A visit to Shipley is more than a walk—it's a “sense-sational” experience. Feel the breeze through the trees, smell the sages and redwoods, hear critters rustling in the brush, and witness majestic birds like the Great Blue Heron landing gracefully on Blackbird Pond. Every step invites discovery.

Blackbird Pond

• In the summer, dragonflies and red-winged blackbirds can be seen at the edges of the pond. The dragonflies lay their eggs on the surface of water and eat mosquitoes. Red-winged blackbirds like to nest in the reeds.
• The pond provides important freshwater habitat for migrating birds. As birds travel long distances, they need places to stop, eat, drink, and rest, just like we do. 
• You might occasionally hear a booming horn noise from the reeds– you are likely hearing an American bullfrog. They are native to the east coast, but unfortunately are pests on the west coast because they compete with and even eat our native amphibians.

Pollinators in Bloom

• Spring and summer are the best time to see butterflies. Monarchs and swallowtails are large and noticeable, but you may also see smaller butterflies like blues, red admirals, and skippers. 
• Caterpillars are sometimes camouflaged and hard to find, but if you check a milkweed plant in the spring, you may see many black, white, and yellow monarch caterpillars enjoying a meal! Their bright colors are meant to warn predators they are poisonous. 
• While moths are less active in the daytime, you may see a few resting on walls or branches if you look closely. They can be brown or gray to camouflage with their surroundings. You might sometimes see a white-lined sphinx moth, which has a tinge of pink and can be as large as a hummingbird!
• While honeybees are not native to the United States, and can even compete negatively with our native bees, they are happy visitors at Shipley. While some of our native bees, like the sweat bee and leafcutter bee, are rather small and hard to notice, even the most casual naturalist can often notice the large Valley carpenter bee or yellow-faced bumblebee. 

On the Trails

• You may see the occasional hole or evidence of digging while on the trails. The burrows at Shipley are usually made by squirrels, but some holes are made by elusive moles. Raccoons, Virginia opossums, and striped skunks like to dig at night to look for grubs and insects to eat.
• Early in the morning, and especially in spring, you may see western cottontail rabbits among the shrubs. They are a little skittish, so loud talking or footsteps may scare them!
• On hot days, you may see western fence lizards on trailside logs or rocks, enjoying the sun. They can be brown, gray, or almost black, but the adult males are easily recognizable for their blue stomachs. Please don’t try to catch them! Like all of the animals at Shipley, the lizards are happiest when we leave them be.
• Do we have snakes? While snakes are a natural part of Californian habitat, neither staff or visitors have reported seeing a snake on the trails at Shipley. If you see a snake, give it space and wait for it to move off-trail, the same way you would do if you were hiking.

Oak Woodland

• If you hear a noise in the bushes, it’s likely a squirrel. We have California ground squirrels, which are a brownish grey, and the invasive eastern fox squirrel, which have a tinge of orange on the chest and face. Sometimes you might hear a sharp, repeated, piercing call– while it may sound like a bird, it is actually the warning call of the California ground squirrel to alert other squirrels to danger. 

In The Skies

• Sometimes the best place to see a bird at Shipley is by looking up. You can sometimes see large turkey vultures circling, or hear the distinctive calls of a red-tailed hawk. Since 2022, every early spring we have seen a bald eagle visit our redwoods for a few days. 
• Hummingbirds can be found perching at the highest tips of bare, tall branches. If you hear a tapping noise high up, you may look up to see a Nuttall’s woodpecker.

Nocturnal Visitors 

• While they don’t usually sleep at Shipley, many species of bats visit Shipley at night to eat insects. Bat biologists use special detectors to identify different bat species at night based on their unique vocal calls.
• Many of our mammals are very shy or inactive during the day while visitors are here– so we use a trail camera to try to catch videos of them at night. If you want to see what Shipley animals are up to after we close, check our trail camera monitor in the back corner of the Interpretive Center.

Insect Life

• Harlequin bugs are invasive orange and black bugs that can be found on bladderpod plants. 
• Many spiders can be found on our trails– if you see a spiderweb across the trail, you can always grab a stick and gently use it to grab one side of the web and attach it to a different branch. You may see large orb-weavers and banded garden spiders.

Coyotes are part of our local ecosystem. The coyotes at Shipley tend to be shyer than suburban coyotes because they have access to natural habitat and food sources. Coyotes at Shipley are sometimes seen briefly, but usually disappear back into the habitat within seconds.

Visitors are advised to:

• Stay on designated trails.
• Keep young children close.
• Respect all wildlife from a safe distance.

If you encounter a coyote and it approaches you, you are advised to:

• Yell at it.
• Stay in a close group.
• Wave your arms and make yourself look big.
• Throw wood chips or sticks at it if necessary.

Teaching wildlife to avoid humans and keep a safe distance by yelling or scaring it is called ‘hazing’ and helps keep both humans and wildlife safe.

Coyotes are commonly seen not just at Shipley and Central Park, but throughout Huntington Beach neighborhoods. The City of Huntington Beach provides helpful resources for coyote awareness and coexistence.