Tifft Nature Preserve is one of the finest natural history parks of this region. It is the only state-listed Important Bird Area (IBA) in Erie County. The Niagara River Corridor is, however, an international IBA. I am proud to have worked with Robert Andrle to gain that special status for both regions.
Ask any birder where is the best place to go to find birds and Tifft will be near the top of the list. In the spring especially there are often as many bird watchers as birds in the sanctuary. Someone will whisper to you, "Look, there's a...," and you can fill in the rest of that sentence with a species like Eurasian wigeon, white-eyed vireo, least bittern, Northern waterthrush, Virginia rail, Lincoln's sparrow, glossy ibis, woodcock or Canada warbler. Often, as that list suggests, the bird is rare and reported nowhere else on the Niagara Frontier that season.
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg/nature/nw10/0919Tifft.htm
