[2] It is located 24 kilometers north of Winnipeg on Highway 59, and covers approximately 8,300 acres (3,400 hectares) or 35.1 km2 (13.6 square miles).

In summer, festivals and sporting events are held, the main campground is heavily booked, and families enjoy the beach and picnic areas.

[2] More than half of the park is set aside as backcountry, offering visitors trails for hiking, cross-country skiing, horseback riding and mountain biking.

[6] The park's landscape today is still defined by the events of 11,000 to 12,000 years ago as a Pleistocene glacier retreated and melted into glacial Lake Agassiz.

Other trees found within the park include Manitoba maple, jack pine, paper birch, white spruce, and balsam poplar .

[11] Since the area is higher than the surrounding terrain, what is now Birds Hill Park served early settlers as a refuge from flooding in the years 1826 and 1852.

[9] Between 1895 and 1899, the settlers of Pine Ridge built a Lutheran church on land then owned by John Uhrich, now within the park.

[15] The official opening date was marked by a ribbon cutting ceremony by Manitoba premier Duff Roblin on July 15, 1967.

[16][15] The park is named in honour of Dr. Curtis Bird, first speaker of the Manitoba provincial legislature in 1873, whose father had been a factor in the Hudson's Bay Company and received a large land grant at this location.

[9][17][18] On August 29, 1992, Bryan Adams performed at the Waking Up the Nation Festival held at the park with the Deadbeat Honeymooners, Extreme, Sass Jordan and Steve Miller.