We have some great birding areas in the Twin Cities such as Minnesota Valley NWR, Old Cedar Avenue Bridge, and right around this time of year you can see several rare gull species at Black Dog Lake, Lake Calhoun, and Lake Harriet,( right now there is an Iceland Gull being seen at Lake Harriet, and last year my family and 4 others saw a Mew Gull at Lake Calhoun, which was the first seen in Minnesota since 1998, but beware, gulls are a difficult challenge in the field.) Old Cedar and MVNWR are my favorites, as they are easily accessible, and during the spring you will get birds that you would never dream would be in Minnesota. As for the detail orientation, a pair of binoculars and a field guide should make it pretty easy to identify most birds.