Birding In Marin, Season 10, Trip 3
Saturday, March 1, 2025
9:00 AM to mid afternoon
Birding with Jim White and Bob Battagin
Register for this Field Trip
Registration required. Registration opens at 8AM on February 19, 2025
The Valley Ford Wetlands span the Marin/Sonoma County line less than a mile West of Highway 1 and just a few lies from the mouth of Tomales Bay and the Pacific coast at Dillon Beach. This involves for most of us a drive to the N/W corner of Marin so I’d like to recommend carpooling and delaying our meeting time to 9am. (Three can ride with me from Muir Beach at 8)
Wading birds such as the Pacific Golden Plover and White Faced Ibis and many swallows including Bank Swallows have been seen there with more birder coverage in recent years. The rolling grassland pastures southwest the few miles to the coast can harbor many raptors, mostly Red Tails and Kestrels, but Ferruginous even Rough-legged Hawks and Eagles may sometimes be seen.
There is a $10 dollar parking fee to visit Dillon beach, but the views and the potential Birds are good. The rocky tip of Marin, often obscured by fog, is just over a mile west, and the south edge of Bodega Bay and the mouth of Tomales Bay exchange a vast amount of water as the tide changes.
Bring lunch, dress in layers. Heavy rain cancels
Directions: Take Rt 1 north thru Marin or the Valley Ford road west from Petaluma to Valley Ford then from its N/W edge take Valley Ford Estero Rd west a mile where there is ample parking on the road edge and meet on the bridge. For a shorter route from San Rafael and Novato, take 101 north to Railroad Ave, exit 479 work you way west to Valley Ford and make a left on Valley Ford Estero Road, approx. one mile and park on the side of the road, near the bridge.