Hanging with the Birds in Hayward

Godwits at Hayward Regional Shoreline. Creative commons photo by Ingrid Taylar.

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Oct-Dec 2011

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by Ann Sieck — published October 12, 2011

Hayward Regional Shoreline's broad swath of marshes and seasonal wetlands hosts five miles of the Bay Trail north of the San Mateo Bridge. Though the visitor center and most of the habitat restoration work are in the south part, the park's north entrance offers choice birding, especially around high tide, when shorebirds gather in the wastewater-fed ponds and sloughs, awaiting the exposure of acres of mudflats as the tide ebbs. Check an online tide table for Robert's Landing to plan your visit.

This trail starts between the cyclone fences of a salvage yard and an electrical substation, with transmission towers hissing overhead. It soon finds San Lorenzo Creek, where tangled shrubbery along the levee shelters phoebes and song sparrows, while egrets fish and ducks dabble in the steep-banked channel. Less than half a mile brings you to the Bay Trail footbridge, near a shallow pond active with avocets, willets, black-necked stilts, and assorted sandpipers, who don't seem to mind that every few minutes the shadow of an Oakland Airport-bound jetliner slides across the water. Look west and on a clear morning the clustered towers of downtown San Francisco and the Bay Bridge shimmer in the distance.

If all this isn't enough, hike south on the riprapped levees to watch the wading birds return to their mudflat buffet as the tide recedes.

Getting there: Small signed parking lot is on the right just before Grant Avenue ends. No fees or facilities except a portable toilet near the bridge and frequent trailside benches. Bikes permitted; dogs north side only.