North Coast
- Castle Rock Wildlife Refuge: Sea kayak from Crescent City’s Pebble Beach out to Castle Rock National Wildlife Refuge, where you can view seals, sea lions and nesting birds in their natural habitat. You might also spot porpoises, sharks and gray whales and elephant seals.
- Roosevelt Elk in the Redwoods: Thanks to conservation efforts, visitors to Redwood National and State Parks can see herds of Roosevelt Elk flourishing in creeks, meadows and beaches.
High Sierra
- Yosemite Birding Walks: The Yosemite Conservancy offers custom half- or full-day adventures on Yosemite’s avian life, in areas such as Yosemite Valley, sequoia groves or the high country.
- Mono County Animal Encounters: The Mono Lake Committee offers a variety of field seminars, including twilight birding/owling hikes and even a “Birding Between the Breweries” tour. Rock Creek Pack Station offers multi-day horseback trips searching for wild mustangs.
San Francisco Bay Area
- Safari West: Stay in a luxury tent and do safari tours at this wildlife preserve—home to nearly 1,000 animals, including African antelopes, primates and birds from around the world.
- Tide Pool Talks: Held the second Saturday of each month through May at Doran Regional Park in Bodega Bay, this program offers hands-on learning about tide pool creatures, such as sea stars, hermit crabs, sea anemones, and more.
- Golden Gate National Parks Bird Sanctuary: The Hawk Talks and Raptor Release occurs on fall weekends, featuring hawk migration and identification talks and a releasing demonstration.
- Año Nuevo State Park: Take an Elephant Seal Guided Walk through one of the largest mainland breeding colonies in the world, now through March 31. Most adults leave in early March, but weaned pups remain through April. A few stay later in the year on this preserve, where visitors can also see otters, California sea lions, coyotes, cormorants, terns and more.
Central Coast
- Monterey Bay Aquarium: Guests can touch a jelly during the Jellies & Open Sea Tour, where guides take them to favorite spots and share insider stories about species they are working to protect. The Feeding Frenzy tour includes a private viewing of the sea otter feeding and training session, touring behind the scenes and feeding fishes.
- Vision Quest Ranch Safari Bed & Breakfast: Listen to lions and tigers roaring only yards from an African tent style bungalow B&B inside the Monterey Zoo. Take a private or public tour as well.
- Piedras Blancas Rookery: Located a few miles north of Hearst Castle, guests can see elephant seals for free from an observation area, year-round. Peak times to see larger populations of these giant seals are January, April, and October. Look for Friends of the Elephant Seal docents in blue jackets for insights.
- Bald Eagles in Paso Robles: Guests who hike or boat at Lake Nacimiento west of Paso Robles may spot bald eagles, as well as elk, deer, wild turkey and wild boar
- Stewardship Traveler Program: This award-winning San Luis Obispo County program provides more than 50 conservation activities such as citizen science ocean research in San Simeon Bay, stewardship sea kayaking in Cayucos, trail and habitat restoration in Montana de Oro State Park, historic lighthouse tours and preservation opportunities in Avila Beach.
- Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary: Visitors can journey into the world of wild horses at this 300-acre sanctuary for wild horses and burros, via special events, tours, photo safaris and programs scheduled throughout the year.
- Channel Islands National Park: Hikers can hike in this national park, just off the coast of Oxnard, to see a species found nowhere else on earth—the island fox, which is active during the day.
Los Angeles
- Santa Clarita Animal Sanctuaries: The Gentle Barn rehabilitates 130+ rescued animals and lets them stay to help visitors appreciate wildlife. Shambala Preserve offers safari tours with exotic rescued animals. Animal Tracks educates the public through animal encounters, while Shadowland Foundation houses hybrid wolves and educates people about their contributions.
- Malibu Wine Safaris: Sip local wines and see exotic animals during a tour of a vineyard and wildlife preserve, featuring everything from zebras and camels to giraffes and bison.
- Terranea Resort Animal Encounters: Guests can explore Palos Verdes wildlife at the resort, which supports preservation and offers free daily guided nature walks and educational meet and greets with their expert resident falconer. Now through May you can spot migrating whales.
- Heal the Bay Aquarium: Located under the Santa Monica Pier, this program includes a hands-on experience with more than 100 local species through 11 permanent exhibits, daily educational programs and activities. Touch tanks lined with sea stars, sand sharks, hermit crabs, sting rays and more.
- Aquarium of the Pacific: Several behind-the-scenes programs offer the chance to spend time with animal biologists and feed animals. The Animal Encounter lets guests choose among sea lion, shark, penguin, or sea otter programs. The VIP Experiences include three options programs, each with two animals. The Dive Immersion lets certified scuba divers interact with 600 fish.
- Vegan Animal Sanctuary Tour: Take a Mercedes Sprinter van with vegan leather to one of the top vetted L.A. animal sanctuaries, followed by a chef-prepared vegan picnic, dessert and more.
- Wolf Connection: This L.A. National Forest sanctuary provides Wolf Therapy” sessions to young people rehabbing from crime, drugs and gang activity, using rescued wolf-dog half breeds.
Orange County
- Fairview Park: This Costa Mesa park features five district habitat ecosystems, home to many rare and endangered plant and animal species such as the burrowing owl, snowy egret and fairy shrimp. Visitors can hike the trails on their own or take part in occasional Audubon-led tours.
- Art Lessons in the Wild: Renowned marine life artist Robert Wyland offers Whale and Dolphin Adventure Art Lessons in the Wild every Saturday through April 25. Kids ages 3-12 take an art lesson, then a two-hour whale watching trip from Dana Point.
San Diego County
- La Jolla Cove: This sanctuary provides stunning vistas of seals and sea Lions from comfortable viewing spots. Now through mid-May you might see seal pups at Children's Pool (Casa Beach).
- Sky Falconry and Fly with a Bird Parahawking: Guests can fly trained birds of prey, play field games with raptors and learn about raptor biology, conservation and the art of falconry.
- Lions, Tigers & Bears: Guests can tour this non-profit, no-kill, no-breeding rescue facility, which provides a haven for abandoned big cats and exotic animals, bears and educates the public.
- Children’s Nature Retreat: This 20-acre educational sanctuary features 80 animals from around the world including zebra, camels, Nigerian goats, alpacas and Scottish Galloway mini cows.
- Birch Aquarium: The Growing Up Seahorse tour takes guests through exhibits to learn about conservation of these unique fish, then behind the scenes to learn how their experts care for and breed seahorses. The tour ends with a visit to see tiny baby seahorses in the breeding room.
- Tijuana Estuary Visitor Center: Visit this essential breeding, feeding and nesting ground and key stopover point on the Pacific Flyway for over 370 species of migratory and native birds.