City: Imperial Beach, CA

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (619) 575-3613

Address: 301 Caspian Way

Description: A bird-watcher’s delight, this 2,500-acre salt marsh reserve boasts more than 370 species of birds, including a dozen endangered species. The landscape of buckwheat and lemonadeberry bushes is generally unremarkable, but the 3.5-mile South McCoy hike skirts marshy wetlands with many birds and ends at the beach. There’s a visitor center that has exhibits on local ecology and the species of birds you’re likely to see. The center offers easy, one-hour guided nature walks at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. Junior ranger programs (kids ages 7 through 12) reflecting various nature-related themes happen Thursday afternoons.Winter is the best time to see migratory waterfowl; in springtime acres and acres of chaparral-covered hillsides are blanketed with colorful wildflowers, putting on a display that only Mother Nature could create. The visitor center is open daily.