Marta’s Marsh hosts a wide variety of bird species and provides great viewing opportunities. Typically, shorebirds, ducks, gulls, terns, and some of Marin’s only endangered Ridgway’s Rails can be seen at this Marin birding hotspot. We will take a short walk alongside San Clemente Creek to the creek mouth where it then enters the bay. Some of our target birds include Blue-winged Teal, Ridgway’s Rail, Dunlin, Western and Least Sandpiper, and the possibility of encountering raptors such as Osprey, Peregrine Falcon, and Northern Harrier.

We will time our walk to put us at the creek mouth a few hours after low tide, as the incoming tide causes sandpipers, gulls, and ducks to fly from the bay mudflats to the high tide refuge at Marta’s Marsh. As we walk, we will listen for rails as well as any other migrants that we may run into. The fennel patches and grassy areas surrounding the marsh can also be productive for a variety of sparrow and warbler species. At the mouth of the creek we will scope the bay looking for ducks like Lesser and Greater Scaup, Bufflehead, Wigeon, and possibly Canvasback or Redhead.

Heavy rain cancels. Bring binoculars and, if you have one, a spotting scope. There are no restroom facilities in the marsh.

Directions: From Hwy 101, take Exit 449A at Tamalpais Drive in Corte Madera; go east 0.2 mile toward the bay; turn right at the Home Consignment Store and go 0.4 mile on San Clemente Drive; make the first left onto Harbor Drive for 0.2 mile; turn right onto Yolo Street for 400 feet. Then turn left onto Channel Drive. We will meet where the road dead ends at the marsh.