Thursday, December 4, 2025 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. On our search 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 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.

Birding in Marin, Season 10 – Trip 12 Saturday, December 6, 2025 8:30 AM to mid afternoon Birding with Jim White and Bob Battagin Register HERE for this field trip Registration is required and opens November 26 at 8 AM MAS acquired and restored to tidal action the diked bay lands around the residential Bahia neighborhood. As the ebbing tide exposes the mudflats thousands of shorebirds now descend to feed, while on the flood tide hundreds of ducks and some gulls float, forage and loaf about. The oak-wooded ridge stretching from Hwy 101 to Bahia, also saved from development by MAS, holds Oak Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatch, Hutton’s Vireo, at least four woodpecker species and many sparrows in the winter. Horseshoe Pond (Homeowners Lagoon) at the southeast end of Topaz is a great place to look for wintering ducks. Goldeneyes, Scaup, Canvasbacks, Buffleheads, and Mergansers seem to like it and it has been Marin’s best place for Barrow’s Goldeneyes the last few years. After lunch we plan to look at the nearby Rush Creek area from the Airport Rd which parallels Hwy 101 north of Atherton. DIRECTIONS: From 101 in north Novato take Atherton Avenue east, take the Y left onto Bugeia which becomes Bahia Drive, near the end at the bottom of the hill take a right onto Topaz, follow Topaz to its end and park.