USA Parks and Recreation Areas with Birding

A beautiful mountain valley just west of Pikes Peak holds spectacular remnants of the earth's prehistoric life. Huge petrified redwoods and incredibly detailed fossils of ancient insects and plants reveal a very different Colorado of long ago. Almost 35 million years ago, enormous volcanic eruptions buried the then-lush valley and petrified the redwood trees that grew there. A lake formed in the valley and the fine-grained sediments at its bottom became the final resting-place for thousands of insects and plants. These sediments compacted into layers of shale and preserved the delicate details of these organisms as fossils. read more...

Phone: (719)748-3253   Price Range: $0 - $3   Open Season: N/A   Camping: Yes  
Nearest Popular City: Florissant   Nearest Lake/River: N/A   Park Type: National Monument   Activities: Birding, Hiking, Horseback Riding, Wildlife Watching, Nature Walks   Details Provided By: Florissant Fossil Beds

For thousands of years, Native Americans called the Ohlone managed and harvested the natural bounty of what is now the Presidio. In 1776, Spanish soldiers and missionaries arrived, forever disrupting Ohlone culture and beginning 218 years of military use of the area just south of the Golden Gate. read more...

Phone: (415) 561-4323   Price Range: N/A   Open Season: N/A   Camping: Yes  
Nearest Popular City: San Francisco   Nearest Lake/River: N/A   Park Type: National Park   Activities: Birding, Biking / Bicycling, Fishing, Hiking, Auto Touring, Nature Walks   Details Provided By: Presidio of San Francisco

Congress established Hot Springs Reservation on April 20, 1832 to protect hot springs flowing from the western slope of Hot Springs Mountain. This makes it the oldest area currently in the National Park System--40 years older than Yellowstone National Park. People have used the hot spring water in therapeutic baths for more than two hundred years to treat rheumatism and other ailments. The reservation eventually developed into a well-known resort nicknamed The American Spa because it attracted not only the wealthy but also indigent health seekers from around the world. Today the park protects eight historic bathhouses with the former luxurious Fordyce Bathhouse housing the park visitor center. The entire Bathhouse Row area is a National Historic Landmark District that contains the grandest collection of bathhouses of its kind in North America. By protecting the 47 hot springs and their watershed, the National Park Service continues to provide visitors with historic leisure activities such as hiking, picnicking, and scenic drives. Hot Springs Reservation became Hot Springs National Park by a Congressional name change on March 4, 1921. read more...

Phone: 501-624-2701   Price Range: $0 - $10   Open Season: N/A   Camping: Yes  
Nearest Popular City: Hot Springs   Nearest Lake/River: N/A   Park Type: National Park   Activities: Birding, Hiking, Horseback Riding, Camping, Auto Touring, Interpretive Programs   Details Provided By: Hot Springs National Park