If you happen to find yourself in the vicinity of Stanford University in the springtime and you love birds, there is no better place to visit than the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve, considered by many to be one of the finest birdwatching spots on the West Coast of the United States.

Located at the end of Embarcadero Road, north of Highway 101 in Palos Alto, California, the 1,940 acres Baylands is one of the largest tracts of undisturbed salt marshland and mudflats remaining in the San Francisco Bay area. The preserve has a substantial resident population of birds and also attracts migratory flocks as they navigate the Pacific Flyway in spring and fall. Over 150 species of birds have been recorded here.

When we arrive in the early spring, there is non-stop action in the Preserve. Black-crowned night herons build nests in the trees near Duck Pond; snowy egrets stand at the tops of the trees preening their feathers, waiting to chase away any interloper who might dare alight in their territory; American avocets and black-neck stilts wade through the shallow water at low tide, stopping to feed; a white-tailed kite sits in the tree looking for its next meal; ducks, geese, and seagulls of every description fill the ponds and streams. There is even a resident ring-necked pheasant, its harsh cry sounding like creaky machinery starting up. Early in the morning, the pheasant likes to hang out on the fence surrounding the ranger station.

In the numerous flowering Pride of Madeira (a type of Echium plant), look for Anna’s Hummingbirds as they flit around the large blue flowers, hovering to sip from the red stamens. Swallowtail butterflies, bees and even a hummingbird moth also stop to feed on the nectar.  If you have never seen a hummingbird moth, it definitely lives up to its name. It looks like a hummingbird in its coloration and how it moves. As the moth approaches the flower, a long, needle-like, proboscis unfurls and dips into the flower to find the nectar.

The Baylands Nature Preserve is a multi-use area. There are over 15 miles of trails which provide access to tidal and freshwater habitats. The trails are part of the San Francisco Bay trail which will eventually encircle the SanFrancisco and San Pablo Bays with a continuous 500-mile network of bicycle and hiking trails. There are already more than 350 miles of trail open to the public. An excellent guidebook is “San Francisco Bay Shoreline Guide,” published by the University of California Press.

Part of the preserve sits on retired landfill, next to an active landfill. The City of Palo Alto has collaborated with artists Michael Oppenheimer and Peter Richards to create a series of environmental art pieces, including the Byxbee Park Pole Field. As you look across the hill, you see rows and rows of wooden poles stuck in the ground, reminiscent of the columns in a Roman ruin. Crushed oyster shell-covered paths lead through the pole field.

Across the marshes is the Lucy Evans Baylands Interpretive Center, sitting on wooden pilings at the edge of the salt marsh. In the spring, hundreds of gregarious cliff swallows build their nests under the eaves, shaping mud into gourd-like structures where they sit on the eggs. A few weeks later, you can hear the cheeping of the newly hatched chicks. The swallows seem to love “buzzing” you as you try to photograph them, dipping down into the water for a drink. A wooden plank walkway leads across the marsh to an observation deck at the edge of the open water with a panoramic view of San Francisco Bay. The wind blows constantly here, making it an ideal spot to watch the windsurfers as they launch from a platform a short distance away.

Even if you are not a photographer or a birder, a visit to the Baylands Nature Preserve provides excellent hiking and biking trails that take you right along the edge of San Francisco Bay.

PHOTOGRAPHIC TIP

Bring your longest lens and tripod to photograph birds and other wildlife in the Baylands Nature Preserve. We use a Nikkon 200-400 mm lens and a Sigma 50-500 lens, mounted on tripods with Wimberley Sidekick mountings which enable us to track the birds as they fly about. The best time to photograph is in the early morning between early March and the beginning of May. You can also photograph many of the waders at low tide when they plod through the mud looking for a meal.

IF YOU GO
The Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve is located at 2500 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto. It is officially open daily from 8 am to sunset; however, we were able to enter at sunrise to photograph. (Tel 650-617-3156)

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