Self-guided Birding Locations
Waterfowl and gulls are the main menu here in winter and you will find many! Located in Campbell, this park includes six percolation ponds to explore. It is flat, excellent for walking (as well as for bikes and strollers), and it is partially accessible for people with mobility issues.
Pearson-Arastradero Preserve is located in Palo Alto and is a great place to go birding if you live in Mountain View, Los Altos, Palo Alto, or San Mateo. The park features a range of habitats from grasslands to oak woodland, and a small lake, all of which are home to a wide variety of birds throughout the year. In the spring, many birds arrive from the tropics and make this their home for a few months when they build their nests and raise their young before heading back south in the fall.
Easily reachable by car or public transit (the VTA 51 bus), this Cupertino city park has a level paved trail that follows the creek through orchards, forest and fields and is lined with benches at reasonable intervals, making it a beautiful, accessible natural area in the heart of Silicon Valley. The paved trail continues south through McClellan Ranch Preserve, where SCVAS's headquarters are located.
Enjoy this easy, partially shaded walk alongside the Los Alamitos Creek in Almaden Valley. Bird life is plentiful and varied, especially in the spring! Or visit in the summer to take advantage of the shady trails.
Visit the Los Gatos Creek Trail south of East Main Street in Los Gatos to find the American Dipper, America’s only aquatic songbird. Watch these birds walk, wade, swim and even dive in and out of the water as they hunt for food.
Sitting adjacent to an avian flyway (the Guadalupe River), surrounded by suburban sprawl, and boasting the last remnant forest in the city of Santa Clara, Ulistac holds its own as a spring migrant trap. Enjoy the smell of native plants and trees in the restored areas of the park and witness the gradual process of forest regeneration.
For great habitat in an urban setting, visit this paved trail along the Los Gatos Creek in San José. It’s the perfect location for spring migrants!
In the heart of Garlic-growing Gilroy, this jewel of a park has some really top-notch, natural river habitat for both birds and kids to enjoy. The oak-bay woodland on the park’s namesake, Christmas Hill provides plenty of places to explore steep trails with older kids, but even very young children can enjoy the birds on the lawn and in the trees at the playground area. The combination of well-maintained city park and immediately-adjacent wildlife habitat makes this park perfect for a family outing… but the restrooms are CLOSED ON SUNDAYS.
En el corazón de la zona de cultivo de ajos de Gilroy, esta joya de parque tiene un hábitat natural de ribera de primer calibre a lo largo del arroyo de Uvas Creek para que lo disfruten tanto los niños como los pájaros. El bosque de robles de la bahía en el homónimo del parque, Christmas Hill, ofrece muchos lugares para explorar, senderos empinados con niños de mayor edad, pero incluso los niños más pequeños pueden disfrutar de las aves en el césped y en los árboles en el área de juegos. Todos, jóvenes y mayores, humanos o vida silvestre, se sienten atraídos por la belleza de un río natural. La combinación de un parque de la ciudad bien mantenido y un hábitat de vida silvestre inmediatamente adyacente hace que este parque sea perfecto para una excursión familiar… pero los baños están CERRADOS LOS DOMINGOS.
Springtime at the Stanford Dish Trail, part of the Stanford University campus, offers a mix of wintering grassland birds, hunting raptors, and singing spring migrants. Though often rather busy, this 3.6-mile loop is popular for good reason: sweeping views, rolling hills, a pleasant patchwork of woodland and pastureland, and—of course—a multitude of birds!
If you’re looking for youth-centered birding in Almaden Valley, Lake Almaden offers close views of Mallards, Canada Geese, and many other waterbirds. In Spring, the heron colony on the Bird Sanctuary Island provides excitement and the stroller-friendly path and playgrounds make this destination easy to explore with the whole family.
Tweet, chirp, chatter, shriek, drum-drum-drum: a cacophony of bird sounds and songs will greet you upon your first step onto the oak and eucalyptus tree-lined paved path to Stanford’s Arizona Garden and Mausoleum. The Stanford campus hosts over 125 bird species, many of which can be spotted in this one small area.
Picnic at the shady Live Oak Group Area near the Anderson Lake County Park Visitor Center in Morgan Hill and get a chance to view Wood Ducks in Coyote Creek.
Disfrute de esta área de picnic con sombra en Morgan Hill y tenga la oportunidad de ver Patos Arcoiris (Wood Ducks) en Coyote Creek.
This Alviso park can be good as a quick stop or a day-long adventure, with views of all different kinds of waterfowl, marsh dwellers and shorebirds. Walk along the boardwalks to listen to the noisy song birds and rails, stand at the boat dock to scan the slough for grebes and other waterfowl, or head out to the salt pond for mesmerizing murmurations of shorebirds and an impressive number of ducks.
The drought tolerant gardens of the Valley Water Headquarters (previously known as Santa Clara Valley Water District) off Almaden Expressway have become one of our “go to” spots when we are looking for a quiet place to bird in the Almaden Valley area. The one-mile, maintained trail through the gardens and around the large percolation pond is little used by people, has several benches along the route, and has plenty of suitable habitat for birds and other wildlife. This compact location is easy to get to making it an ideal and quick birding location.
Getting young kids excited about birding is easy, when you can show the link between normal playground/park birds and their ancient dinosaur cousins! This neighborhood park in the heart of Sunnyvale’s suburbia has everything to recommend it for a family outing to explore birding with the youngest. Just over a mile of flat, stroller-friendly sidewalks, adjacent farm fields & orchard, and two dinosaur-themed playgrounds make this destination a winner.
You wouldn’t think that sewage treatment would be a travel-worthy destination, but Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant’s large variety of waterfowl and passerines is well worth a trip. Whether you’re looking for a 100-yard stroll from the car or a 4-mile hike, this spot provides excellent views of a large variety of bird species, all in a beautiful bay-front environment.
The agricultural fields of the Coyote Valley floor in South San Jose/Morgan Hill are excellent birding for raptors and grassland specialties. A popular stop is Laguna Ave, where with luck you can watch courting Red-tailed Hawks, Golden Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, and more! This trip is best done by car or by bike as it involves scanning long sections of fields along roads.
Staying in downtown San José and hoping to fit in some birding during a packed convention schedule? Check out Kelley Park! Only two miles from the downtown area with creekside trails and a nearby Japanese Garden, the birding is rewarding year-round.
