Reference
Birding at Disneyland
Disneyland was built on orange groves, and its designers covered it in water: a river, a castle moat, lagoons, canals and waterfalls, framed by mature trees planted in the 1950s. To birds, that makes it an oasis in the middle of a dense, paved city. The park is no wildlife refuge, and a serious birder will not go home with a long list. But anyone who looks up will find more than the robins in the Tiki Room.
What has been seen here
The best public record is a community species list on iNaturalist covering Disney's properties, mostly in Anaheim. It counts 240 kinds of living things, 226 of them photographed and identified, and birds make up most of it (iNaturalist). Among the birds:
| Group | Species recorded |
|---|---|
| Herons and egrets | Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, Green Heron |
| Waterfowl | Mallard, Muscovy Duck, Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Ring-necked Duck, Common and Red-breasted Mergansers, American Coot |
| Seabirds and gulls | Western, California and Ring-billed Gulls, Double-crested Cormorant, American White Pelican |
| Raptors | Osprey, Cooper's, Red-shouldered, Red-tailed and Swainson's Hawks, American Kestrel |
| Hummingbirds | Anna's, Allen's, Costa's and Rufous |
| Parrots | Red-lored Amazon, Alexandrine Parakeet |
| Songbirds and others | Hooded Oriole, Great-tailed Grackle, Brewer's Blackbird, American Robin, Barn Swallow, Swinhoe's White-eye, Mourning Dove, Common Ground Dove, Band-tailed Pigeon |
The list also includes introduced species found throughout Southern California: House Sparrow, European Starling and Rock Pigeon. The parrots and the white-eye are not native; they come from escaped cage birds that now live wild in the region.
A birder who spent several days at the Disneyland Hotel in November 2005 kept a shorter list: Ring-billed Gulls over the parking lot, a lone American Coot on the California Adventure lagoon, Canada Geese passing over at dawn, House Finches in the hotel courtyard, and, the highlight, a Cooper's Hawk landing in Downtown Disney at 8 a.m. (Elliotte Rusty Harold). The eBird hotspot for the two parks has only a handful of checklists so far, so careful records from a visit would add real data (eBird).
Where to look
- The Rivers of America. The best water in the resort for larger birds, which perch on floating barrels and along the banks of Tom Sawyer Island as the boats pass. Cormorants and gulls turn up here (Duchess of Disneyland). A seat on the Mark Twain or a raft to the island gives a slow, moving view of the banks.
- The castle moat and the Storybook Land canals. Quiet water favored by ducks.
- The hub and the Frontierland and Adventureland bridges. Ducks rest here in spring.
- California Adventure. Fewer ducks, but some use the waters by Pacific Wharf and the beaches of Paradise Gardens Park (Duchess of Disneyland).
- The flower beds and trees. Hummingbirds work the plantings throughout the park; the landscaped areas around the hotels are worth a look early in the day.
When to go
Spring is duck season. Each year mother ducks lead their ducklings across busy walkways, and the park sends a security cast member to stop traffic for them (Duchess of Disneyland). Early morning, before the crowds, is best for any birding. The resort sits under the Pacific Flyway, so fall and winter can bring migrating waterfowl and gulls overhead.
A rule to keep
Please do not feed the birds. Popcorn and fries are no part of their natural diet, and the park asks guests not to share snacks with them (Duchess of Disneyland).