Loma Alta Fire Road

Loma Alta is one of the higher points in Marin, a nearly 1600’ peer of Mount Burdell. For us north Marin naturalists, the name primarily evokes the fire road that leads north from the summit to Lucas Valley Road, a hotspot for late spring serpentine wildflowers and dry, rocky grasslands ideal for a number of birds that are uncommon in much of the county, such as lazuli buntings, horned larks, meadowlarks, and grasshopper sparrows. The views aren’t too bad either!

Big Rock Ridge

Big Rock Ridge is the defining topographical feature of Northeast Marin, dividing Novato’s Ignacio Valley from San Rafael’s Lucas Valley. At 1,895 ft, this is the second highest point in the county, and the highest that is untamed and hence unshortened by roads and motors. Some work is required to gain the pleasures of reality rather than reverie, but those rewards are real and numerous: unobstructed 360-degree views and aquiline omniscience, breathing room above the lowland hubbub, and the company of birds and plants that eschew civilization’s crowds and tethers.

Stafford Lake

Up in the hills to the west of Mount Burdell are the headwaters of Novato Creek, which then tumbles down through the rolling slopes until it runs into the Stafford Dam and forms the placid Stafford Lake. These waters of creek and lake invite myriad birds, both summer and winter.

Olompali State Historic Park

Olompali State Historic Park encompasses a cluster of historical buildings and the wooded slopes that rise above them to the summit of Mount Burdell on the northern border of Novato. A moderately dense mixed oak woodland is the dominant ecosystem here, but the twists and turns of the park’s trails offer a gently varying array of plant and animal life.

Indian Valley Open Space Preserve

Indian Valley Open Space Preserve is a modest slice of forested foothills on the north side of Big Rock Ridge. That significant barrier to the south comprises the main topographical influence here, casting its long shadow over Indian Valley’s web of trails and modest hills. The combination of general shadiness, low hills, and intervening creeks creates ideal conditions for broadleaf mixed evergreen forest, whose high level of tree and understory diversity translates into a correspondingly rich community of bird species.

Deer Island Open Space Preserve

Deer Island is not exactly an island, at least not anymore. These days it is a lightly-used open space preserve in eastern Novato, centered around a hill which rises from the surrounding flatlands which were once part of the Petaluma River delta. Compact and flat, but uncrowded and rather pastoral feeling: Deer Island has a modest but very real set of virtues that are not always easy to find in combination so close to town.

Las Gallinas Ponds

The Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds is the birding community’s name for the complex of water treatment ponds, tidal mudflats, salt marsh, and agricultural fields around the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District plant in San Rafael. Learn more about perhaps the most popular birding site in the county in this guest post from Susan Kelly.