Discover & Learn

Get outside and explore your parks and preserves this spring.

Rangers Recommend

Rush Creek Preserve

Year-round, look here for herons and egrets near the water, chickadees and woodpeckers in the trees, and raptors in the sky. It's a favorite spot for migratory shorebirds. Enter the gate off Binford Road on to wide, easy sloping Pinheiro Fire Road, with Rush Creek Marsh Wildlife Area on your left. The road curves right, around Cemetery Marsh. Turn left to continue on Rush Creek Fire Road. At the junction, turn left again, and loop back using the North Levee Trail and back the way you came on Pinheiro. If North Levee is closed due to tidal flooding, just head back out the way you came.

4 miles
Mostly flat
Easy to moderate

Ring Mountain Preserve

This preserve's renowned wildflowers, including fields of poppies, lupine, buttercups, and iris are on full display in spring. On a clear day you will also enjoy spectacular views of the entire Bay Area. Begin at the Taylor Fire Road trailhead. Climb to Turtle Rock on Ring Mountain Fire Road, and connect to the Phyllis Ellman Loop Trail. Take the loop and then head back out on Taylor Road. To see the rare Mariposa lily, make a plan to return in late summer.

2.5 miles out and back
560 foot elevation gain
Moderately difficulty

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Naturalist Notes

Allen's Hummingbird

With numbers declining, sightings of this once common hummer are becoming increasingly rare. A well-tended hummingbird feeder might improve your chances. Look for the male’s distinctive red-orange throat and darker orange belly. They return from Mexican wintering grounds as early as January, then males put on an acrobatic show to impress females. Swinging, climbing, and diving through the air, they make a sharp squeal with their tails. After mating, pairs prefer to live apart. Females head off to wooded thickets, build a nest, and raise their young. Add observations of Selasphorus sasin to iNaturalist

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Volunteer Opportunities

Young girl planting native flowers at Creekside

Creekside Restoration

Marin County Parks and One Tam are enriching important habitat areas at Hal Brown Park and Creekside Marsh. This community-based effort is installing a diverse palette of native plants at a site once dominated by invasive grasses and weeds. This is just one of many opportunities for volunteers to help support thriving and beautiful ecosystems in Marin County parks and preserves.

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