Tennessee Valley Trail
2024-11-23 08:30 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Wednesday, November 23, 2024
8:30 AM – after lunch
Birding with Durrell Kapan
Register HERE for this field trip
Registration required for this trip. Registration opens on November 13 at 8 AM
This field trip is a workshop for those participating in the CBC in Marin County. We will start with an eBird refresher based on the MAS November 14 Speaker Series program and then practice taking data to the beach and back. Time permitting, we will climb to the coastal battery for a sea watch and sit, rest, and have a snack or sandwich. This will be great scouting for the CBC!
Don’t forget to be prepared for all weather—bring warm layers, a light rain shell, and sunscreen!
Meeting place: Tennessee Valley Parking Lot
701 Tennessee Valley Road, Mill Valley

OVERNIGHT TRIP - San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area & Merced Wildlife Refuge
2024-11-16 10:00 - 2024-11-17 17:00
OVERNIGHT TRIP
Saturday, November 16, 2024
10:00 AM to early evening
Sunday, November 17, 2024
8:30 AM to mid-afternoon
Register HERE for this field trip
Registration required for this trip. Registration opens on November 7 at 8 AM.
We will explore the San Luis Reservoir State Recreation area with John Fulton, an experienced birder from Stanislaus Audubon. At 4 PM we will move on to Merced NWR for a walk with the Park Naturalist who is also giving a Sandhill Crane Fly- In Presentation to the public at 5. We will be staying overnight in Merced. Sunday morning will find us back at the Reserves for more birding!
San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area is about a 3 hour drive from San Rafael. We will meet at 10 AM on November 16 at the Recreation Area parking lot on CA-33, one half mile north of CA-152.
For further information, contact Field Trip Coordinator Alison Pence, alipence9@gmail.com

Blackie's Pasture -Tiburon
2024-11-16 09:00 - 12:00
Saturday, November 16, 2024
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Birding with Lisa Hug
Register HERE for this field trip
Registration required for this trip. Registration opens on November 6 at 8 AM.
This field trip is an eBird workshop for those participating in the CBC in Marin County. We will start our walk on Tiburon’s Old Rail Trail, making observations using eBird. We will see waterfowl and shorebirds in the estuary as well as upland suburban residents. Tiburon is a count area on the South Marin CBC coming up on December 28. Experienced birders and Christmas Count leaders as well as eBird newbies can enjoy counting and compiling together in an informal and fun setting.
Directions: From Tiburon Blvd. take a right on “Blackie’s Pasture”. There is plenty of parking and facilities. Meet at the Harvey Rogers Garden at the Old Rail Trail trailhead.

Christmas Bird Count
2024-11-14 19:00 - 21:00
Thursday, November 14, 2024
7:00PM – 9:00PM
Speaker: Josiah Clark
Register HERE for this Speaker Series
Topic:
Josiah will speak to us about the upcoming Christmas Bird Count (CBC), the annual early-winter bird census conducted in December. Josiah will be discussing counting strategies and best practices for counting birds and covering areas on the count, including the virtues of the count circle, methods for preventing undercounting, tips on note taking and how good CBC coverage and data collecting habits set the stage for increasing numbers of detections and the accuracy of counts. He will also discuss strategies for promoting the CBC and attracting younger birders.
Speaker Bio:
Josiah Clark grew up steeped in the natural history of the Bay Area, where he has been birding for more than 20 years. Some of his defining birding experiences include observation and mist-netting on Southeast Farallon Island; extensive travel, study, and tour-leading in Latin America; and a 24-hour birding and bicycling marathon in Marin County during which he spotted 158 species. Josiah runs Habitat Potential, dedicated to interpreting, preserving, and creating productive wildlife habitats in the Bay Area human landscape.

Next Speaker – Thursday, December 12, 2024
Colombia: South America’s Birding Mecca
Speaker: Benny Jacobs-Schwartz

The Ponds at Las Gallinas Sanitary District - San Rafael
2024-11-07 08:30 - 12:00
Thursday, November 7, 2024
8:30 AM to noon
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 and Rails. Ducks are now arriving, we are seeing teals, pintails, and shovelers. 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.

Rodeo Lagoon - Marin Headlands | November
2024-11-06 07:30 - 12:00
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
7:30/8:15 AM to noon **Note start times below
Birding with William Legge and David Wiechers
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration required for this trip. Registration opens on October 27 at 8 AM
Join William and David for this fifth fall migration field trip at Rodeo Lagoon. This is their long-time “patch,” which never seems to disappoint birders with daily variations in species and a good chance of an unusual sighting. On this trip, our group will be targeting scarcer passerines and other mid-fall migrants. We will begin the morning with a Sea Watch from Rodeo Beach at 7:30 AM. Those arriving later may join us at 8:15 AM for a circuit of the lagoon. A brief mid-morning ‘coffee-stop’ is planned at Headlands Center for the Arts and it would be appreciated if participants come willing to contribute via the onsite ‘tip-jar’ as a thank you to the Headlands Center for the Arts for accommodating our group. This field trip is less suitable for beginners.
DIRECTIONS: Head south on Hwy 101 and take the last Sausalito exit just before the Golden Gate Bridge. At the exit stop sign, turn right and go under the freeway, then follow the road down to the left. Within 300 feet turn left at the sign to the Marin Headlands (This is the only available left turn before you begin the descent into Sausalito). You should see the tunnel with the five-minute light. Proceed through the tunnel on Bunker Rd to the Rodeo Lagoon Parking Lot at the end. Meet by the bridge over the channel to the beach or join MAS birders with scopes along the nearby beach area.

Las Gallinas and Hamilton Wetlands - Birding in Marin - Season 9, Trip 11
2024-11-02 08:30 - 15:00
Birding in Marin, Season 9 – Trip 11
Saturday, November 2, 2024
8:30 AM to mid afternoon
Birding with Jim White and Bob Battagin
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration will be open starting on October 23 at 8 AM.
Join Jim and Bob on an easy, birdy walk of 1.5 miles around the Las Gallinas ponds where we are likely to see 10 species of ducks, five of herons, five of raptors, five of sparrows and some rails like Ridgway’s, Sora, and Virginia with Gallinules, coots, swans and geese!
After lunch we are going to visit the Hamilton Wetlands, restored by the Army Corp. of Engineers in the recent 5–10 years to the SF Bay ecosystem, which have become the winter home of some ten thousand birds.We will try to find 10 species of shorebirds here while staying alert to many other possibilities.
DIRECTIONS: From 101 north San Rafael take the Lucas Valley/Smith Ranch Road exit east. In about 0.5 miles, immediately after crossing the RR tracks, left turn and follow the road another 0.5 mile to the Las Gallinas parking at the end.
To the Hamilton Wetlands return to 101 North, take the second exit, Nave Drive toward Hamilton. Stay on Nave Dr, heading north, to Main Gate Dr and turn right. Go east to Hanger Ave and park along the levee behind Hanger 7.

OVERNIGHT TRIP - Gray Lodge Wildlife Area and Colusa National Wildlife Refuge
2024-10-29 12:00 - 2024-10-30 15:00
OVERNIGHT TRIP – Tuesday, October 29, 2024 to Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Birding with Wildlife Naturalist Lori Grieves (Grey Lodge) and a member of Friends of Sacramento NWR (Colusa)
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration is required. Registration opens on October 19 at 8 AM. Participant limit is 15.
This trip is Accessible! Gray Lodge Wildlife Area has paved trails and an auto trail. For mobile birders it has two blinds and 150 acres of hiking trails.
Gray Lodge is about 60 miles north of Sacramento and is known for its winter migratory waterfowl including sand hill cranes, snow geese, and all manner of ducks.
We will meet at the Rail House Pub in Gridley at 12:00 PM for a meal before traveling to Grey Lodge Wildlife Area in Parking Lot 14 for a tour at 2 PM. The tradition is to stay for the sunset and watch the migrators take off for another night of flight.
Then we will continue West and South to Colusa for approximately a half hour to our overnight at a local motel.
Suggested accommodations, the Riverside Inn or the River Valley Lodge.
In the morning, we will explore Colusa NWR, part of the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge Complex. There is an auto trail and a short, level trail to viewing areas. In the afternoon, some birders may also want to explore Delevan NWR, about a 12 minute drive, or the Sacramento River NWR (25 minutes).
For more information or if you are interested in carpooling to the field trip, please contact Field Trip Coordinator, Alison Pence: smcbc.marinaudubon@gmail.com

Raptor Quest: Chasing America's Raptors
2024-10-10 19:00 - 21:00
Thursday, October 10th
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Speaker: Scott Harris (Author & Photographer)
Register HERE For this Speaker Series
Scott Harris will be discussing his book “Raptor Quest: Chasing America’s Raptors”, which documents his 17-month adventure tracking 53 raptor species across 34 states in the US, from the common (Red-tailed Hawks, Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons) to the rare (Bat Falcon, Steller’s Sea Eagle and Eurasian Eagle Owl). He will share photographs and stories of the many species he encountered; and relate stories of the places and various individuals he met along the way, including adventures, mid-adventures, successes and failures.
Scott is a wildlife photographer, author and speaker, who moved to South Carolina from southern California in 2020, when he first started birding, a hobby he never imagined himself participating in, but now can’t imagine living without. While in California, he had a syndicated newspaper column and two weekly radio shows and has authored over fifty books, mostly Westerns and Children’s books, and has just returned from safari in Africa.
Photo: Bald Eagle by Scott Harris
Next Speaker – Thursday, November 14, 2024
Josiah Clark – Christmas Bird Count

Rodeo Lagoon - Marin Headlands | October
2024-10-09 07:30 - 12:00
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
7:30/8:15 AM to noon **Note start times below
Birding with William Legge and David Wiechers
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration required for this trip. Registration opens on September 29 at 8 AM
Join William and David for this fourth fall migration field trip at Rodeo Lagoon. This is their long-time “patch,” which never seems to disappoint birders with daily variations in species and a good chance of an unusual sighting. On this trip, our group will be targeting scarcer passerines and other mid-fall migrants. We will begin the morning with a Sea Watch from Rodeo Beach at 7:30 AM. Those arriving later may join us at 8:15 AM for a circuit of the lagoon. A brief mid-morning ‘coffee-stop’ is planned at Headlands Center for the Arts and it would be appreciated if participants come willing to contribute via the onsite ‘tip-jar’ as a thank you to the Headlands Center for the Arts for accommodating our group. This field trip is less suitable for beginners.
DIRECTIONS: Head south on Hwy 101 and take the last Sausalito exit just before the Golden Gate Bridge. At the exit stop sign, turn right and go under the freeway, then follow the road down to the left. Within 300 feet turn left at the sign to the Marin Headlands (This is the only available left turn before you begin the descent into Sausalito). You should see the tunnel with the five-minute light. Proceed through the tunnel on Bunker Rd to the Rodeo Lagoon Parking Lot at the end. Meet by the bridge over the channel to the beach or join MAS birders with scopes along the nearby beach area.

Abbotts Lagoon and the Inverness Tennis Area - Birding in Marin
2024-10-05 08:30 - 15:30
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.

The Ponds at Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District
2024-10-03 08:30 - 12:00
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.

Black Mountain Ranch Bird Walk - CANCELED
2024-09-18 08:30 - 11:00
This trip has been canceled. We will notify you if/when it is rescheduled. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Cypress Grove Research Center
2024-09-17 08:00 - 11:00
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.

Vaux's Swifts at McNear Brick and Block
2024-09-13 18:00 - 20:00
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.

Vagrancy in Birds
2024-09-12 19:00 - 21:00
Thursday, September 12th
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Speaker: Daniel Edelstein
Register HERE for this Speaker Series
Topic: Do you chase rare birds that accidentally occur in our area outside of their normal migration range? If so, you enjoy finding vagrant birds, a phenomenon many Marin County birders pursue at the Outer Point within Point Reyes National Seashore and other California coastal areas. This presentation will highlight the reasons for vagrancy in birds, noting how birds navigate during migration and reasons for their orientation errors that result in their unexpected presence primarily from mid-August through October in west Marin County. In addition, the discovery of vagrancy at the Outer Point by Rich Stallcup and David DeSante will be discussed, along with the role vagrancy may play in colonization and eventual speciation of birds.
Speaker Bio: Daniel Edelstein is a freelance Consulting Biologist (who is a Certified Wildlife Biologist Asc.) who has led birding tours for more than 25 years and presented public birding presentations in more than 20 states. Daniel’s web site — WarblerWatch.com — hosts several birding handouts (via the “Birding Links” pulldown menu) and his warbler-centric blog — WarblerWatch.blogspot.com— has hosted warbler articles and photo quizzes since 2007. He has also taught diverse adult birding classes since 2003 at Merritt College in Oakland, CA and for the Pt. Reyes Nat. Seashore Assn., Marin Audubon, and Golden Gate Bird Alliance.

Rodeo Lagoon - Marin Headlands
2024-09-11 07:30 - 12:00
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
7:30/8:15 AM to noon **See start time locations below
Birding with William Legge and David Wiechers
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration required for this trip. Registration opens on September 1st at 8 AM.
Join William and David for this third fall migration field trip at Rodeo Lagoon. This is their long-time “patch,” which never seems to disappoint birders with daily variations in species and a good chance of an unusual sighting. On this trip, our group will be targeting Parasitic Jaeger, migrating shorebirds and scarcer migrant passerines. We will begin the morning with a Sea Watch from Rodeo Beach at 7:30 AM. Those arriving later may join us at 8:15 AM for a circuit of the lagoon. A brief mid-morning ‘coffee-stop’ is planned at Headlands Center for the Arts and it would be appreciated if participants come willing to contribute via the onsite ‘tip-jar’ as a thank you to the Headlands Center for the Arts for accommodating our group. This field trip is less suitable for beginners.
DIRECTIONS: Head south on Hwy 101 and take the last Sausalito exit just before the Golden Gate Bridge. At the exit stop sign, turn right and go under the freeway, then follow the road down to the left. Within 300 feet turn left at the sign to the Marin Headlands (This is the only available left turn before you begin the descent into Sausalito). You should see the tunnel with the five-minute light. Proceed through the tunnel on Bunker Rd to the Rodeo Lagoon Parking Lot at the end. Meet by the bridge over the channel to the beach or join MAS birders with scopes along the nearby beach area.

Point Reyes Lighthouse to Drakes Beach – Birding in Marin
2024-09-07 08:30 - 15:30
Birding In Marin, Series 9 – Trip 9
Saturday, September 7th, 2024
8:30 AM to mid-afternoon
Birding with Jim White and Bob Battagin
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration is required for this trip. Registration opens August 28 at 8AM.
This is the place to be for fall birding. Many migrants like hawks, jaegers, shorebirds and loons follow the coast south. Many songbirds migrate at night and seem to have a compass bearing in mind, momma said “fly 15 degrees east of due south for 4 days.” Millions of recently fledged birds undertake a journey of 2,000-4000 miles, many without further parental guidance and without google. Some get lost.
Imagine that you are a dyslexic Connecticut Warbler hatched in early June in the boreal forest of north central Canada. It is your second night flight, but you are flying west instead of east or south. You crossed some mountains so that you are flying sort of high, morning is approaching so you descend thru the clouds and there is nothing but ocean water. A fog shrouded coast was not in your flight plan. You reverse directions, trying to avoid the gulls and jaegers pursuing you, when you see trees in the distance sticking out above the fog. Relief, a place to land, to rest, and to find something to eat. These vagrant warblers and other eastern songbirds are the reasons that the tree islands of the Point Reyes peninsula are so popular with birders.
We intend to visit the nearby Fish Docks after the lighthouse then work our way back to Drake’s Beach for lunch and much more birding.
Directions: Meet at 8:30 at the Light House parking area. The lighthouse parking area is at the west end of S F Drake. Going north thru Inverness follow Drake to the lighthouse. Allow 30 min from Inverness or 1.5 hour from San Rafael.

Volunteer to Count Vaux's Swifts
2024-09-05 19:00 - 2024-09-08 20:00
September begins the fall migration of Vaux’s Swift through Marin County
Marin Audubon and the Bay Area Vaux’s Swifts Working Group are expanding efforts to count Vaux’s Swifts and are seeking new volunteers with various abilities to join in the effort through this Workshop. This is part of a wide effort to understand the largely unknown movement and roosting patterns of Vaux Swifts.
We invite you to join us for this exciting citizen science opportunity!
Volunteers will engage with knowledgeable Vaux’s Swift counters/members of the Working Group who bring years of experience to share with newly-motivated birders. Volunteers will learn about and participate in refining the methods used to count these large congregations of Vaux’s Swifts and plan future counting activities.
The Workshop has two parts:
– Thursday, September 5th – 7PM – a meeting on Zoom at which you will hear an overview of the conditions at the overnight roost areas, efforts to count the swifts at this local site, and the various ways you can help.

Register HERE for this Zoom Workshop
Program:
Welcome – Barbara Salzman, President Marin Audubon Society
MC – Rich Cimino
Presenters – Michael Helms, Rusty Scalf
– Sunday, September 8 , 6 to 8PM A site visit to the Vaux’s Swift migration roost at Mc Near Brick Yard, San Rafael for on-site experience and guidance from experts.
Contact Rich Cimino for more information: via email at yellowbilledtour@gmail.com or text 925-353-0266

The Ponds at Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District
2024-09-05 08:30 - 12:00
Thursday, September 5, 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.

Rodeo Lagoon - Marin Headlands
2024-08-28 07:30 - 12:00
Wednesday, August 28th, 2024
7:30/8:15 AM – 12:00 PM ** Please note times below
Birding with William Legge and David Wiechers
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration required for this trip. Registration opens on August 18th at 8 AM.
Join William and David for the second of five fall migration field trips at Rodeo Lagoon. This is their long-time “patch,” which never seems to disappoint birders with daily variations in species and the chance of an unusual sighting. On this late-August trip, targets will include offshore Parasitic Jaegers, migrant shorebirds (including Red-necked Phalarope), and hopefully a good selection of western passerine migrants.
We will begin with a Sea Watch at 7:30 AM from Rodeo Beach. Those arriving later may join us at 8:15 AM for a circuit of the lagoon. A brief mid-morning ‘coffee-stop’ is planned at Headlands Center for the Arts and it would be appreciated if participants come willing to contribute via the onsite ‘tip-jar’ as a thank you to the Headlands Center for the Arts for accommodating our group.
DIRECTIONS: Head south on Hwy 101 and take the last Sausalito exit just before the Golden Gate Bridge. At the exit stop sign, turn right and go under the freeway, then follow the road down to the left. Within 300 feet turn left at the sign to the Marin Headlands (This is the only available left turn before you begin the descent into Sausalito). You should see the tunnel with the five-minute light. Proceed through the tunnel on Bunker Rd to the Rodeo Lagoon Parking Lot at the end. Meet by the bridge over the channel to the beach or join MAS birders with scopes along the nearby beach area.

Abbotts Lagoon – Pt. Reyes National Seashore
2024-08-24 09:00 - 14:00
Saturday, August 24, 2024
9:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Birding with Rusty Scalf
All participants are welcome to join this trip. No registration required.
We will bird the coastal scrub, lagoons, and ocean. We hope to find migrant shorebirds and resident Snowy Plovers. Abbott’s Lagoon has historically been good for Baird’s Sandpiper and we may get lucky. Meet at 9 am at the Abbott’s Lagoon parking lot (bathrooms but no water). Bring scope, liquids, lunch. Plan on walking 4 miles round-trip; relatively flat but trail consists partially of sand. Prepare for wind.
DIRECTIONS: From Point Reyes Station on Hwy 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 Abbott’s Lagoon parking lot is on the left in about 3 miles. Carpool if you can.

Sky Trail and Limantour Beach – Birding in Marin
2024-08-03 08:30 - 15:00
Birding in Marin, Season 9 – Trip 8
Saturday, August 3, 2024
8:30 AM – 3:00 PM
Birding with Jim White and Bob Battagin
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration required for this trip. Registration opens on July 24 at 8 AM.
The Sky Trail, called “the misty spine of Bear Valley”, takes us through a maturing Douglas Fir/ Bishop Pine forest. Forest birds are more active early and moving birds often follow ridges so I would like to look and listen on our walk through this habitat. We may see or hear a Pileated Woodpecker, Band Tailed Pigeons, Stellar’s Jays, Swainson’s Thrush, Osprey, nuthatches and surely Acorn Woodpeckers and Chestnut-backed Chickadees. Northern Spotted Owls, Western Screech and Saw-whet Owls live here but we would need to be here at dusk or dawn to hear them.
After we leave, we drive down to the great beach of Limantour with its tidal estuary, the open expanse of Drakes Bay and the Pacific Ocean beyond. We will gather at 9:30 in the ample parking lot with restrooms nearby. We’ll pack our lunches, shoulder our scopes and head out and up the beach. We can hike far enough to find Snowy Plovers to get our exercise and to cross over to the estuary side for our walk back. Gulls, terns, cormorants, loons, grebes, pelicans, murres, and guillemots will garner our attention. Shorebirds too, some already back from their breeding excursion to the Arctic, may gather along the estuary shores and shallows. Some ducks, hawks, and herons will show up too.
Directions to Sky Trail: From CA 1 South, right (left from CA 1 North) onto Sir Francis Drake Blvd for 0.7 miles, left onto Bear Valley Road for 0.5, then right onto Limantour Road for 3.4 miles to the Sky Trailhead. Meet at Sky Trailhead, near the crest of Limantour Rd. Roadside parking is available near the trailhead. From Sky Trailhead, the drive to the Limantour beach parking lot is 4.3 miles.

Point Blue Conservation Science Bird Banding Demonstration
2024-07-31 08:00 - 10:30
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
8-10:30am,
Palomarin Field Station, 999 Mesa Rd, Bolinas, CA
No Registration Required
Point Blue Conservation Science has been continuously running a songbird banding project at the Palomarin Field Station since 1966. Come visit one of the premiere, long-term banding operations in North America and see the work in action. Mark Dettling will host a bird banding demonstration, explaining how birds are captured, what information is collected, and how that information is used in conservation. There is an optional ¼ mile hike to view our mist nets that does include some stairs and steep sections. Of course, we will be bird watching the entire time and talking about bird identification and life history.

Rodeo Lagoon - Marin Headlands
2024-07-31 07:30 - 12:00
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
7:30/8:15 AM – 12:00 PM
Birding with William Legge and David Wiechers
Register HERE for this field trip
Registration required for this trip. Registration opens on July 21 at 8 AM.
Join William and David for the first of five fall migration field trips at Rodeo Lagoon. This is their long-time “patch,” which never seems to disappoint birders with daily variations in species and the chance of an unusual sighting. On this July trip, we will be targeting northward bound Heermann’s Gulls and Elegant Terns, and hopefully the first southbound migrating shorebirds, and western passerine migrants. We will begin with a Sea Watch at 7:30 AM from Rodeo Beach. Those arriving later may join us at 8:15 AM for a circuit of the lagoon. A brief mid-morning ‘coffee-stop’ is planned at Headlands Center for the Arts and it would be appreciated if participants come willing to contribute via the onsite ‘tip-jar’ as a thank you to the Headlands Center for the Arts for accommodating our group.
DIRECTIONS: Head south on Hwy 101 and take the last Sausalito exit just before the Golden Gate Bridge. At the exit stop sign, turn right and go under the freeway, then follow the road down to the left. Within 300 feet turn left at the sign to the Marin Headlands (This is the only available left turn before you begin the descent into Sausalito). You should see the tunnel with the five-minute light. Proceed through the tunnel on Bunker Rd to the Rodeo Lagoon Parking Lot at the end. Meet by the bridge over the channel to the beach or join MAS birders with scopes along the nearby beach area.

Bear Valley and Five Brooks - Birding in Marin - Season 9, Trip 7
2024-07-06 08:30 - 15:30
Saturday, July 6, 2024
8:30 AM to mid-afternoon
Birding with Jim White & Bob Battagin
Register HERE for this field trip
Registration is required for this trip. Registration for the Bear Valley/Five Brooks trip will be open starting on June 26 at 8:00 AM.
Join Jim and Bob on this trip as part of their yearly series of Marin walks. We will start our day at Bear Valley in search of nesting birds. Next, we’ll travel to Olema Marsh and Whitehouse Pool for a look at some different habitats. Our final stop of the day will be Five Brooks where we have a chance of finding Wood Duck at the retired logging pond. We will also look for birds in the Douglas Fir forest.
DIRECTIONS: From Hwy 101 take Sir Francis Drake Blvd toward Point Reyes for about 20 miles. At Olema turn right onto Hwy 1.
In 600 feet, turn left onto Bear Valley Rd. In approximately 0.5 mile, turn left at the entrance to Point Reyes National Seashore Headquarters at Bear Valley. We will meet at the picnic tables near the parking lot.

Marin's Declining Shorebirds
2024-06-13 19:00 - 21:00
Thursday, June 13, 2024
7:00pm – 9:00pm
Speaker: Nils Warnock
Register HERE for this Speaker Series
Topic: Nils will talk about the status and trends of our North America shorebirds, with a focus on Pacific Flyway birds, particularly those that occur in Marin County. He will first discuss how shorebirds around the world and in the USA are doing and then talk about the results of a 30+ year winter shorebird monitoring program that Audubon Canyon Ranch has been conducting at Tomales Bay since 1989. Overall, numbers of wintering shorebirds on Tomales Bay have declined by over 65% over the past decades with Dunlin and Western Sandpipers among the biggest losers. Of the 14 taxa that ACR analyzed, 3 increased over the past 30 years, 1 stayed stable, and 11 species declined. Nils will discuss potential reasons why our shorebird populations have declined and what we might do about it.
Speaker Bio: Nils Warnock has been the Director of Conservation Science for Audubon Canyon Ranch since 2018 and lives on Tomales Bay in Marshall, CA. He has a PhD in Ecology from the University of California at Davis and San Diego State University. Nils started his ornithological career in West Marin at the Point Reyes Bird Observatory (now Point Blue), where, most recently, he was the co-director of the Wetlands Division from 2000-2008. From 2010-2018, Nils served as the executive director of Audubon Alaska and as a vice president of the National Audubon Society. Nils is a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society and has 40 years of experience working with Pacific Flyway birds, especially shorebirds.
Photo: Marin Shorebirds
Photo by: Nils Warnock

Outer Point Reyes
2024-06-12 08:30 - 14:00
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
8:30 am – 2:00 pm
Birding with Liz Lewis and Susan Kelly
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration required. Registration opens June 2 at 8 AM
Would you like to contribute to the second Marin County Breeding Bird Atlas? Join MCBBA2’s Liz Lewis and Susan Kelly for a morning of blockbusting birding in Outer Point Reyes including the cypress tree tunnel to the historic RCA radio station. Time permitting, we will explore the abandoned ranch as well. Block 3-4 is a high priority block with minimal data collected to date. Species we might see or hear include: Allen’s Hummingbird, Swainson’s Thrush, Northern Harrier, and Western Meadowlark.
The Atlas II is a four-year project that builds on the first Atlas begun in the 1970s by Bob Stewart and Dave Shuford that occurred over four field seasons, where they supervised scores of volunteers in data collection using a grid system overlaid onto topographic maps of Marin County to determine the current distribution and composition of breeding birds. Their fieldwork culminated in the publication of Shuford’s landmark Marin County Breeding Bird Atlas. Now four decades later, 70 volunteers are in their fourth year of collecting data to determine where we are now. All the data is being stored digitally with the California Avian Data Center (CADC) and can be accessed by the public through the MCBBA2 Data Explorer.
Directions from the Point Reyes National Seashore Visitor Center:

From the Bear Valley Visitor Center, head north 0.2 miles (0.3 km) to Bear Valley Road.
Turn left and follow Bear Valley Road 1.75 miles (2.8 km) northwest to Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.
Turn left and follow Sir Francis Drake Boulevard 9.5 miles (15.2 km) north and west.
Follow road signs for “Lighthouse” until you see a sign for “North District Operation Center.”
Parallel park on the shoulder along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard near the entrance to the cypress tunnel.

Parking is limited to the shoulder of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard at the entrance to the cypress tree tunnel so carpooling is encouraged. Restrooms are available at the Visitor’s center and at the North Beach parking lot.

Big Rock and Las Gallinas - Birding in Marin Series
2024-06-01 08:30 - 15:30
Saturday, June 1, 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 May 22 at 8:00 AM.
Trails at Big Rock, rather steep, allow us to view some of the expansive grasslands and forested ravines in Marin. Some of the grassland nesting birds we will be looking for include Lazuli Bunting, Grasshopper Sparrow, Horned Lark, and Ash-throated Flycatcher. We will also have a vast amount of sky visible so swallows, swifts, and raptors may appear with a chance for a Golden Eagle.
At midday we expect to drive Lucas Valley Road to Las Gallinas where we will be looking for American and Least Bitterns, Green Heron, Cinnamon Teal, Common Gallinule, and Great-tailed Grackle.
DIRECTIONS: From Highway 101 in San Rafael, exit on Lucas Valley Rd and go west approximately 5.5 miles (look for the big rock). We will be walking approximately 3 miles. Because this area can get quite hot this time of year, be sure to wear a hat, use sunscreen and carry plenty of water.

Rodeo Lagoon - Marin Headlands - MAY
2024-05-15 07:30 - 12:00
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
7:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Birding with William Legge & David Wiechers
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration is required for this trip. Registration opens May 5 at 8 AM.
With spring migration underway will be looking out for migrant wildfowl, shorebirds, grebes, loons and passerines. As usual, the weather will dictate our focus with onshore northwest winds ideal for spring sea watches, while offshore easterly winds promise a good selection of passerine migrants. Join us for a Sea Watch at 7:30 AM or arrive later at 8:15 AM for a circuit of the lagoon.
DIRECTIONS: Head south on Hwy 101 and take the last Sausalito exit just before the Golden Gate Bridge. At the exit stop sign, turn right and go under the freeway, then follow the road down to the left. Within
300 feet turn left at the sign to the Marin Headlands; this is the only available left turn before you begin the descent into Sausalito. You should see the tunnel with the five-minute signal light. Proceed through the tunnel on Bunker Road to the Rodeo Lagoon Parking Lot at the end and meet by the bridge over the channel to the beach.
