Grizzly Island & Suisun Marsh
Suisun Marsh · near Fairfield / Suisun City · SF Bay Area
Wildlife Watching
At a glance
- Best season
- Fall–winter for waterfowl & raptors; late summer for elk rut (check access)
- Open year round
- No
What is here
- Wildlife
- land-mammals · birds
- Species
- Tule elk, wintering waterfowl, raptors, river otters, shorebirds
- Amenities
- Tule elk herd · Vast Suisun Marsh wetlands · Wintering waterfowl & raptors · Wildlife-area drive & trails
- Best for
- Tule elk & wetland bird watching
- Features
- Largest West Coast brackish marsh · Free-ranging tule elk · Waterfowl & raptors · Quiet wetland drives
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Seasonal closures for hunting · Hot, buggy, shadeless in summer · Remote gravel roads · Keep distance from elk (esp. rut)
- Good for a first timer
- No
Wildlife Watching detail
- Viewing
- drive
- Effort
- easy
- Habitat
- wetland
- Sighting
- 3
- Viewing notes
- The largest brackish marsh on the West Coast — a tule elk herd, wintering waterfowl and raptors, and river otters in a vast wetland maze east of the Bay
- Intl tip
- The largest brackish marsh on the West Coast — Suisun Marsh, east of the Bay where the rivers meet the tide. The Grizzly Island Wildlife Area holds a reintroduced tule elk herd (late-summer rut brings bugling bulls), river otters, and, in cooler months, wintering waterfowl and raptors, much viewable from the car. But it's a working wildlife area with seasonal hunting closures — check access first; summer is hot, buggy, shadeless, and roads are remote gravel. Bring water and binoculars, keep clear of elk.
The guide
East of the Bay where the great rivers meet the tide, the Grizzly Island Wildlife Area sprawls across Suisun Marsh — the larges…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Grizzly Island & Suisun Marsh — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 38.15, -121.94