Birding is best during early morning or later in the evening, when boat and other vehicle traffic is at a minimum and the lake is more likely to be calm. On calm mornings a variety of birds can be heard singing right from the parking lot, including those species inhabiting the rocky slopes along the north shore of the lake. However, canoeing the north shore of the lake is really the best way to bird these habitats (note that the extent of the hotspot is Long Lake and its shorelines from the Long Lake Rd to the narrows separating Long from Loucks Lake). Birding the Long Lake Rd can also be productive, particularly for wetland birds along the alder-lined unnamed creek draining into the lake.

This area hosts a variety of birds characteristic of the mixed forests, Precambrian rock barrens and wetlands of the southern Shield. Until the mid-1980s the rocky slopes along the north shore of the lake supported a 'colony' of at least 15 singing male Prairie Warblers. Despite a number of directed surveys for the species during the 1990s and early 2000s it went undetected in the area until around 2018, when several singing males were detected. A single singing male could be heard from the parking lot in June 2020.

The Long Lake Access to Kawartha Highlands has a parking lot, boat launch and bathroom facilities (the latter unavailable in winter). As part of the park, a day use permit is required, both for parking and to use the boat launch.