School and Group Programs
Mandala of the Seasons
Fall Mandala
Fall Weather
Fall is the most summer-like of all the seasons in the Marin Headlands. It is not nearly as windy as spring, not as foggy and cool as summer, and not as wet and rainy as winter. People often wear shorts and T-shirts. However, weather is unpredictable in the Marin Headlands, so pack warm layers and raingear for your visit.
Fall Animals
Each fall, the Marin Headlands hosts the largest congregation of raptors along the Pacific Coast. The birds are migrating south. On average, 25,000 hawks, eagles, falcons, and vultures are sighted each year by volunteers from the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory.
The raptors gather in the Marin Headlands for several reasons:
- Many are juveniles in their first migration and are using the coast as a marker for their flight plaths
- They use the Marin Headlands as a rest stop before flying the mile across the Golden Gate to San Francisco
- Inland winds hit the Coast Range mountains and create an updraft that carries them so that they can fly with less effort
The most common species are the turkey vulture, red-tailed hawk, sharp-shinned Hawk, and Cooper's hawk. If you are lucky you might spot the Swainson's Hawk, which migrates each year from Canada to Argentina.
Fall Plants
The coastal scrub of the headlands goes through subtle but significant changes in the fall. Many plants have already set seed,
cast out their next generation, and begun to decay. Perennials
have been storing their extra energy in their bulbs, roots,
and underground stems in preparation winter. Coyote brush is one plant that is busy producing in the fall. Its furry-looking seeds are dispersed by winds across the hillsides.
Fall Water
The hills of the Marin Headlands turn brown during the dry fall season. By fall, many of the streams in the watershed are dried up or flowing only at a trickle. The water level in Rodeo Lagoon generally declines since there is not enough precipitation to replenish water lost to evaporation. The salt is concentrated into the smaller amounts of lagoon water, and therefore the lagoon's salinity increases.
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