Explore Around Richardson Bay Audubon Center
An Outdoor Connection For Everyone
Families, children, teens, and everyone inbetween will find the Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary a wonderful place to learn and connect with the natural world around us.
Richardson Bay is located just north of San Francisco in southeastern Marin County in the urbanized middle section of San Francisco Bay across from Berkeley. Much of the shoreline has been filled and rip-rapped, but a few sections are less disturbed. A small area in the northwest, Bothin Marsh, is managed by Marin County Open Space District. This wetland, along with the wetlands of Corte Madera, represents the majority of the tidal marsh habitat of west-central San Francisco Bay. Nine hundred acres of open water are protected as the Richardson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary under the management of the National Audubon Society, which has maintained a small interpretive center and sanctuary since 1958 on 11 acres of coastal scrub, riparian thicket and oak woodland.
Take a Virtual Tour of Richardson Bay Sanctuary
Visitors can wander around our center, observe the shorebirds and other wildlife, and hike our half-mile oak woodlands trail. Please leave no trace and pack out anything you pack in. Because our site is a wildlife sanctuary, pets are not allowed. Our sanctuary is private property, and entering the site when our gates are locked is trespassing.
Shorebirds, raptors, and waterfowl are visible on and around our 900-acre subtidal sanctuary by walking or bicycling the historic Richardson Bay Rail Trail. Leashed pets are allowed on the historic trail. Our sanctuary is closed to boat traffic and in-water activities, including kayaking and paddle boarding, from October 1st to March 31st each year to provide respite and shelter for migrating waterbirds.
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