Winter Power at the Bird Walk Coastal Access Trail in Bodega Bay

Date: February 19, 2024

Place: North of Doran Regional Park, Bodega bay, California

Coordinates: 38.320096, -123.035066

Length: 1.7 miles

Level: easy 

Pappa Quail and I planned to take our time on our last morning of our Presidents' Day weekend getaway but habit woke us up early and it didn't take us long to get ready and leave the lodge for our drive back home. After exploring some of the Russian River area, hiking at Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve and at Sonoma Coast State Park, we planned to drive south along highway 1 and check out Bodega Bay and Point Reyes, both places we haven't been to in a long while. 

Our first port of call was Bodega Bay. It was raining on and off on our way there, and it was off when we arrived at the bird walk site, a location I found on the local Audubon Society chapter's website. The place isn't an actual park but it is managed, not sure by whom, and the trail system, whole small, is very nice, heterogenous, and goes right through a rich bird habitat. 

Our hike as captured by my GPS

 

 The eastern part of the trail surrounds two freshwater human-made ponds. The ponds looked like they might be a part of a waste water treatment facility, but I saw no signs of such a facility nearby. The ponds themselves looked more like a wetland marsh rather than an actual pond. The water was pretty shallow and the vegetation grew right through it. 

The ponds were clearly human-made, which made me think that the mound at the edge of the pont on the east was also human-made. Perhaps it was just a pile of excavated material that grew vegetation. 

The sky looked dark and ominous, but it didn't rain. Yet. We moved slowly down the trail, scanning the pond for birds. Pappa Quail saw a few small birds there - a black phoebe and some sparrows. 

Black Phoebe

Taking advantage of the pause in the rain, the sparrows seemed happy and very active. 

White-crowned Sparrow

The pause in the rain didn't last very long, though. Little droplets started falling on us as we progressed down the trail. It was still light and misty, so we continued on. 

Bird Walk Trail

I was looking for wildflowers. Having seen some nice early bloom at the Sonoma Coast State Park, I expected to see some here as well. The first one I encountered though, was the invasive Italian thistle. 

Italian Thistle, Carduus pycnocephalus

The west pond was more flooded. We scanned the surface carefully but saw no waterfowl. Not even coots. 

We did see a great blue heron standing in ambush on the side of the pond, where the water was shallow. In the patch of vegetation near the heron there we did spot a couple of mallard ducks, busy foraging in the shallows.

Great Blue Heron

Between the two ponds was the trail junction where the bird walk trail split off to the southwest, extending along a wide slough and some salt marshes all the way to he beach. We planned to go on that trail but after a few steps the sky opened up for real and a torrent came in a big downpour. 

Cheney Creek and Slough

We hid under an overhanging cypress tree until the rain eased. We were wearing our rain ponchos but Pappa Quail was ready to go right back to the car. He doesn't like hiking in the rain and by now he'd had enough of rain on this trip.

West pond

Eventually the rain eased to a drizzle and we ventured from under our cypress shelter. I suggested that we'd at least complete going around the ponds while going back, and Pappa Quail agreed. As we turned around the north edge of the ponds we had a nice view of the bay of Bodega Bay, still misty with rain.

Bodega Bay south shore salt marsh

There were birds far away in the water near the shore. A group of gulls, and a bit further, some northern shoveler ducks.

Agull flew overhead and for a moment I stepped into Pappa Quail's 'role' as a bird photographer and snapped a shot. A gray gull on a gray background.

The drizzle too eased, and eventually stopped altogether. Through the mist I saw the southern neighborhood of Bodega Bay. It has been many years since last time I was here and I had no recollection of this coastal town.

Bodega Bay

On the eastern side of the loop, the trail distanced somewhat from the pond itself. I was surprised to find a picnic table in the inner corner of the trail. A site of recreation and rest for birders.

I looked south again to the bay before turning the final corner of the loop. The shoreline was lined with coastal houses, each equipped with a boat dock, most occupied with boats. Closer below the salt marsh extended between the land and the bay, and numerous snowy egrets were wading there, foraging.

Bodega Bay

Coming from the north to the end of the loop we could see a large conifer that had sprouted a bunch of snowy egrets in its canopy. Egrets are not flock birds but they do love to roost together. I suppose these egrets were taking shifts with those foraging in the salt marsh.

Snowy Egrets

I noticed that the clouds were breaking up a bit, and a patch of blue sky was forming, letting sunlight through. I pointed it out to Pappa Quail and suggested that we'd go to the beach as we wanted, since the rain was done for a while. Pappa Quail agreed to going to the beach, now that the rain seemed gone for a while. We walked quickly to the trail junction and took it down to the bridge where I paused and looked at the slough that extended below me. The slough was full with water and empty of birds.

Cheney Creek Slough

Th birds were further away in the shallows at the bay's edge near the salt marsh. It was a mixture of gulls, shorebirds and ducks. They were a bit too far even for Pappa Quail's powerful lens to get details. He needed to get closer for that. 

A single western gull stood separated from the gulls in the group and much closer to the trail. He was still quite far away though.

Western Gull

There was a wide salt marsh also on the other side of the trail, beyond which the little bay on the south opened up to the ocean itself. The salt marsh was flooded. This was high tide time. 

The trail was of very packed gravel that for the most part absorbed the rain water, and was flooded in very few spots. The trail continued up a low range of old dunes that were already fixed by the vegetation. The sand was visible only through small gaps in the plant cover.  We continued up the trail toward the ocean beach. 

Coastal Access Trail

We had to cross the quiet beach access road to get to the beach. The path continued through more dunes where the plant cover was also thick, but not enough to cover the sand completely. The plants were different  too - mostly beachgrass and other salt-tolerant plants. 

Beach Access Trail

I have never considered miner's lettuce to be a beach plant, but there it was, and it looked healthy enough. There weren't too many of the miner's lettuce though. Perhaps that was a salt-tolerant mutant family. 

Miner's Lettuce, Claytonia perfoliata

The wind was blowing hard and the waves were pretty high. The sunlight filtered through a thin layer of clouds, adding a haunting sensation to the view. 

View south

The waves beat a fair amount of sea foam in the water, and the wind blew it out onto the sand. I approached as much as I dared to take a closer look at the flighty material that wuld soon be gone with no trace. 

Looking north I could see the tip of Bodega Head. There was another park there, and I marked it to myself for our next visit in the area.  

There weren't any other people on the beach. There weren't any shorebirds either, or gulls. A sole surf scoter duck was bobbing up and down between the waves, seemingly unconcerned with the waves. 

Surf Scoter

The clouds kept moving fast with the strong wind and the day became brighter. We started our walk back, huddling in our jackets to avoid having sand blowing in our faces. 

From the high point on tour way back we had a nice view of the place where the slough connected with the bay, and the groups of birds that were resting on the sand bars just below the surface. 

The birds near the salt marsh seemed o have traded places - the gulls were now closer to the shore while the ducks stood on the sand bar which was now submerged. 

I found another wildflower - a marsh gumplant. This relative of the sunflower shone back at the real sun which finally cleared the clouds. 

Marsh Gumplant, Grintelia stricta 

We walked back quickly. There weren't too many birds t see near the Bird Walk Trail today. I did point out to Pappa Quail two mallards that were swimming in the slough but he didn't bother raising his camera. He had not come all this way to photograph birds that were so common in the Bay Area lakes.

The mallards took flight as we approached and I did raise my camera and clicked a couple of photos. After all, a bird is a bird, even if it is a very common mallard. 

Mallard, male

Once again I paused on the bridge when we came to it, and I followed the slough with my eyes. I wondered how far inland did it extend. 

Cheney Creek Slough

It looked like the rain we experienced while circumventing the ponds was the last episode of rain for a while. The sky was definitely clearing up. The wind was still bowing fast, though. 

Cheney Creek Slough

The fresh sunlight prompted me to retake some photos that I feared were too dark on our first pass near their subjects, such as this man-root vine in bloom.  

Coast Man-root, Marah oregana

Even the mound at the eastern end of the eastern pond seemed prettier in the sunlight. The black phoebe was still there but Pappa Quail was already descending toward the parking lot. I followed him down.

We arrived the car hungry and had a quick picnic lunch after which we continued our drive south on highway 1. It was a nice stop, even though we didn't see any new birds. Next time we go to Bodega Bay we'll schedule a longer stay there. For now, we settled fr this short hike because we wanted to also visit Point Reyes that day. There - the elephant seals were waiting.