Best Place in North America

Living in the Rockies it's been all landscape shooting lately. I need to get back to my roots, and add some bird/wildlife shots to my website. With no criteria other than general biodiversity, what's your opinion of the single best bird photography spot in NA? And what date?

Thanks, Bryan

Well Bosque in NM would be one option, before the end of February Bryan. Personally I think I get the best results by finding a place that is rich in wildlife and then spending a lot of time there through all the seasons and really getting to know it.

This time of year? Patagonia State Park in SE Arizona. We got 120 species of birds in less than three hours. Hard to do that anywhere else in the U.S.

I got a lot of birds in Tucson too in the spring last year. Colorado has loads of birds too. Florida Everglades are totally amazing.

Bosque is dead - they failed to plant corn this year, and the birds left shortly after arriving...conditions have steadily deteriorated over the last couple years due to present (mis)management...

Talk about a tough question. It probably all depends on what you want to photograph. Bosque is deader than usual but still has a lot of cranes and snow geese as well as other birds that call this their northern boundaries such as pyrrhuloxia, curved billed thrashers, etc. I just got back from a trip to SE Arizona and would highly recommend it. Lots of southern birds, coati, mexican white-tailed deer, hummingbirds. Florida would be great as would the coast of Texas. I am sure there are a bunch of other places that would be great too. Weather could be a big decider if you can wait until the last minute to decide where to go. Arizona, California, and New Mexico have been very wet just lately.

I think for sheer diversity Southern California can't be beat at this time of year. Between the deserts, woodland, and seashore there's quite a variety. Now that the rain has stopped the weather will be warming up again too (it was just approaching 80 in the daytime before the storms rolled in). Look here to get an idea of what's being seen locally:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SDBIRDS/messages

http://www.sdnhm.org/research/birds/sdbirds.html

I give Florida another vote. There is more coast than you could ever visit in a lifetime that has so many species of resident, migrant, and exotic bird species it would take you a long time to get even a fraction on film, oops, I mean sensor. Then there is the Everglades, STAs, freshwater marshes, lakes, forests, lagoons, etc. This time of year is just outstanding most years. We are having an very cloudy and wet winter this year, but most years just about every day during the winter dry season is a clear blue-bird day. I am sure there are better places, but I would'nt trade my spots for anything. Ron

Mid-May think central Kansas. Quivira NWR and Cheyenne Bottoms are teaming with birds. Morton County along the Colorado border is also a hot spot for Kansas birding during migrations.

Having shot in most of the places recommended to you so far I think I'd say Florida probably offers the widest diversity in the times I've been there (late winter/early spring). Bosque was excellent when I was there one November some time ago, southern California around the Salton Sea had lots of variety to offer and I've also found a large variety of species at the Klamath refuge in southern Oregon.

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern Oregon is fantastic from mid April (lekking Sage Grouse, migratory waterfowl, arriving shorebirds, nesting great horned owls) through early June (late May and early June being excellent for passerines at the several migrant traps there). Curlew, willet, Wilson´s Phalarope, snipe, avocet and stilt all nest on and near the refuge in large numbers. It´s also quite good for pronghorn, mule deer, jackrabbit and small mammals.

Not so much for birds, but with all the rain in the SW some of the deserts are going to be great in the next few weeks.

Thanks for the advice all! As for Florida, I'm assuming the Everglades, but is there one sweet spot in particular?

Great thread, thanks everyone!

Bryan, you cannot beat Ding Darling (Sanibel Island, SW Florida coast) for Florida birds in mating season.
Just spectacular.

http://www.fws.gov/dingdarling/

Sandy r