The Pandemic Has Made Birding Cool

"You don't need to spend thousands,” says Borgmann. “A couple hundred is enough to get started. After that, it's just observation skills and time to look at birds and pay attention."

Urban birding

Anyone seeking to indulge their new (or established) interest in birds doesn't have to travel far, as stay-at-home birding converts can attest. For better or worse, many cities are bird magnets.

"Light draws birds off their migratory paths,” says Judy Pollock, president of Chicago's Audubon Society chapter. “In Chicago, we're attracting birds, sadly, because there are a lot of hazards here. But on the other side, we have spectacular habitat,” including bird sanctuaries, some on Lake Michigan.

In New York City, the dual beams of light that pay tribute to the victims of 9/11 attract — and trap — thousands of birds during the fall migration, prompting nightlong vigils during which the lights are periodically extinguished, allowing birds to disperse.

The ABA's Gordon highlights Tucson, Arizona, for its birding appeal. “For a landlocked city, Tucson is incredible,” he says, crediting the convergence of two mountain chains surrounded by the lush Sonoran Desert for habitat diversity.

Other bird-rich domestic destinations

When you think about where to bird in the U.S., also think water.

"If you made a map of dream birding destinations in the U.S., it would rim the southern border and wrap up the coasts with dots throughout the interior,” says Gordon.

Anyone seeking to indulge their new (or established) interest in birds doesn't have to travel far, as stay-at-home birding converts can attest. For better or worse, many cities are bird magnets.

"Light draws birds off their migratory paths,” says Judy Pollock, president of Chicago's Audubon Society chapter. “In Chicago, we're attracting birds, sadly, because there are a lot of hazards here. But on the other side, we have spectacular habitat,” including bird sanctuaries, some on Lake Michigan.

In New York City, the dual beams of light that pay tribute to the victims of 9/11 attract — and trap — thousands of birds during the fall migration, prompting nightlong vigils during which the lights are periodically extinguished, allowing birds to disperse.

The ABA's Gordon highlights Tucson, Arizona, for its birding appeal. “For a landlocked city, Tucson is incredible,” he says, crediting the convergence of two mountain chains surrounded by the lush Sonoran Desert for habitat diversity.

Other bird-rich domestic destinations

When you think about where to bird in the U.S., also think water.

"If you made a map of dream birding destinations in the U.S., it would rim the southern border and wrap up the coasts with dots throughout the interior,” says Gordon.

One of his favorite spots: South Florida's Everglades region, a destination that converted him to birds as a 12-year-old. “You can see them up close and get good pictures even with a very modest camera,” he says.

For Cornell's Borgmann, the Magee Marsh Boardwalk on the southern shore of Lake Erie in Ohio is a favorite during spring migrations. “You see tons of warblers and they're all at eye level because the trees are short,” she says.

Spring and fall migrations in the U.S. largely follow three major flyways: the Pacific, Mississippi and Eastern. But migrations happen everywhere. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in southern New Mexico, for example, attracts cranes, ducks, geese and other water fowl mid-November through mid-May. In March, more than 600,000 sandhill cranes gather in the Platte River Valley near Kearney, Nebraska, in one of the planet's great migrations.

Humming birds in the Cocora Valley near Salento in Colombia.

John Crux Photography / getty images

Bucket-list birding abroad

Birders tend to travel abroad for diversity, according to John Lowry, the ABA's marketing director. “There are 1,000 bird species in the U.S. and Canada,” he says. “There are 10,000 birds in the world."

Generally, species are more diversified closest to the equator, making many countries that wring Earth's belt — from Ecuador to Kenya and Indonesia — attractive to birders.

Borgmann, who does a birding trip at least once a year, singles out Colombia. “Colombia has the most bird diversity anywhere,” she says. “The people of Colombia are so warm and giving and friendly, and they are really starting to care about their environment."