North Carolina. An abundant state for birding. Home to over 440 bird species, and a vast community of outdoor enthusiasts, nature appreciators, and those who enjoy bird watching. 

The North Carolina Birding Trail serves as a driving trail to link birders and nature-based tourists with great birding sites across the state and the local communities in which they are found.

You may have visited the map on the Explore page, where you can look at all of our 330+ locations around the state and zero in on each to learn more. But why these locations? What do they have to offer? Why are they important for both bringing nature appreciators closer to birds and local communities? 

Each of our locations are their own entities. From state parks, to greenways, to arboretums, to game lands, our sites are each their own prime spots for engaging with nature.

And they are also all great places to see birds. Although we promote bird watching in a variety of ways, whether it’s at a state park or in your own backyard, these locations provide places where bird watching is appreciated, encouraged, and accessible.  

The Trail is not a physical hiking trail like the Appalachian Trail, rather, it’s a collection of noteworthy birding locations all over the state. They represent the variety of habitats that exist in North Carolina, from coastal estuaries, to longleaf pine savannahs, to spruce fir forests. These hundred of locations provide a variety of features from remote to populated, from large to small. As we’ve grown, we’ve aimed to cover every corner of the state so everyone has a site near their home. 

We want people to bird because we know first-hand that it’s for everyone. Increased knowledge of bird awareness allows bird conservation and the positive economic impact of birds to make more headway in communities in North Carolina. Everyone that engages with nature—including bird watchers—can find themselves desiring to preserve the abundant wildlife that lives among us. 

Of equal value, bird watching is a wonderful way for people—all people—to connect with nature.

Over the years, birds watchers we’ve spoken to have provided a variety of reasons for why they enjoy the hobby. It’s therapeutic, it’s relaxing, it’s a way to connect with a community, and it’s a way to have an impact on conservation. 

Birding is for you. The NC Birding Trail seeks to provide ways that you can bird, where enthusiastic birders of all experience levels can have a variety of places to go to engage with wildlife and enjoy birds.  

We love and appreciate the variety our sites have to offer and the personal flare each of them have. They meet plenty of other needs as well, like providing walking trails near urban areas, or remote game lands for hunters. But the commonality, the driving trail, is the presence of birds.

And this is the commonality we all get to experience: simply being able to go outside and spot a bird, hear a bird. They are a driving trail that can link us all with our surroundings and provide awe for all of us.