146	1,039	26	128	64	95
Lakeshore Preserve (Bill's Woods)	146	892	35	133	74	99
Token Creek Pond (historical)	146	451	40	134	73	99
Graber Pond	145	898	27	123	74	98
Yahara Heights County Park	144	459	51	112	67	82
Marshall Park	144	397	31	124	36	73
Cherokee Lake (northeast)	140	125	31	124	61	31
Uw Arboretum (north)	139	516	35	133	49	46