Birding on the Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway
Get outdoors among our 'feathered friends'. Bring the kids along and spark their interest in birding at an early age. Birding is a hobby to enjoy for a lifetime. So keep an eye to the trees and shrubs and you'll see birds almost anywhere you look.
Download our popular Birds of the Byway Birding Tour Guide and Checklist to bring along on your next outing along Paul's Scenic Byway! Or Contact Us to request a brochure.
The 2nd largest recreational activity in the country, birding is growing in the region.
If you set out to find a place on this continent with the highest counts of different breeding bird species, a place with exciting viewing in every season of the year, you’d need look no further than right here in Brainerd Lakes Area of North Central Minnesota.
Here you’ll find a unique coming together of prairie, evergreens and deciduous forests– all centered around the Mississippi River. This is one of the world’s major flyways for migrating birds. This diverse blend of geography– with its lakes, streams, forests and wetlands– and our four-season weather pattern results in a combination unlike any other in the world.
It’s not unusual for a keen-eyed birder to log more than 100 different species in an eight-hour day. The luckiest may spot a northern goshawk or an American woodcock, found in woodland openings. Seeing either of these species, let alone both, is an experience of a lifetime.
This inviting scenic area, long a vacation destination for those looking for family resorts and angling opportunities, also offers an abundance of wildlife and nature-oriented experiences.