Audubon Bobcat Ranch: Conservation, Birding and Natural History Hike (New!)

Date: Saturday, May 2/ 9 am to 12 pm

Leader: Matt Allshouse, matt.allshouse@audubon.org

Description: Take part in this seldom offered opportunity to explore Audubon California’s Bobcat Ranch near Winters for a special birding and natural history field trip. Bobcat Ranch is a 6,800-acre working ranch that uses regenerative grazing management to restore and manage natural diversity in grassland and oak woodlands. It is Audubon California’s largest landholding and is the first certified Ranch in California under Audubon’s Conservation Ranching Program. The tour, led by program manager Matt Allshouse, will take folks through a diverse habitat of oak woodland, grassland, chaparral, and riparian. Hike your way from ranch headquarters up the Berryessa Mountains to a perennial spring, stopping for points of interest including: geology, soils, botany, and how these factors drive our phenotypic bird communities. Classic spring birds include Bullock’s Oriole, Lewis’s Woodpecker, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Western Kingbird and Lazuli Bunting.

Fee: $200    

Trip Size: 12

Accessibility

Distance: 2.5 miles

Trail Type: Steep uneven terrain, sometimes off trail, with 700’ elevation gain

Facilities: picnic tables and port-a-potty at meeting spot

Registration opens Saturday February 28th at 1 pm and closes on Sunday April 26th at 11 pm.