What are formally known as Baldwin Creek Beach and Lombardi Creek Beach, many locals (and some maps) call 4 Mile Beach and 3 Mile Beach, respectively. This popular surfing area, now the western part of Wilder Ranch State Park, includes extensive stands of willows, small lagoons, ponds and marshes, sandy beaches and rocky shoreline, cypress patches, coastal scrub, and coastal agricultural fields. In addition, miles of trails traverse the hills inland of the highway, crossing extensive grassland, scrub and forest.
Directions. To reach Baldwin Creek Beach, the most frequently visited birding area in this site, walk to the coast from a large, unimproved parking area along the ocean side of Hwy 1, 3.6 miles from Western Dr (1.8 miles north of the main entrance to Wilder Ranch SP). To go directly to Lombardi Creek Beach, park 3.1 miles from Western Dr (limited parking) and walk out the dirt road toward the coast. A loop may be made connecting these areas by walking from one beach to the other along the coastal bluff and returning by farm roads or the railroad tracks.
An underpass under Hwy 1 just north of the Baldwin Creek parking area leads to miles of trails in the inland part of Wilder Ranch State Park.
Birds. The most direct route from Hwy 1 to Baldwin Creek Beach is a trail that leads from the northwest corner of the parking area, crosses the railroad tracks and passes along the eastern edge of the marshes and willows along Baldwin Creek to the beach. Brushy areas paralleling the railroad tracks are reliable for Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in fall and winter. Also check for migrant passerines on either side of the tracks for a few hundred yards west of the trail crossing. To enter the western part of the Baldwin bottomlands, where there are a couple of ponds, walk west along the tracks and take a path leading left down into the basin. Then return eastward along the tracks to the main trail and resume your trek.
The marsh and ponds in the bottoms have Virginia Rail, American Bittern (rare), various ducks, Marsh Wren, and Common Yellowthroat. The path along the west side of the basin can be very good for various sparrows in season, including Swamp and Lincoln’s. The lagoon at the creek mouth, if not disturbed, attracts small shorebirds in fall. The beach is among the county’s best for studying numerous species of wintering gulls; they visit the nearby landfill but often stage here. Scan the sea here for scoters, guillemots and other seabirds.
A large reservoir with tule marsh can be found by following an unmarked trail up through the back beach dunes and willows southeast of where the main trail meets the beach. This trail leads to the Ohlone Bluff Trail along the bluffs, which runs down the coastline to Lombardi Creek Beach. Winter-roosting Tricolored Blackbirds may be seen at the reservoir at dusk as they gather on telephone wires, and check for Swamp Sparrow where clumps of willows grow along the northern and eastern margins of the reservoir. The Ohlone Bluff Trail passes agricultural fields, small stands of cypress, and coastal scrub. It has fine views of the rocky intertidal zone and coastal waters. The fields, trees, and scrub attract raptors (Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, Northern Harrier) and migrant landbirds, and there is a chance for interesting sparrows (Clay-colored is regular in fall). Scan the plowed agricultural fields for Franklin’s and Bonaparte’s gulls in spring, and for American Pipit, Horned Lark (rare), and Tricolored Blackbird in fall and winter. The coastline offers rocky shore birds, nesting Pigeon Guillemot, and various other waterbirds of inshore waters. Black-vented Shearwater may be seen from this bluff in late fall in some years.
Down the coast, the Ohlone Bluff Trail comes to Lombardi Creek Beach. The small beach and its marsh, and adjacent riparian thickets, scrub, and weedy roadsides are all potentially birdy. From here the trail turns inland to Hwy 1 by a riparian restoration area established in 2001 in the bottomlands just south of the highway. Enter the bottomlands via a dirt road on the right close to Hwy 1, and search for landbirds. Yellow-breasted Chat nested here in 2003. Walking inland from the beach and bluffs, you can also turn east at the railroad tracks, cross the drainage, and turn back to the coast to continue toward Wilder Beach, or turn west on the tracks and return to Baldwin Creek.
In spring, keep checking plowed fields for Franklin’s Gull. 0.8 mile past the Baldwin parking area is Hwy 1 milepost 24.13. Park here on the ocean side of the highway to scan the plowed fields.
Inland of Hwy 1, miles of trails offer access to extensive grassland habitat as well as scrub and mixed evergreen forest. This area produces all the species likely in such habitats, and is good for raptors year round (including Peregrine Falcon), and White-throated Swift.