Hamilton to Las Gallinas Ponds - Feb. 17, 2014

Walking Distance: 4 miles (estimate)
Walking Time: 2 hrs., 8 min. (2:05 - 4:13 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Parking lot, end of Hamilton Ave.

In this late afternoon walk, I got lost once, but I did reach Las Gallinas area eventually.

The ponds are part of the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District, and are a rich haven for birds and wildlife. They're a great place to take bird photos.

Trails on this walk ranted from newly rolled, wide packed dirt and gravel to more narrow dirt trail with very short stretches of asphalt. Access can be a bit confusing if you're coming from the north.

I started this walk from a parking lot (near a playing field area—Palmisano Community Play Park) near the SE end of Hangar Ave./Calienta Real, at the south end of the old Hamilton Air Force Base in Novato. From here I headed south along the Bay. This section of trail opened recently, and was newly rolled, and nice and broad; however, it narrowed further south.

I had to cross through an area that included a small section of trail that was still "planned" (shown as a dotted line on the Bay Trail map). However, unaware of this, I continued to walk until I reached some hills and a golf course, and eventually found my way around the golf course to a road and to Las Gallinas Ponds entrance.

There were some nice views of Mt. Tamalpais on the way. And winter rains afforded some refreshing green areas.

I enjoyed seeing the solar collectors (arrays) near Las Gallinas Ponds. Next time, I'll get here earlier to see more birds up close. Winter days end too quickly.

Wildlife Sightings:
7 white pelicans; 1 white swan; 32 little brown jobs (LBJs), mostly sparrows; 3 black-necked stilts; 6 turkey vultures; 5 Canada geese; 16 ducks (mallard pair, 6 shovelers, others); 1 phoebe; 2 swifts/swallows (closer to black and white - not orange and blue); 1 hawk/bird of prey, 1 Harrier with white rump patch; 1 snowy egret, 1 great egret; 2 balls (yellow bowling ball + 1 rubber ball); 2 crows

John F. McInnis County Park - Dec. 11, 2013

Walking Distance: 5 miles (estimate)
Walking Time: 2 hrs., 30 min. (1:55 - 4:25 p.m.)
Starting Point: John F. McInnis County Park, parking lot

Today's walk was on unpaved, packed dirt trails in and around John F. McInnis County Park, and included a great bird-watching area -- Las Gallinas Ponds (adjacent to the park and part of Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District).

I started this walk by walking out toward Bay on unpaved trail. I stopped to walk out to a small pier (launching area for kayaks?), and then walked along the trail along the water that was part of the McInnis Park Wetland Preserve, according to a sign I passed.

The trail furthest out by the bay was adjacent to a large area of patchy, but healthy looking marsh grasses. I watched a great blue heron, a kite (bird), and some other birds of prey out in baylands either staring into the grasses intently (hunting) or making sudden grabs at tiny, unseen items (food).

Eventually I headed back toward the hills (inland) and looped back round to Las Gallinas (Wildlife) Ponds. I walked around first two ponds, (was some construction going on, and it was getting late, so turned around). I enjoyed watching ducks, white pelicans, cormorants, hawks, and several red-headed mergansers -- who were squawking at each other on a log. I thought one of the mergansers should be called Lucille Ball (a red-headed comedienne and TV star in the 1900s) for his/her antics.

I then had to find way back to my car in McInnis Park without going through the golf course (i.e. I didn't want to walk all the way out into the Baylands again, and thought I could cut through the park. However, I found myself walking up a hill via a narrow dirt path, and eventually climbing up and over the top of the hill (where there was a nice view) to a skate park and a road, that I followed back down again toward playing fields and the parking lot where my car was, near park entrance. Alls well that ends well.

Wildlife Sightings:
51 LBJs/brown sparrows; 3 great egrets, 3 snowy egrets; 1 crow; 142 RWBs / Blackbirds; 3 birds of prey -- 1 kite and 1 larger red-tailed hawk at ponds; 3 great blue herons; 36 Canada Geese; 173 ducks; 4 black-crowned night herons; 35 sea gulls; 2 white pelicans; 6 mergansers; 7 cormorants; 7 black birds with long-black tails flying over ponds late in afternoon; 10 swifts or swallows (not the orange and blue kind); 3 balls (1 golf ball); 3 grebes; 4 coots

Road to Las Gallinas Ponds - Apr. 25, 2010

Walking Distance: 1.1 miles (estimate)
Walking Time: 42 min. (4:25 - 5:07 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Public parking area, side of road, San Rafael, CA

Today (Sunday) I returned to finish up a segment of roadway (double yellow lines on right half of map shown) that I missed on Friday.  This paved, tail end of Smith Ranch Road led to the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitation District Wildlife Ponds. I also walked into the Ponds area again for a short distance.  After all the rainy weather we've had this spring, at 4:30 p.m. the sun felt hot enough to incinerate me and the surrounding wildflowers. However, all the lizards were out, basking in the warmth. And for every lizard that I saw, I could hear a few more skittering away through the grass. The cows grazing in the distance seemed unbothered by life; perhaps these were the happy California cows from the television commercials.

Wildlife Sightings:
3 turkey vultures; 4 little brown jobs (LBJs); 1 squirrel; 4 butterflies; 6 lizards; 1 ladybug; 1 (dead) snake; 5 unidentified flying bugs (UFBs); 7 crows; 15 barn swallows; 2 mockingbirds; and 1 quail in tree.

Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds, Apr 23, 2010

Walking Distance: 5 miles (estimate)
Walking Time: 3 hours (4:20 - 7:20 p.m.)
Start and End Point: Las Gallinas Valley Sanitation District Wildlife Ponds, Public Parking Lot, end of Smith Ranch Rd., San Rafael, CA

The Las Gallinas ponds were alive with several different birds, taking off and landing, and just floating about. (Thank you to Rosina for pointing out the ducklings.)  I walked the large loop, and out to the end of the trail (the straight line that extends up toward Hamilton Wetlands Restoration area, and ends at a concrete barrier. I then retraced my steps and walked the smaller "inside" loop. 

The day belonged to the red-winged blackbirds -- that were warbling and singing up a storm. They were everywhere - perched on cattails, bushes. One (pictured at right) posed on top of a warning sign (stating that ponds contained effluent water).

Wildflowers were out in full force, and strong afternoon breezes made for lots of blurry pictures. For example, the quail pictured at right. It caught my eye as it was sitting up on top of a 4-foot metal 
pole/post. Up until today, I'd only seen quail on the ground scuttling
into the underbrush, and maybe occasionally hopping onto low branches. This one might as well have climbed Mt. Everest as far as I was concerned.  I have much to learn.

Wildlife Sightings:
61 LBJs; 44 ducks; 14 Canada geese; 24 red-winged blackbirds; 4 cormorants; 2 great white egrets; 1 snowy egret; 2 Am. Avocets; 3 Black-necked Stilts; 2 dragonflies; 2 killdeer; 1 Western Grebe; 3 quail on the trail (I was sitting on top of metal fencepost; 3

hawks/falcons; 2 mockingbirds; 8 orange and brown butterflies + 3 white ones; 3 turkey vultures; 1 great blue heron; 1 bumblebee; 40 barn swallows; 1 kite; 1 crow; 3 unidentified flying bugs (UFBs); 2 smaller yellow birds (finches?) and 2 reddish birds (finches?) up on utility wires; 1 dove. Someone pointed out where they saw an otter, but I didn't see it. Several cows were munching grass in the distant background.