Bay Area Bird Blog

I occasionally interview local birders, and one of the questions I ask is “what are your favorite birding sites.” I hope that over time this will turn into a list of the best birding sites in the Bay Area.  Here are some of the answers from Bob Lewis (BL) and Arnel Guanlao (AG) [with my comments in brackets]:

For water birds:

• MLK Jr Regional Shoreline in Oakland [This is not far from the airport, and is frequently visited by Golden Gate Audubon’s Eco-Oakland program] (BL).
• Hayward Shoreline, especially the area known as “Frank’s dump.” [Directions courtesy of Peter Dramer: From the end of W Winton Ave, take either trail out to the bay and then head north along the Bay Trail. Frank’s Dump is the water just north of the radio towers [and east of the Bay Trail.  Peter says that this area has many birds around high tide but may be nearly empty at other times.] (BL)
• The end of Grant Avenue in San Leandro (BL).
• Bodega Bay (BL). 
• Alviso [the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, near San Jose] (AG)
• Radio Road Waterbird Pond [in Redwood City; check a map carefully, it’s hard to find] (AG)
• Hayward Regional Shoreline (AG)

For upland birds:

• Tilden Park around Jewel Lake (BL).
• Briones Regional Park, starting at the Bear Valley Road entrance (BL).
• “Sunol Regional Park is super, but a bit far from Berkeley” (BL).
• FAVORITE: “EBMUD’s Upper San Leandro Reservoir, from the Valle Vista staging area.  You can get a permit to enter the area at the Tilden Nature Center” (BL)
• Outer Point Reyes (AG).
• Coyote Point [in San Mateo, south of the SF Airport] (AG).
•  Carmel River [just south of Carmel] (AG).