The Twin Cities area is blessed with many parks and public lands suitable for birding. We have one — the T.S. Roberts Bird Sanctuary just north of Lake Harriet — devoted to birding.
There even is comfortable wintertime indoor birdwatching at feeders facing large windows (except you'll find many facilities temporarily closed because of COVID).
A major player in birding opportunities is the Three Rivers Park District, public land spread throughout the metro area.
Three Rivers offers 22,887 acres in seven larger units called park reserves. Elm Creek, north of Maple Grove, is the largest with 5,315 acres.
Park reserves hold 80% of their land for natural resource restoration and management.
Its nine smaller regional parks cover a total of 3,059 acres. They have fewer restrictions on recreational development. Most, though, are less than 50% developed.
Varied habitat in the system ensures a wide selection of nesting bird species and migrants. You can find woodland, prairie, wetland/marsh, rivers, lakes and shoreline. A new pocket field guide for birds contains 142 species.
Comfortable indoor winter birding — feeders viewed through large windows — can be found at the nature centers in Elm Creek and Hyland park reserves. Elm Creek is in Maple Grove, Hyland in Bloomington. Lowry Nature Center in Victoria (Carver Park) and the Mississippi Gateway Park in Minneapolis also offer indoor viewing when open; be advised that pandemic closings have affected availability this winter so check current status of any of these facilities before making a trip. Meanwhile, the great outdoors remains open.
All parks have parking lots. Most have paved and/or turf trails. All paved trails are accessible and meet ADA standards. All parks except Kingswood have restroom facilities.
Detailed information on each park can be found at threeriversparks.org.
