Читать книгу Afoot & Afield: Orange County. A Comprehensive Hiking Guide онлайн

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Start at the Audubon House nature center (open daily) by the parking lot, and pick up a free map. Naturalists offer regularly scheduled interpretive walks, and kids of all ages love the summer bat walks.

The most direct way to the heart of the sanctuary is to begin on Fledgling Loop, a broad dirt road starting by the parking area that leads between Ponds A–E. These ponds are used to hold treated water from the Michelson Wastewater Treatment Plant and act as emergency storage areas, but Ponds E and D are usually kept shallow to provide rare freshwater habitat for birds. These are favorite spots for bird photographers, especially in spring when shorebirds nest on the mudflat. (Note that visitors are required to stay on the established trails; don’t cut your own path down to the water.)

Watch for signs identifying the most common native plants along the trail, especially mulefat, California sagebrush, and coyote bush. Bladderpod and California wild rose are also plentiful. The three dominant trees in the sanctuary are willows (with long, skinny leaves), cottonwoods (with heart-shaped leaves), and sycamores (with white bark and hand-shaped leaves).