Its diversity of land and water birds plus its history of producing vagrants and rarities have made this state beach very attractive to birders. A large pine grove, areas of live oaks, willow riparian, and a sandy beach support many resident and visiting species. There are day use facilities and a campground. A birding excursion here may be extended to the nearby Porter -Sesnon Parcel, state park land described separately below.
Directions. Take the Park Ave exit off Hwy 1, and go south one short block to its intersection with Kennedy Dr/McGregor Dr. To drive into the park (fee), turn left on McGregor Dr to the entrance road. Alternatively, park along Kennedy Dr and walk in for free along the path at the southeast corner of its intersection with Park Ave.
Birds. Near the park’s entrance kiosk a trail leads through willows, pines and oaks to the campground. This path usually has a number of riparian and evergreen forest birds. Check especially along the railroad tracks (use caution: trains pass about twice daily) as far east as there is riparian habitat, and be sure to bird the oaks on the slope south of the tracks. Residents such as Purple Finch and Chestnut-backed Chickadee are joined in spring by, for example, nesting Allen’s Hummingbird, Western Wood-Pewee, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Swainson’s Thrush, and Orange-crowned and Wilson’s warblers. Among the wintering species are Hermit Thrush, Fox Sparrow, and Winter Wren. This part of the park can provide great birding during migration, and numerous vagrants have been found here.
The campground is in a mature grove of planted Monterey pines (some dying from pine pitch canker) and Monterey cypress, mixed with native coast live oaks and understory species. Residents include Hairy Woodpecker, Pygmy Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Pine Siskin, and Purple Finch. Townsend’s Warbler (usually common), Red-breasted Sapsucker and Nuttall’s Woodpecker winter here. Irruptive species such as Red-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Red Crossbill are numerous some years. Birding in this campground is best from October to April, when fewer people are around. The eastern part of the campground is often closed to campers in winter, and then it may be quite birdy. The northwestern part of the pine grove is away from campsites and several large snags there attract woodpeckers and other cavity-nesters.
A path from a parking lot just west of the campground leads to the beach, and so does a trail leading down from the campground itself. This beach gets crowded on summer weekends and holidays, but early mornings are good even then. In addition to the usual sandy-shore birds, Wandering Tattler sometimes appears here in late July and August and again in the spring, and Black Turnstones work the kelp wrack when it is abundant. At low tide check for Spotted Sandpiper near the cliffs at the west end of the beach. Sooty Shearwater (often huge flocks as evening approaches), Heermann’s Gull, Brown Pelican, and Caspian and Elegant terns grace the summer scene, and a variety of gulls are present in winter. From August to October look for Pomarine and Parasitic jaegers harassing terns just offshore, and for Marbled Murrelet. Wintering Red-necked Grebe, Black Scoter, and Greater Scaup sometimes swim just offshore among loons and Western Grebes.