San Mateo County Birding Guide by Sequoia Audubon Society - Printed on April 30, 2026

Windy Hill Open Space Preserve

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Description

Area Habitats
Oak Woodland, Mixed Woodland, Grassland, Fresh Water Pond

NOTICE: The Alpine Road trail, which is contiguous to sections of Windy Hill (though covered more extensively in the Coal Creek entry), will be closed for much of 2022. Project information.

This park is a favorite for birders, hikers, and dog walkers. Unlike most of the Open Space Preserves, Windy Hill has some very long hikes connecting Skyline Boulevard with the lower reaches of the foothills to the east. You can cross many habitats, from oak woodland to ponds to firs and grasslands as you traverse one of the three major west-east trails. If you start a hike from Skyline, and walk east to Portola Valley, you can lose up to 1000 feet of elevation, from over 1800 feet at some Skyline locations to under 800 feet in Portola Valley. This park is an ideal location for the two-car solution: leave a car parked in Portola Valley, then drive in a second vehicle to one of the Skyline parking areas. For the stout-hearted, reverse and walk uphill!

Windy Hill has five main access points: four are located along Skyline Boulevard, with the final one being in Portola Valley. Traveling from SR84, you will encounter a small parking lot at Windy Hill Gate #1. This gives the fastest access to Spring Ridge Trail, which often has the highest probability for one of the favorite birds in this park: Lazuli Bunting. Walk the Spring Ridge Trail to the left from the parking lot. In about half a mile you will come to a cypress grove, once the site of a farmhouse. One or two pairs of House Wrens can usually be found in the summer. Look for them in the dead snags. This is one of only a few nesting places in San Mateo County. This is probably the easiest place in the county to find Lazuli Bunting (up to 5 pairs nest annually, generally arriving by the end of April and first weeks of May). The same conditions that attract the Lazuli can also produce vagrant Indigo Bunting: check your Buntings with care! The principal Windy Hill Preserve parking lot is a bit further south on the east side of Skyline Boulevard. It is characterized by open grassland, large rolling hills, wildflowers and native grasses. The open views are great for hawk watching year-round. Other birds at both these parking lots and adjacent trails include Lesser and American Goldfinches, Pine Siskin, Song and Savannah Sparrows and Bewick's Wren. This is a fine place to study native plants. In winter this is another good location for those erratic wanderers: Red Crossbill and Evening Grosbeak.

There are small stands of firs and pines that can lengthen your species list on a long hike in this park. The underutilized Gate #2, located south of the main parking area along Skyline Boulevard, gives access to some of the longest hikes, including Hamm's Gulch Trail and the Lost Trail. Gate #3, at the southwestern tip of the park, feeds directly into the Razorback Ridge Trail, which ends (twenty switchbacks and 2.7 miles later) at Alpine Road in Portola Valley. Both Gates 2 and 3 can yield deep woodland species, such as Varied Thrush in winter.

Many birders know the park primarily through its eastern entrance in Portola Valley. Sausal Pond is conveniently located just yards from the Portola Road parking lot. This pond is one of the better places in the county to look for Wood Duck, Hooded Merganser and Green Heron. Black-crowned Night-heron, Ring-necked Duck, and Pied-billed Grebe have also frequented this haunt. In some recent years (2003, 2008, and 2009), Sausal Pond has experienced a high-density growth of a water fern (Azolla), that turns from green to brown to red. The water fern has been mistaken for red algae, but the MROSD contends that it is native, safe, and good food for aquatic animals. The large mats that form are due to low rainfall and warm spring temperatures. The Ridge, Meadow, and Betsy Crowder Trails form a nice loop to the south of the pond, through a quick variety of habitats. There are some small stream crossings here, forming under-birded riparian corridors for potential migrants.

Whether you need a quick stop for some hard-to-find county birds, or a long hike for exercise, there is no better Open Space Preserve than Windy Hill for birders. Please contribute your insights about the park trails to continue to refine this entry.

Look For These Birds

Canada Goose, Wood Duck, Northern Shoveler, Mallard, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck (rare, winter), Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser (unusual), Ruddy Duck, California Quail, Wild Turkey, Pied-billed Grebe, Rock Pigeon, Band-tailed Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, White-throated Swift, Black Swift (migration), Vaux's Swift (uncommon), Anna's Hummingbird, Rufous Hummingbird (migration), Allen's Hummingbird, Sora, American Coot, Killdeer, Wilson's Snipe, Greater Yellowlegs, Ring-billed Gull, California Gull, Herring Gull, Caspian Tern, Double-crested Cormorant, Brown Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-heron, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, White-tailed Kite, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Great Horned Owl, Barn Owl, Northern Pygmy Owl (uncommon), Burrowing Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Western Screech-Owl, Belted Kingfisher, Acorn Woodpecker, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Red-breasted Sapsucker (winter), Pileated Woodpecker, American Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Western Wood-Pewee (uncommon, spring), Pacific-slope Flycatcher (migrant), Black Phoebe, Say's Phoebe, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Hutton's Vireo, Cassin's Vireo, Warbling Vireo (spring-summer), Steller's Jay, California Scrub-Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, Violet-green Swallow, Tree Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow (migrant), Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Oak Titmouse, Bushtit, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch (uncommon), Brown Creeper (uncommon), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, House Wren, Pacific Wren, Bewick's Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet (winter), Western Bluebird, Varied Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Wrentit, California Thrasher, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, House Sparrow, Orange-crowned Warbler, Nashville Warbler, MacGillivray's Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler (fall-spring), Townsend's Warbler (fall-winter), Hermit Warbler, Wilson's Warbler (spring), Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow (winter), California Towhee, Spotted Towhee, White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow (fall-winter), Dark-eyed Junco, Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak (spring), Lazuli Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Hooded Oriole, Bullock's Oriole, Tricolored Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Brewer's Blackbird, Purple Finch, House Finch, Red Crossbill (uncommon), Pine Siskin, Lesser Goldfinch, American Goldfinch.

Rarities Seen Here

In this guide, "rarities" are defined as those species given an County Abundance Code of 4, 5, or 6.

Greater White-fronted Goose (2014), Sandhill Crane (2010, hypothetical), Golden Eagle (2011, 2013, 2015), Rough-legged Hawk (2013, just on the west side of Skyline Boulevard), Black Swift (migration, 2018), Burrowing Owl (2014), Lewis's Woodpecker (2003), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (2019, 2020), Red-naped Sapsucker (2019), Hammond's Flycatcher (2010), Western Kingbird (migrant), Phainopepla (2010), Lawrence's Goldfinch (2012, 2014), Lark Sparrow (2006, 2019), White-throated Sparrow (many years), Bell's Sparrow (2018), Rufous-crowned Sparrow (2017), Green-tailed Towhee (2014, 2015), Evening Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting (2001, 2008, 2009, 2019), Nashville Warbler (2016)

Directions

The Skyline Boulevard entrances are located on the east side of SR35, south of the junction with SR84 (and south of Old La Honda Road; see separate entry in this guide). Reaching the Portola Valley parking area is easy from I-280. When traveling north on I-280, take the Alpine Road exit; go west on Alpine Road to the corner with Portola Road (there is a stop sign there). Take a right on Portola, and look for the MROSD sign indicating Windy Hill Parking to the left. When traveling south on I-280, get off at Sand Hill Road and travel southwest. Sandhill Road becomes Portola Road just past Jasper Ridge. Stay attentive for an equestrian center; after that, look to your right for the Windy Hill parking area. As you enter the parking lot, don't be confused by the locked gate ahead; the actual parking area is off to your left.

Fees

Use of Windy Hill Open Space Preserve is free.

Hours

Sunrise to an hour after sunset.

Hazards

The usual - ticks, rattlesnakes, poison oak, the remote possibility of a Mountain Lion. This park is heavily used, and has few dangers. Don't leave valuables visible in your car.

Facilities

There are restrooms at the Portola Valley/Portola Road parking facility, and at the primary Skyline Parking lot. The latter also has picnic tables.

Contact

Call the District Office at 650-691-1200; this is especially important for the longer trails in this park, since Lost Trail, Hamms Gulch, and Razorback Ridge Trails are subject to seasonal closures (these closures principally affect horses and their perched humans, but such a closure provides a signal to birders who don't like getting stuck in the mud).

Avian Research Status

Windy Hill Open Space Preserve has two hotspots in eBird, reflecting the two vastly different habitats immediately accessible from the west and east sides. The general hotspot, simply named Windy Hill OSP has data in all time quadrants, representing 160 species.

The Portola Valley hotspot is named Windy Hill OSP--Sausal Pond. It holds data in 47 of 48 time quadrants, with 120 species recorded. Back in 2009, there were only 12 quadrants filled for any hotspot in this park - good job, birders! Continue visiting eBird to record all your sightings.

The iNaturalist records for Windy Hill are also strong, and well-distributed between many naturalists. Check out the place marker here.

Sequoia Audubon has had three field trips to Windy Hill, in 2003, 2015 and 2016.