Santa Clara County

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Joseph D. Grant Park (Winter): Grant Lake to McCreery Lake

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Joseph D. Grant Park (Winter): Grant Lake to McCreery Lake

Within the east San Jose foothills lies Joseph D. Grant Park, Santa Clara county’s largest park.  Included in this park are over 50 miles of walking trails and an impressive variety of bird species at  any time of the year. In the winter months two excellent stopping points within Joseph D. Grant Park  are Grant Lake and the more secluded, adjacent McCreery Lake. Just past the main park entrance on  Mt. Hamilton Rd. (Hwy. 130), they are easily accessible and provide a wide variety of waterfowl and  shorebirds in the peaceful oak woodland hills. Within this same area you will also encounter many  raptors, woodpeckers, and songbirds. 

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Los Gatos Creek County Park and Oka Ponds (Winter)

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Los Gatos Creek County Park and Oka Ponds (Winter)

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.

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Charleston Road Marsh (Fall/Winter/Spring): A Bayside "Migrant Trap"

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Charleston Road Marsh (Fall/Winter/Spring): A Bayside "Migrant Trap"

A migrant trap close to the bayfront, Charleston Road Marsh is worth visiting for a chance to find fall migrants dropping in, seek out songbirds spending the winter skulking in the shrubs, or enjoy some colorful spring travelers on their way back north. Peaceful and rarely very crowded, this marsh is an underappreciated and under-birded gem with great potential for bringing in migrants common and rare.

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Kevin Moran Park (Fall/Winter): A Saratoga Urban Park 

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Kevin Moran Park (Fall/Winter): A Saratoga Urban Park 

Kevin Moran Park is a 10 acre park located in a quiet Saratoga neighborhood and could be easily missed. It's a beautiful multi-use park with plenty of parking. Its convenient proximity to major roadways makes it an easy option to fit some birding into your busy day.

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Sunnyvale Baylands Park (Year-round): Reclaimed Habitat

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Sunnyvale Baylands Park (Year-round): Reclaimed Habitat

Fueled by water from the nearby water pollution control plant, Sunnyvale Baylands Park is a freshwater oasis for waterfowl and shorebirds (mostly in winter) and upland birds (year-round). Lovely, level walks throughout the park make for a pleasant stroll any time of year. This guide covers a one-mile loop around the park, hitting all the varied habitats and birds found throughout the year.

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Loma Prieta (Spring): Magic of Migration

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Loma Prieta (Spring): Magic of Migration

Loma Prieta is one of the greatest spots in the county (and California!) to see migration in action. This spot in the Santa Cruz Mountains is a natural funnel for migrants. Few other places match the ability to truly immerse yourself in warblers, hummingbirds, finches, and more. While birding here can be challenging, Loma Prieta is a superb spot and shouldn’t be missed.

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Pearson-Arastradero Preserve (Spring)

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Pearson-Arastradero Preserve (Spring)

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.

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Henry Coe State Park Headquarters

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Henry Coe State Park Headquarters

At Henry Coe State Park, you are in the wild, among an intact community of native flora and fauna. There are beautiful panoramic views of the hills around Gilroy, reaching to the Santa Cruz Mountains and within this giant of a park you have long vistas of mountain ridges and valleys like Sycamore Canyon and Pine Ridge. In spring, migrant birds are returning and many birds are nesting, so there is always something exciting to find. Abundant, diverse spring wildflowers and their pollinators make for a beautiful and interesting distraction.

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Shannon Valley Open Space Preserve (Year-round)

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Shannon Valley Open Space Preserve (Year-round)

Shannon Valley in Los Gatos is just that - the valley at the bottom of steep Blossom Hill where the hill meets the Guadalupe Creek corridor. The preserve offers a variety of habitats from woodlands and willow groves to meadows and a stream-side trail. Birding is good at any time of year, but especially in the springtime when Lazuli Buntings are seen among the yellow mustard flowers on the hillside with Orange-crowned Warblers calling nearby.


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Sanborn County Park (Spring): John Nicholas Trail

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Sanborn County Park (Spring): John Nicholas Trail

The John Nicholas Trail in the hills of Los Gatos is a fairly flat, wide trail belonging to Upper Sanborn County Park. It is surrounded by native forest, including oak, redwood, fir and pine which provide a nice cover to be enjoyed year-round. This is one of the best places in Santa Clara County for a chance at seeing Pileated Woodpecker or Pacific Wren. In the spring, it’s a great place to find mountain birds returning from the tropics to nest in the area.

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Shoreline Lake (Winter/Spring): From Scoters and Goldeneye to Skimmers and Terns

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Shoreline Lake (Winter/Spring): From Scoters and Goldeneye to Skimmers and Terns

Along the bayfront in Mountain View, Shoreline Lake offers close-range views of waterbirds like Surf Scoters and Eared Grebes, occasional less-common species such as Horned Grebe and Barrow’s Goldeneye, and the ever-present possibility of finding an ocean-going rarity. Ducks are most numerous in winter, while in early spring, the spectacle of breeding Black Skimmers and Forster’s Terns returns to the lake.

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Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch (Winter): Birding While Enjoying History

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Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch (Winter): Birding While Enjoying History

Visit a historic ranch setting while birding in the Santa Teresa foothills in south San Jose. The Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch offers visitors the ability to go back in time and re-visit life on the Ranch during the late 1800s/ early 1900s. And there is always a wide variety of raptors and songbirds in this easy-to-access portion of the Santa Teresa County Park.

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Chesbro Reservoir (Winter): A Serene Setting for Raptors and Waterfowl

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Chesbro Reservoir (Winter): A Serene Setting for Raptors and Waterfowl

Wintertime is an especially wonderful season to spend in the lush green Bay Area foothills, as well as enjoying the wintering birds. Chesbro Reservoir provides a location where you can do both. It’s a peaceful, less-crowded location where you can just stop and exhale. An excellent spot to view both a variety of waterfowl and raptors, there are also small shorebirds, woodpeckers, and brush inhabitants. Chesbro Reservoir is located 3 miles west of Morgan Hill.

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Ed Levin Spring Valley Area (Spring): Hummingbirds at the “Magic Tree"

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Ed Levin Spring Valley Area (Spring): Hummingbirds at the “Magic Tree"

The Spring Valley Area at Ed Levin Park on the east side of San Jose in the Diablo Foothills offers one of the best places in Santa Clara County to observe migratory hummingbirds in spring. Enjoy an easy walk around the Spring Valley Pond and spend some time at the “Magic Tree” watching the hummingbirds come and go, or take the more challenging Spring Valley Trail for a walk in the grassy hills and surrounding woodlands.

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Stile Ranch Trail in Santa Teresa County Park (Spring):  A Short Climb for Chaparral and Grassland Birds

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Stile Ranch Trail in Santa Teresa County Park (Spring):  A Short Climb for Chaparral and Grassland Birds

During spring along the Stile Ranch Trail, located in Almaden Valley, you’ll find species of birds that aren’t widely found in other areas of Santa Clara County such as Horned Lark and Grasshopper Sparrow, as well as a variety of wildflowers. As you ascend the trail up the south-facing hill you’ll get great views of the hills of Santa Teresa, Almaden Valley, and of Mount Umunhum and the Santa Cruz Mountains.

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Coyote Lake (Winter): A Winter Stop for Waterfowl and Much More

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Coyote Lake (Winter): A Winter Stop for Waterfowl and Much More

Whether you want a relaxing lakeside drive with easy bird watching, or a vigorous hike through the rolling hills, Coyote Lake in Gilroy is a prime attraction for birdwatchers. Beautiful scenery is the backdrop to lots of overwintering waterfowl and wild animals like deer, wild boar, Wild Turkey and California Quail that are habituated to people. Come for the Bald Eagles and courting Western and Clark’s Grebes and you will find so much more.

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South County Regional Wastewater Authority, Gilroy (Winter): An Oasis For Wintering Ducks, Shorebirds and Raptors

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South County Regional Wastewater Authority, Gilroy (Winter): An Oasis For Wintering Ducks, Shorebirds and Raptors

Explore this oasis in Gilroy! The levees along settling ponds with varying amounts of water and vegetation attract ducks, shorebirds, raptors and more. This site is never crowded and has no hills, just level dirt roads, easy for walking and driving.

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Byxbee Park and Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (Winter): Waterfowl and Migrant Birding at an Artsy Palo Alto Baylands Preserve

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Byxbee Park and Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (Winter): Waterfowl and Migrant Birding at an Artsy Palo Alto Baylands Preserve

Byxbee Park, in the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Reserve, features a hill with a 360-degree vista, grasslands studded with conceptual art, marshy sloughs, a creek and tree-lined paths, throughout which you can find wintering waterfowl, migrating passerines, soaring raptors and a variety of gulls.

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Stevens Creek County Park (Fall/Winter): The Early Bird Catches the Worm, Acorn, and Toyon Berry!

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Stevens Creek County Park (Fall/Winter): The Early Bird Catches the Worm, Acorn, and Toyon Berry!

If Stevens Creek County Park were to have a bird mascot, it would have to be the Acorn Woodpecker. Like the first peoples who inhabited these foothills, the Ohlone, the Acorn Woodpecker makes good use of the plentiful acorns from the Coast Live Oaks. Along with the Acorn Woodpecker, the fall and winter seasons bring even more bird species to be discovered in this Cupertino hills park.


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Hellyer County Park (Winter): Take a Gander at these Geese!

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Hellyer County Park (Winter): Take a Gander at these Geese!

The highlight of this urban San Jose park is scouring through the hundreds of Canada Geese that cover the lake and lawn areas in hopes of finding a Cackling, Greater White-fronted or even a Snow or Ross’s Goose. Start this trip in the late morning after the geese have flown in.

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