Mission Ridge
Map SatelliteThis area is primarily grassland, with many exotics, but there are areas of oak woodland with coast live and black oak, Quercus agrifolia and Quercus kelloggii, and, along the intermittent creek and in moist places, willows, Salix sp.
Mission Ridge, together with the area immediately to the north (see Mission Peak), is one of the best places in the Coast Range to monitor passerine bird migration. Not only is there a good cross-section of species but there are large numbers of individuals that pass through the area. Migrant warblers, tanagers, vireos, flycatchers, thrushes, horned larks, and sparrows are found in abundance during migration.
Integrity: Portions of the area have been grazed and farmed; however, the migrant birds do not appear to have been disturbed by these changes.
Use: Private
February 1981
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman