The World’s Best Places for Bird Watching

Andalusia, Spain

If you want to add some time bird-watching to your next European vacation, Andalucía in southern Spain is a favorite of birds and the travelers who love them. Its location at the southernmost tip of Europe and just a stone’s throw from North Africa means it sits on important migratory routes. Each year millions of birds, including storks, vultures, and eagles, make the nine-mile flight over the Strait of Gibraltar that separates Europe and Africa. In Doñana National Park, on Andalucía’s Atlantic Coast near Portugal, you can find some of Spain’s most elusive birds, such as the endangered Spanish imperial eagle, crested coot, and red-necked nightjar. The wetlands are home to many aquatic birds, including flamingos, herons, and egrets, as well as thousands of ducks including several species on the edge of extinction.

The Sierra Morena range, in northern Andalucía, is home to vultures, as well as warblers and spotted cuckoos during the summer. Some of the more colorful birds that can be seen here include the oriole; the hoopoe, which can be found in orchards and forests; and the beautiful European bee-eater, which nests in colonies on sandy banks along rivers. An ornithological trip to Andalucía isn’t complete without visiting the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra, north of Málaga. The lagoon is famous for its colony of greater flamingos and it is the birds’ only breeding ground in Europe not located in a coastal area.

Among the many endemic bird species found in Papua New Guinea is the magnificent Raggiana bird of paradise, which has been on the country’s flag since 1971.

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Papua New Guinea

Due to its geographic isolation, much of Papua New Guinea has remained relatively untouched and it is home to around 760 bird species, almost half of them endemic. Among them is the magnificent Raggiana bird of paradise, which has been on the country’s flag since 1971. In the wetlands and rainforest surrounding the port town of Kiunga you will find rare species, such as crowned pigeons, yellow-eyed starlings, and fig parrots. Varirata National Park covers an area of around 2,500 acres and is particularly rewarding for bird-watchers who have the opportunity to spot kingfishers, dwarf cassowaries, and Wallace’s fairywrens. The dense jungle of the foothills of the Star Mountains, where annual rainfall is among the highest in the world, is home to chats, parrots, cuckoos, and the rare baya weaver.