San Mateo County Birding Guide by Sequoia Audubon Society - Printed on October 30, 2026
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Ravenswood Open Space Preserve, located in the southeastern corner of the county, consists of miles of excellent bayside habitat, similar in its bird life to the famed Palo Alto Baylands. Level and, in many places, paved trails, provide easy access to the area. Clapper Rails are common here, and Black Rail has been both seen and heard. Common Gallinule, Sora, Virginia Rail and Wilson's Snipe have been known to reside in the large pond at O'Connor Street. Ring-necked Pheasant have their strongest hold in the county at this park, seen and/or heard on most visits. This would be one of the most popular birding areas in the county, except for its location in the most dangerous municipality in San Mateo County: East Palo Alto.
There are three principal entries to the area. The portion of Ravenswood Open Space Preserve located by the Dumbarton Bridge will be dealt with in the section on the Dumbarton Bridge. The other two entrances are at the end of Bay Street, where one can access the Cooley Landing area, and near San Francisquito Creek (the boundary between Santa Clara and San Mateo counties) at the end of O'Connor Street. These two areas are indicated on the map as parking spots; the hike between them is about one and a third mile long. Between them lies the Faber-Laumeister trail, which has some of the best bayside birding in the county. This is where, at least in terms of jurisdiction, the park becomes confusing. The Faber-Laumeister Trail is officially part of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The section of the park from the O'Connor Street ponds to Faber-Laumeister, as well as the area north of the trailhead, are officially part of the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve, despite being located in San Mateo County. Only the peninsula that forms Cooley Landing, and the bayland to the north of it, are officially part of Ravenswood. However, local birders refer to the entire area as Ravenswood, and, because of the county distinction, consider the area distinct from the Palo Alto park.
From the cul-de-sac at the end of O'Connor Street, walk through the gate. The pond on your left is best viewed by going left around the East Palo Alto Pump Station. On your way, check the bridge over San Francisquito Creek (the county boundary). Oftentimes there are good ducks in the creek. This bridge, which would take you into Santa Clara County, connects directly to the trail system of the Palo Alto Baylands. There is a golf course here which is particularly attractive to rare geese: when at Ravenswood, watch all geese flying overhead! Also, start checking the abundant power poles in the area for raptors, especially in winter: American Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, and Red-tailed Hawk have all been seen here. The pond itself can contain ducks, grebes, shorebirds, and the aforementioned rails. The salt marsh on the other side contains Common Yellowthroat, Marsh Wren, Song Sparrow, and Clapper Rail. Listen for the Ring-necked Pheasant: they like this first stretch of paved trail.
As you proceed north along the paved trail, just past the pond you will see, to your left, East Palo Alto's Martin Luther King Park. This has playing fields, much loved in the morning by larids, corvids, blackbirds, Canada Geese, and occasionally the Ring-necked Pheasant. The same mix can be found on the schoolyard another quarter of a mile north.
The Faber-Laumeister trail includes muddy channels on either side. It ends at the bayside; depending on the tide, you could have a feast of shorebirds. It is worth bringing a scope to boost your species count here: the birds are rarely identifiable with binoculars alone. The channels are excellent in winter for both Green-winged and Cinnamon Teal, American Wigeon, and Clapper Rail. Unusual birds seen here include Cackling Goose, Greater White-fronted Goose, Eurasian Wigeon, and Lesser Yellowlegs. This trail is unpaved and relatively narrow; it can be muddy after extensive rains, but nearly always brings some gems to the intrepid birder.
The main trail north of the Faber-Laumeister trail, ceases to be paved in a little while. There are times here when the trail hugs the fence. However, this is where you have a legitimate chance of exploring for Black Rail (they might be found along the Faber-Laumeister Trail, too, but those who have seen them here have found them closer to Cooley Landing). Finding Black Rails is never easy. Extremely high tides in winter give you the best opportunity; but the same conditions also give Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, and even larids, the chance to pluck your desired life bird right out of the waters! The advantages to looking for this elusive bird at Ravenswood are two: almost no one else is looking there, and the bird will be seen by you in San Mateo County! The disadvantages are that there is no central viewing spot (as there is at the Palo Alto Baylands), and with few others looking, no one can announce the bird if they see it before you. But for birders who like a challenge, Ravenswood is a great site for your next Black Rail expedition.
The Cooley Landing parking area gives access to a 1.3 mile one-way trail through salt marsh. Cooley Landing is itself a peninsula which has some trees and vegetation on it: it should be a migrant hotspot, but has not been thoroughly explored for this potential. This is because most of Cooley Landing is locked and rarely accessible to birders.
This is an ideal park to bird by bicycle. The paved trails at both Cooley Landing and at O'Connor Street are also excellent for birders in wheelchairs. In addition to the two principal parking areas mentioned, it is also possible to park at the end of almost any street abutting the park; most of them have more-or-less formal pathways onto the main trail. This includes Martin Luther King Park at the end of Daisy Street, Beech Street, Cypress Street, Garden Street, and Runnymede Street. This last street is where the East Palo Alto Charter School is located. This gives the most direct access point for the Faber-Laumeister Trail.
Canada Goose, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Canvasback, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Surf Scoter, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye (uncommon), Ruddy Duck, Ring-necked Pheasant, Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Eared Grebe, Western Grebe, Clark's Grebe, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-heron, Turkey Vulture, White-tailed Kite, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Ridgway's Rail, Virginia Rail, Sora, American Coot, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Spotted Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Willet, Lesser Yellowlegs, Long-billed Curlew, Marbled Godwit, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Snipe, Ring-billed Gull, Western Gull, California Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Foster's Tern, Black Skimmer (rare at this location), Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, Anna's Hummingbird, Black Phoebe, Say's Phoebe, Loggerhead Shrike (uncommon), California Scrub-Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow (uncommon), Bushtit, House Wren, Marsh Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Northern Mockingbird, California Thrasher (quite rare at this location), European Starling, American Pipit (rare here), Cedar Waxwing, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler (fall migrant), California Towhee, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Brewer's Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow
In this guide, "rarities" are defined as those species given an County Abundance Code of 4, 5, or 6.
Greater White-fronted Goose (2013, 2014, 2017, 2021), Cackling Goose (2020, 2021), Eurasian Wigeon, Redhead (2010), Common Gallinule, Black Rail, Bar-tailed Godwit (1998), Red Knot, Little Gull (1991), Dusky Flycatcher (2020), Western Kingbird, Tropical Kingbird (2020), Mountain Bluebird (2023), Great-tailed Grackle (2011)
To reach the Cooley Landing Section, get off US 101 at University Avenue, go east, then turn right on Bay Road. Follow Bay Road to its end; it goes through an industrial area and looks unlikely to end in a park, but persevere! To reach the O'Conner Street Ponds, exit from US 101 onto University Avenue going east. Turn right quite soon on Donohoe Street. Follow this around the giant IKEA store; the road becomes East Bayshore. Just at the end of the shopping center, turn left on Clarke Avenue. Take a right at the stop sign onto O'Connor, and follow it to its end at a cul-de-sac. Park along the cul-de-sac; the gate is just ahead of you to the east.
Ravenswood Open Space Preserve is free.
The official hours of the park are 8:00 am to sunset, but access is perpetual.
The principal drawback of Ravenswood Open Space Preserve concerns the neighborhood of its location. East Palo Alto has an unenviable reputation among Bay Area locations for crime. Personal safety is, frankly, an issue here. The author of this description has often birded here alone, but always with an abundance of caution. The trails are used by families, dog walkers, and bicyclists, and there are almost no areas of cover from which someone could assault a birder. Yet there are also times when it feels very isolated. I would recommend not leaving valuables in one's car, and not flashing all of your most expensive optic equipment.
More of an annoyance than a hazard, the Palo Alto Municipal Airport's take-off path goes right over the salt marsh. Just when you are listening for a shorebird's call, or picking up a skulking sparrow, another private plane drowns it all out, including your thoughts. The noise seems to increase the further down one walks on the Faber-Laumeister Trail.
There are no facilities at Ravenswood - no bathrooms, no vending machines, nada. There are plenty of places to purchase food and use restrooms - the shopping plaza along Bayshore enroute to O'Connor Street has an array of fast food emporia and a Starbucks; along University Avenue enroute to Bayshore, there are numerous local casual eateries.
There is no ranger station at Ravenswood, and because of all the different jurisdictions for the area reviewed here, there is no truly central number to contact. The Midpeninsula Region Open Space District can be contacted at 650-691-1200; for emergencies, call for a MROSD ranger, on duty 24 hours/day, at 650-968-4411.
Ravenswood Open Space Preserve is a hotspot in eBird. Currently nine of forty-eight calendar quadrants have data entered in them, representing just under one-hundred species. By contrast, the contiguous Palo Alto Baylands has almost 200 species reported, with data in every quadrant. The bird life at Ravenswood could rival its neighbor if birders visit and enter their sightings at eBird.
The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO) is conducting a long-range study of gull movements in the Bay Area. California Gulls have been leg-banded with plastic colored bands. If you see any of these gulls, please note the leg and the color of the band; if it is possible to read the number on the band, record that also. This information can be shared directly with Carly at SFBBO (cschacter@sfbbo.org). If the birds also have a metal band, and you can read that number, too, please report that to the National Bird Banding Lab.
Sequoia Audubon Society has sponsored only one trip to Ravenswood, back in the 1980s.
Author: Jennifer Rycenga, Uploaded: