What to Find at Point Reyes, CA

May 15

Located on the great Pacific flyway, Point Reyes National Seashore astonishingly holds the most diverse bird species counts of any other national park in the U.S.  Over 490 species of birds can be spotted here throughout the seasons, which translates to 54 % of all North American birds, a number that is larger than the totals of 40 other states!  Some birds are residents, some purposefully migrate

Great Horned Owl, Point Reyes

here or stop over but, interestingly, some land at the rugged shores of Point Reyes as accidental tourists, blown so robustly by the winds and pushed by ocean currents that the inborn navigational instincts of several birds are thrown off and birds that otherwise might choose another climate find themselves at Drakes Estero or at Abbots Lagoon where resident species such as Double-Crested

Abbots Lagoon

Cormorants, Snowy Plovers, Marsh Wrens, Bluebirds, Towhees, California Quail, Red-tailed Hawks and the Majestic Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron Abbots Lagoon

mingle with summer birds like Brown Pelicans, Caspian Terns and enormous Osprey.  Winter birds such as Merlins, Gulls, Sanderlings and even the Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

call Point Reyes home.  The sheer magnitude of the abundance of bird species here is dependent on the fact that where freshwater meets ocean water, in estuaries, salt marshes and mud flats, all forms of plant life thrive.  Marsh vegetation such as cord grass, pickleweed and salt grass can produce decomposed bacteria for fish which, in turn, serve as the food source for so many waterfowl.  The violent tides that push and pull from the vast Pacific inward toward the estuaries serve as a sort comb and filter to serve nutrients inward toward the animal life, then eventually sweep it back out in the churning current, creating a sort ready made smorgasbord of food.