Palo Alto Duck Pond

Beautiful quaint pond nestled in rolling greenery of paloalto. Mysterious varieties of birds, ducks and its awesome to once in a while relax an evening here close to nature while enjoying the evening with birds and quietness that’s often lacking. I like coming here just by myself or with a friend and i always every single time feel relaxed and calm. It’s more an extension of Shoreline Park and Lake just across the road. Only gripe is sometimes people feed the ducks in spite of being labeled not so as it disturbs the harmony in them and they rush around the area which scares me if they would hurt each others for food. Just a small note for everyone please do not feed the birds and help maintain the ecology.

My stepdad asked me to take my Mum here to feed the ducks. I did not realise we were NOT allowed to feed the birds. A ranger came by told me not to. I somehow missed the signs, but they’re old, faded. There were kids enjoying the birds. I saw lots of seagulls, ducks and pigeons. No geese today.

The signs that said not to feed the birds aren’t there anymore, I guess they realized that if you don’t feed them then they will leave and you won’t have a duck pond anymore, or nobody listened anyway so they realized if you enforce that, nobody will ever come back, only went back this one time after many years, just to see if the signs were still there, if they were then I wouldn’t bother coming back.
What that other person said about being attacked, if you don’t bother them, they won’t attack you, unless of course you have food and you don’t share it with them. Don’t plan on eating your lunch in front of them, if you want to eat your lunch, stay in your car with the windows up.
When it comes to geese, you walk by and don’t even look at them. Never try to get close to them. For Sea Gulls, just don’t throw food from your car, you else you will have a scratched up car, and of course don’t let those birds get to close to you because they will steal the food out of your hand and you might get hurt.

There is a reason they say «don’t feed the ducks». This large cement pond is overrun with aggressive seagulls and geese. From the moment you get out if your car the seagulls begin to form a solid cloud about 10 feet above your head hovering as if deciding whether to land on your head. Then there are the geese. There is one incredibly aggressive goose at this park — a white Chinese goose (you’ll know him by the large ball on his head). He attacked my leg grabbing hold with his beak and beating me with his wings. I was grateful I got between him and my 5 year old. Other parents shared that he has bitten their children too. I believe part of the problem is that they were feeding the ducks. All in all this is not a relaxing place to visit and I wouldn’t recommend bringing small children here — at least as long as the guard goose is there.

The pond is at the end of Embarcadero Road, next to the Baylands Nature Preserve. Due to its close proximity to the bay and the nature preserve, it definitely feels more natural than your average municipal pond. I’ve come here a few times to photograph the ducks and gulls that frequent the pond. Since it’s not too large, I am able to walk around the perimeter of the pond to get closer to the birds, so I can shoot with a 70−200mm lens rather than the 400 mm or longer typically used for bird photography. The water is also quite clean, allowing for a nice blue background behind the birds.

Little Duck Pond next to the Palo Alto Airport. Good place to reconnect with nature and stroll around in the mids of corporate world. Beware of the duck poos when walking cause its everywhere.

i frequently run along the trails of the baylands nature preserve and i’ve found that adding a loop around the duck pond is a nice way to break up the scenery as i get to see my two-​footed «fowl» friends playing in the water. nothing against my fellow four-​legged bipeds, but change is always nice, especially when i’m out there for a couple of hours knocking out my long marathon training runs. the duck pond is always very quiet and very peaceful and centrally located so that i can still see the entire area surrounding the baylands. there is a small parking lot adjacent to the pond, so if you wanted to just come and see the ducks without running from another point along the trail, you could do that. just watch out where you’re stepping as the ducks don’t use a proper bathroom like we humans do!

It’s interesting to see a lot of ducks. It’s near the Palo Alto Nature Preserve, so it’s nice to run/​hike/​bike there and stop by this place as well.
I roadbiked in Palo Alto Nature Preserve and stopped here and saw Palo Alto airport, and biked to Mountain View. It’s not 5-​star scenery but nice place.

This pond is a pleasant find. Now, I did take the time to read other reviews of this city run duck pond. They really made me chuckle. All the complaints about bird poop. Do people think that there should be a porta-​potty for birds? I have news for these reviewers, the birds won’t use it. They may seem tame; they do like to eat the bread that people feed them. However they are wild and free and it would be loosing battle to successfully clean up after them.
There were not a lot duck and geese enjoying this pond. I would imagine that with the protected Baylands Park shoreline nearby that there are other places for them to go. Although there are a lot of signs saying not to feed the birds it not seem to stop people from giving them bread.

The pond is located in a beautiful setting however the pond itself is gross and neglected. There is bird poop all over the place. The benches are old and covered in poop and everywhere you step is too. It reeks of poop! The water is murky and all the ducks and pigeons are clustered on the edges rather than swimming. I wonder what the quality of the water is. There was a dead goose on the side of the pond that looked it had been there forever. The area needs a serious wash down.

The fact that a city has enough money to have a recreation area for ducks is probably a good sign financially.
According to the Association of Bay Area Governments (
), «The concrete-​lined pond was originally a saltwater swimming pool when it was built in the 1930’s, but because of siltation problems, it was converted into a bird refuge in 1947.» The pond is home to geese, gulls, pigeons and two dozen species of ducks.
A fountain in the middle sprays water over the 8.5 million gallon pond. There are benches under trees around the perimeter, as well as a wide path that circles behind the pond, around a fenced-​off area that serves as a refuge for injured waterfowl.
Two small parking lots are accessible off Embarcadero Road, and the San Francisco Bay Trail runs by on the other side of the road. The Palo Alto Airport is located right next to the pond, and it can be fun watching small planes coming in for a landing.
This is a nice place out in the Baylands to take your kids to for an hour, or to stop and rest your legs on a bike ride up the Bay Trail.
Finally, people often feed the birds, but there’s actually a sign (one of those educational signs) that says not to feed them because it messes up their natural feeding and creates competition and stress. It’s easy to miss the sign, since people often don’t read those. The city needs better signage if they really care to discourage people from feeding the birds.

This used to be a salt-​water swimming pool, and you better believe it because they did not put a fountain in the middle for the ducks and geese. They could care less.
This tiny, sectioned off pond is full of shy ducks and aggressive geese and a few tag-​a-​long seagulls and pigeons. Watch out for bird poop.
The Palo Alto airport is right next door, so you will have a front seat view of the coming and going planes.
A gross part of the pond is that a strong smell of rotten-​eggs can be smelled in the direction where the bay lays. So be forewarned about going near that area of the pond.
Overall, I enjoyed the bird watching and it is quite peaceful here with the occasional sound of an airplane’s engine or a quack here or there.
It is apart of the Baylands Nature Preserve, so there is a lot to do around this area. You will not be bored for a good several hours, maybe even days. =)

I’ve long gone to the small pond by the Menlo Park library to see some ducks. Sometimes there are a few there. But at the Palo Alto Duck Pond you will see tons of ducks, a variety of geese, gulls, and lots of well-​fed pigeons. It wasn’t even the prime season for migratory birds! In the surrounding area there are a variety of other marsh-​dwelling birds — my favorites were the avocets with their upcurved beak.
Part of the area surrounding the duck pond is fenced off as a «sanctuary», though plenty of the birds choose to settle down and sleep in the parking lot. As you walk around the pond you might notice some old fountains and tile work — remnants of when this was the Palo Alto Harbor and actually got a lot of traffic and money, I guess.
Right around the pond there are a few signs, though they mostly tell you to not feed the birds. Come on guys, don’t do it. If you venture farther into the Baylands area — such as towards the sailing pier — there will be other signs going into the details of the marsh ecosystem.

Spent so much time here as a kid… Thank you, loving parents! =)

My GPS would not let me input more than 3 out of 4 street numbers so instead of being able to input 2775, GPS only showed up as 277 = not helpful at all. Thankfully, I have gotten off at Embarcadero Exit off of 101 going West towards Stanford Mall Shopping center many times in the past before so I took East going the opposite way. Reading other Unilocal reviews in regards to the location/​direction, once I passed the Golf course (looked more like practice shots with the black net), followed by Palo Alto Airport, which has planes similar to Cessna’s flying in/​out and then, came to a stop sign at the very end of the road like a «T» as someone else stated before and made a Right turn.
You drive passed the opened gates and you will see 1^st parking lot to the pond with the ducks and there’s a white structure on the right if you didn’t turn into the 1^st parking lot. There was a portable potty in the 2^nd parking lot around the stretch and there were so many ducks along with birds that were my waist height and it’s been a long time since I’ve been around ducks/​geeses, but these birds here, you could tell they have «trust» in humans and they were friendly. Once they seen that you had food, OMG! Watch yourself.
It was the first time my son had came face to face with these ducks/​geeses and we found a bench in the middle between parking #1 and #2. We had our drinks in a handheld cooler, a bag full of snacks/​sandwiches and I also picked up a Med sized pizza from Fast Pizza in Mountain View, which I was going out of the City from a haircut appt I had earlier on. Lets just say, it’s been a very long time since I’ve been in Mountain View area.
Today was SO gorgeous outside and warm too! There were other adults in their cars just chilling back. Plenty of parking since it was Friday early afternoon and everyone else were/​are at work so win/​win for us. And, we got to see airplanes flying in/​out. It was just a relaxing day for both of us and I didn’t want to leave, but with the traffic on our way home, we left.
I have read one review from 2008 where someone stated that feeding ducks could get you a fine, but I didn’t see no signs about not being able to feed at all unless I missed them somehow? I waited to see if anyone fed those ducks and I saw 1 mother with her toddler in parking #1 — which majority of the ducks flew over there. haha In parking #2, which I was in, this older lady also fed ducks with the Park ranger on sight (he pulled up in his truck) so I brought my old bread bag out from the passenger seat floor and I fed them out of my driver’s window. My son, he was scared and freaking out in the back seat saying, «Close the windows, close the windows!!» He actually thought a duck was going to fly into our car. Poor thing. I’m sure one day, he’ll outgrow his fears of ducks/​geeses surrounding him and one day, he’ll be able to feed these ducks himself. hehe

This duck pond is pretty big and cute, the surrounding area is not bad either.
I would stay longer and go there more often if it doesn’t smell as much: P

Pretty cool pond with lots of ducks and geese and pigeons. There are so many there it’s pretty insane. It’s like an aviary up in there!
It’s interesting and definitely a kid-​friendly place. My friend and I were just driving around and we chanced upon it after seeing a huge pond with birds all around it.
Because of the large numbers of birds though, the vicinity does have a familiar avian stench. And lots of bird dookie on the floor.

The Palo Alto Duck Pond is a unique place for precisely two reasons: the ducks (and geese, pigeons, and seagulls) that call this place home, and its proximity to the Palo Alto airport. From the back of the duck pond, you can spy plane after plane coming in for a landing.
Aside from this, the duck pond is rather windy and the birds can get downright aggressive especially if they see you carrying food.
If you wish to go for a run, park somewhere else (Byxbee Park is a decidedly better starting point) or else you may find some bird nesting in your engine compartment when you get back.

I’m almost afraid to Unilocal this place b/​c I don’t want other people to find it. But I guess if you have kids and you’re in the area, you’re bound to find this place sooner or later. Had it not been for my older cousins, I probably would have never found it (they suggested that I take their kids here last weekend while I was babysitting).
It’s a cute, little pond with lots of ducks. if the weather didn’t drastically change by 5pm, we would have stayed a lot longer. Once the kids finished feeding their loaf of white bread, we were out of there.
I’m sure this place gets packed on nice spring, summer days. I like that there is ample parking everywhere, though. And it looks like a cool place to walk around and explore — with or without kids. I will definitely be back.

Ducks, pond, bread, poop.
Next time you eat soggy bread, remember «duck pond.» That’s what we have been calling soggy bread since I was a kid and went to the Palo Alto Duck Pond. My kids call soggy bread «Duck Pond» and I’m sure when I have grand kids and they experience the Palo Alto Duck Pond they will call soggy bread «Duck Pond» as well.
When I was a child of about 5 years old I almost fell in to the Palo Alto Duck Pond trying to get up and close to the ducks. I remember being grabbed by my shirt just as I got close to falling in.
«DUCK POND!»