Friday, September 13th, 2024 6:00 to 7:40 PM depending on the weather Birding with Rich Cimino Register HERE for this Field Trip Registration is required for this trip. Registration opens September 3rd at 8AM. Join other MAS members for an evening opportunity to witness Vaux’s Swifts during their fall migration through Marin, which occurs in September and October. Dan McNear of McNear Brick & Block has kindly allowed Marin Audubon to access this remarkable site where decommissioned smokestacks provide an important communal roosting place for the swifts. Watching thousands of swifts as they descend into the stacks just before night- fall is an unforgettable sight. At the peak of migration, as many as 19,000 swifts have been counted in one evening. However, keep in mind that the number of swifts varies greatly from night to night and can range from a few hundred to thousands. Like everything else in birding, there are no guarantees! Sunset on the evening of our visit will be at 7:09 PM, so plan on arriving on time to be ready. If the weather on the day of our trip is particularly cool or windy, the swifts are likely to enter the stacks early, so plan accordingly. Bring scopes, binoculars, and, if desired, folding chairs for your seating comfort. It can be chilly at dusk. Please stay with our group and do not enter any of the private areas on the property. Use soft voices and be sure to respect the privacy of local residents. DIRECTIONS: From Hwy 101 take the Central San Rafael exit. Head east on Third St./Point San Pedro Rd for about 3.5 miles. The brickyard will be on the right. The address is 1 McNear Brickyard Rd. Park as close to the San Pedro Road entrance as possible. Please do not drive to or park near the closed gate.

Tuesday, September 17, 2024 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM Birding with David Lumpkin Register HERE for this Field Trip Registration is required. Registration opens September 7th at 8AM. Join avian ecologist David Lumpkin, for a field trip to his work location, Audubon Canyon Ranch’s 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 (Jaegar’s come down the bay chasing the migrating terns around then), the occasional vagrant passerine, and an influx of interior breeders not seen in the summer. Other migrating shorebirds and waterbirds may be seen as well as the usual mix of coastal prairie species. Rain does not cancel. Directions: Address for Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Cypress Grove Research Center is 20545 State Hwy 1, Marshall, CA 94940 Going north on Hwy 1, look for a green metal gate (which will be left open) on the Tomales Bay side and a Cypress Grove sign. The gate is roughly a 1/2-mile north of Hog Island Oysters in Marshall (and the turnoff to the Marshall-Petaluma Rd.) and well before Nick’s Cove. Drive down the dirt road to where it splits, bear left, and park at the visitor parking lot.

Wednesday, September 18, 2024 8:30 AM – 11:00 AM Birding with Rich Cimino and Janet Bodle Register HERE for this Field Trip Registration is required. Registration opens September 8th at 8AM. This trip requires a signed waiver and release of Liability, which will be sent to you upon completing your registration. A signed waiver is necessary for admission onto the property. The Black Mountain Ranch is my Christmas Count area and has a good mix of grassland for birds. We also expect raptors and fall migrants. We will begin by birding the barn area and then the upland pasture by walking up a steep fire road and returning by walking an oak-lined riparian creek, which has uneven soil. Address: 14000 Point Reyes - Petaluma Road, Point Reyes 94956 Directions: Take 101 N to exit 463, left to San Marin Dr, turn right on Novato Blvd for approx.6 miles, turn left on Point Reyes – Petaluma Road

Thursday, October 3, 2024 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM Birding with Mark Clark All participants are welcome to join this trip. We welcome bird enthusiasts of all levels, especially beginning birders, to join leader Mark Clark on our monthly walk around the ponds at Las Gallinas.  On our search we’ll be looking for waterfowl, waders, songbirds, raptors, rails and swallows. With fall migration underway, shorebirds are arriving from their nesting grounds and 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 DIRECTIONS: From Hwy 101, exit at Smith Ranch Rd. Drive east on Smith Ranch Rd. toward McInnis Park. Turn left immediately 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.

Birding in Marin - Series 9, Trip 10 Saturday, October 5th, 2024 8:30 AM to mid-afternoon Birding with Jim White and Bob Battagin Register HERE for this Field Trip Registration required for this trip. Registration opens on September 26th at 8:00 AM. Abbotts Lagoon on the Pacific Coast in the Point Reyes National Seashore is one of Marin’s premier birding locations, sporting an eBird sum of 283 species. Fall migration south along the coast brings many birds to this area. Some that we hope to see include Ferruginous Hawk, Baird’s and Pectoral Sandpipers, Red-necked Phalaropes, Lapland Longspur, Horned Lark and Pipits. Hundreds of ducks of a dozen species, geese, herons, Peregrines and Ospreys are also likely visitors. Plus, you get some exercise; out and back is about 2 miles (some in sand). Pack a lunch for a picnic on the beach and bring a couple of layers for the fresh ocean air and help us spot a rarity. After leaving Abbotts Lagoon, we plan to stop along Tomales Bay near the Inverness Tennis club to look for Pine and Alder woodland birds. A surprising number of species have been seen here and there is a nice little beach where we usually find several kinds of gulls. DIRECTIONS: From Point Reyes Station on Highway 1 go just south of town, right turn onto Sir Francis Drake Blvd, follow that thru Inverness up over Inverness ridge into the Point Reyes National Seashore then go north on Pierce Point Road. The Abbotts Lagoon parking lot is on the left, in about 3 miles. Car Pool if you can, allow 1.5 hours from San Rafael.