Field Trips

Marin Audubon Society provides a full schedule of field trips to our members and the public.

Advance registration is required for most of our trips, nearly all which have size limits to prevent overcrowding. Registration on the MAS website’s Field Trips page will open ten days before the trip date.

Trips can fill up quickly. Please register early to make sure you get a spot. In some instances, trip sign ups aren’t available precisely at 8:00 AM, but it doesn’t mean the trip is full. Please try to register again a minute or two later.

If you want to cancel a trip you registered for, contact newsletter@marinaudubon.org. If a trip is full, check back, even on the night before the trip, as cancellations will open new spots.

To support our field trips, other programs and conservation projects, we greatly appreciate your donations! A donation of $35 or more qualifies you for an annual membership at Marin Audubon Society! **New Members Only

Become a Chapter Supporting Member of the Marin Audubon Society starting at $35 a year, or RENEW your membership today! Your membership helps to fund important efforts such as our ongoing habitat restoration projects, the Monarch Rescue Project, our Northern Spotted Owl Outreach program, and of course our monthly field trips and speaker series! We cannot do these important projects, along with our many other efforts, without the support of our dedicated members!

Events

Today

  • All Hands Ecology’s Cypress Grove Research Center

    Join avian ecologist David Lumpkin, for a field trip to his work location, All Hands Ecology’s (formerly known as Audubon Canyon Ranch) Cypress Grove Research Center. All levels of birding enthusiasts are welcome on this easy two-mile walk.

    Sightings on our walk to and along Tomales Bay at this time of year may include ocean birds if conditions are right, the occasional vagrant passerine, and an influx of interior breeders not seen in the summer. Other migrating shorebirds may be seen as well as the usual mix of coastal prairie species. Rain does not cancel.
    READ MORE

  • The Ponds at the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District (LGVSD) – San Rafael

    Thursday, October 1, 2026 8:30 AM to noon Birding with Mark Clark Registration is not required. All participants are welcome to join this trip. On this trip we especially welcome beginning birders to join Mark Clark, along with bird enthusiasts of all levels, on our monthly walk around the ponds at Las Gallinas.  With fall migration underway, we’ll be looking for waterfowl, waders, songbirds, raptors, rails and swallows. We are likely to spot some interesting species, so come assist in our search. The packed dirt paths around the ponds are wide, flat and easy to navigate. Heavy rain cancels. There is a portable restroom in the parking area for public use. DIRECTIONS: From Hwy 101, exit at Smith Ranch Rd. Drive east on Smith Ranch Rd. toward McInnis Park. Turn left after crossing the railroad tracks and drive about 0.5 mile through the LGVSD gates and into the parking lot at the end of the road. Meet the group by the bridge just past the parking lot. There is a portable restroom in the parking area for public use.

  • The Ponds at the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District (LGVSD) – San Rafael

    Thursday, November 5, 2026 8:30 AM to noon Birding with Mark Clark Registration is not required. All participants are welcome to join this trip. On this trip we especially welcome beginning birders to join Mark Clark, along with bird enthusiasts of all levels, on our monthly walk around the ponds at Las Gallinas.  With fall migration underway, we’ll be looking for waterfowl, waders, songbirds, raptors, rails and swallows. We are likely to spot some interesting species, so come assist in our search. The packed dirt paths around the ponds are wide, flat and easy to navigate. Heavy rain cancels. There is a portable restroom in the parking area for public use. DIRECTIONS: From Hwy 101, exit at Smith Ranch Rd. Drive east on Smith Ranch Rd. toward McInnis Park. Turn left after crossing the railroad tracks and drive about 0.5 mile through the LGVSD gates and into the parking lot at the end of the road. Meet the group by the bridge just past the parking lot. There is a portable restroom in the parking area for public use.

Field Trips Webinar Recordings Archive

2021

March
– Rare Birds of Marin 2020 – by Joseph Zeno, John King, Lucas Corneliuseen and Mark Schulist

February
– GIS Conservation – The Breeding Birds of Marin County – by William Wiskes – CLICK HERE

January
– Marin’s Breeding Birds (How We Know What We Know) by Dave DeSante – CLICK HERE
– New Breading Bird Atlas – by Juan Garcia – CLICK HERE

2020

September
– Snowy Plovers: A Natural History, Breeding Biology & Conservation – CLICK HERE
– Pacific Flyway Shorebird Surveys – CLICK HERE

October
– Diurnal Raptors of Marin – CLICK HERE
– The Natural History of Osprey in Marin County – CLICK HERE
– Red-Tales: Hawkish Behaviors and Migratory Stories – CLICK HERE

November
– Improving Habitat for Central Valley Waterbirds – CLICK HERE