Redwood Region Audubon Society

Birding Hotspots

Mad River County Park

By: David Fix

This park offers the birder a combination of outer-coastal willow riparia and views of the muddy banks of the Mad River estuary, best for shorebirds at low water. To reach Mad River County Park, exit west onto the Giuntoli Lane interchange off Hwy 101 north of Arcata proper, then turn north onto Heindon Road. At 0.4 miles on Heindon, turn left (west) onto Miller Road. At 0.8 mile on Miller Road, turn right (north) on Mad River Road. At 2.7 miles turn right into a large parking lot with a bathroom and boat launch ramp. At the northwest corner of the parking lot, a trail winds through the willows, eventually allowing access to mudflats about one-eighth mile downstream from the boat ramp. Watch for roosting Barn Owls in holes in the high bluffs across the river. Black-capped Chickadees (common all year) often signify a mixed-species warbler flock.

American Redstarts have nested here, and good vagrants have included Philadelphia Vireo, Connecticut and Worm-eating Warblers, and Summer Tanager.

Redwood Region Audubon Society
P.O. Box 1054, Eureka, CA 95502
Last updated February 1999