For Bay Area residents, Marin Audubon offers many wonderful Field Trips that are open to the public. Bring lunch, field guide, and binoculars. They have an annual trip to the fabulously restored habitat, Hamilton Wetlands. Volunteers will lead you to view the wetlands and celebrate the return of shorebirds to this former flight line and landing strip. The trip will start with a stop at the nursery where Nursery and Restoration Manager, Christina McWhorter, will give a brief update on the restoration and replanting progress after which your group will be allowed to visit several portions of the wetlands not usually accessible to the public.
The shorebird/raptor migration window is between September through December. Join the Audubon field trip to the Nicasio Reservoir to observe the many special raptor and shorebird species. In Mid January I had an opportuntity to visit the Delta and see thousands of Sand Hill Cranes, and Tundra Swans come in at Sunset it was magnificent to see so many birds. I went home and watched Winge Migration again and have since gone a bit birdy, looking for them all the time.
There is also an annual boat trip on the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Area complex comprises one of the largest and most important estuaries along the Pacific flyway, and is located in our backyard, but remains relatively unvisited. Our appreciation of the dynamics of the bay can change dramatically in the course of a day from a new perspective on the water. – Marinaudubon.org
