Novato, California

 

Upcoming Events

Each month we host free local bird walks and talks on natural history subjects in our Novato store. Check back regularly for details on additional events, or visit our Nature in Novato blog for our full listing of current nature walks and other events hosted by ourselves and other local organizations. 

 

Bahia Lagoon Bird Walk

January 13, 2019 @ 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm at Bahia Lagoon

Join guest leader Heather Cameron and Jack from Wild Birds Unlimited for this walk at the Bahia Lagoon in northern Novato. This pond near the mouth of the Petaluma River is a local hotspot for common goldeneye (with a few of the less common Barrow's goldeneye often present), as well as other diving ducks and grebes, raptors including kestrels, kites, and harriers, and a variety of other wetland and open country songbirds including song and Savannah sparrows, Say's phoebes, and western meadowlarks. After observing the water birds for an hour and a half or so, we will briefly adjourn to the very nearby Bahia trailhead of the Rush Creek Open Space Preserve, from where we can see some different ducks and shorebirds on the tidal mudflats as well as woodland songbirds for our remaining hour.

Header photo: common goldeneye by zenbikescience. 

See more details and reserve your space by visiting the event page now.

Las Gallinas Ponds Bird Walk

February 3, 2019 @ 9:30 am to 11:30 am at Las Gallinas Ponds

Join guest leader Mark Schulist and Jack from Wild Birds Unlimited for this walk at San Rafael's Las Gallinas Ponds. This water treatment ponds offer year-round, food-rich waters that attract a wide variety of birds and this is the busiest season of all. We'll see hundreds of ducks, as well as other waterbirds, raptors, and songbirds. This is one of the best places to start learning about birds, with a large variety of distinctive, easy to see species at relatively close distances. To learn more about the birds of Las Gallinas, see our site profile.

See more details and reserve your space by visiting the event page now.

Backyard Bird Nesting Seminar

February 10, 2019 @ 10:00 am to 10:45 am at Wild Birds Unlimited

The nesting season starts early in coastal California. Owls and hummingbirds begin courtship in December, the great chorus of spring song begins to ramp up in January, and many songbirds are looking for nest sites by the end of February. In this in-store talk, we'll provide an introduction to many of the key aspects of the nesting season: how does bird behavior change at this time of year? Where do different kinds of birds nest? How long does the nesting season last? 

See more details and reserve your space by visiting the event page now.