Where every season brings new wings.
About This Location
Montour Preserve is a peaceful and highly productive birding destination centered around a large reservoir and surrounded by woodland, grassland, and shoreline habitat. Multiple parking areas and well-maintained trails make it easy to explore, whether walking wooded paths, scanning the water's edge, or looping partway around the reservoir. With reliable bird activity throughout the year—ranging from winter waterfowl to spring warblers—the preserve offers consistent opportunities to encounter a wide variety of species in a relaxed, easy-to-navigate setting.
Photography Notes
Montour Preserve is one of my favorite birding locations in Pennsylvania, offering a rich mix of habitats wrapped around a large reservoir. Two main parking areas provide access to trails that meander through wooded edges, open grass, and shoreline, making the preserve easy to navigate and consistently productive. I usually begin near the visitor center, where trails and water access come together, checking the shoreline for sandpipers, swallows, and ducks before moving into nearby wooded areas that regularly produce sparrows, titmice, bluebirds, and spring warblers. Across the road from the Montour Preserve Visitor Center, a stand of white pines has been a reliable spot for Great Horned Owls, while feeders behind the visitor center are always worth a stop, especially in winter. A second parking area farther along the road leads to trails that circle part of the reservoir and offer excellent opportunities for warblers, flycatchers, woodpeckers, and many other species. With its variety of access points and habitats, Montour Preserve rewards exploration in every season, from winter waterfowl to the peak of spring migration.
Location
