Martin Griffin Preserve, Stinson Beach, CA

Martin Griffin Preserve
4900 Shoreline Highway 1
Stinson Beach, CA
Cost: Free
(415) 868-9244
egret.org

Events at Martin Griffin Preserve include an annual Mother's Day BBQ.

The Public Season at Audubon Canyon Ranch's Martin Griffin Preserve (formerly called Bolinas Lagoon Preserve) hosts one of the most studied Great Egret nesting sites on the West Coast. Each year visitors can enjoy viewing approximately 100 active nests in a grove of redwoods on the property. Throughout public season, visitors can witness various stages of the heron and egret nesting cycle including courting rituals, nest building, eggs, chicks and first flights. Martin Griffin Preserve includes bird and wildlife viewing platforms outfitted with spotting scopes and binoculars, eight miles of hiking trails, picnic tables, and an environmental education-focused bookstore and natural history exhibit.

Approx. four months out of the year the public can enter a mesmerizing world filled with flowers, trees, plants, bugs and the most magnificent birds in the world. Home to one of the most significant Great Blue Heron and Great Egret nesting sites on the West Coast, birds return annually in early spring to resume their mating rituals, nest building and egg laying.

In the summer, new chicks can be observed begging for food and testing out their wing feathers during first flights. By mid summer shortly after the public season is closed, all chicks will have fledged the heronry.