Don Edwards SF Bay NWR
South San Francisco Bay · near Fremont / Alviso · SF Bay Area
Wildlife Watching
At a glance
- Best season
- Oct–Apr for wintering shorebirds & waterfowl; year-round birding
- Open year round
- Yes
What is here
- Wildlife
- birds
- Species
- Shorebirds (avocets, stilts, sandpipers), ducks, egrets, burrowing owls, endangered rails
- Amenities
- First US urban wildlife refuge · Flat baylands & levee trails · Restored salt ponds · Visitor center & programs
- Best for
- Accessible urban shorebird watching
- Features
- Tens of thousands of shorebirds · Restored South Bay salt ponds · Flat, easy trails · Right beside Silicon Valley
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Hot, shadeless summer levees · Windy & buggy at times · Bring water & sun protection · Stay on trails to protect nesting birds
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Wildlife Watching detail
- Viewing
- trail
- Effort
- easy
- Habitat
- bay-estuary
- Sighting
- 4
- Viewing notes
- The urban Bay's great birding refuge — tens of thousands of shorebirds and waterfowl on restored salt ponds and mudflats, with easy flat trails right beside Silicon Valley
- Intl tip
- The first urban national wildlife refuge in the US, wrapping South San Francisco Bay beside Silicon Valley. Restored salt ponds and mudflats host tens of thousands of shorebirds and waterfowl (avocets, stilts, sandpipers, ducks), plus egrets, raptors, burrowing owls, and endangered rails. Flat easy trails and a visitor center — great for families and beginners. Summer levees are hot and shadeless, sometimes windy/buggy — bring water, sun protection, and binoculars. Accessible, abundant, year-round.
The guide
Wrapping the southern end of San Francisco Bay, the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge — the first urban na…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Don Edwards SF Bay NWR — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.5, -122.06