Residents of Marin, and the Bay Area at large, are understandably big fans of the diverse natural landscapes of the coast ranges: forests and woodlands, savannas and marshes, ocean coast and chaparral. It’s easy to forget about the subtly different natural world that can be encountered a short distance inland, in California’s Central Valley. Pop across Highway 37 (enjoying the bird-filled Napa-Sonoma Marshes along the way) and in 30 minutes you’re in another avian world. Have you seen shrikes, magpies and cranes recently? They aren’t far away.

Today, I’ll briefly describe a few promising areas of the Sacramento Valley suitable for an easy, bird-seeking day trip. First up as you travel from Marin is Rush Ranch Open Space in Suisun City, outside of Fairfield. This preserve offers a few unique birding opportunities, starting with one characteristic bird of the Central Valley nearly absent from Marin: the loggerhead shrike. Shrikes appear superficially similar in size and color to mockingbirds (gray and white, with bits of black), but are different in behavior, famously earning the nickname “butcherbird” for their predatory habits, regularly impaling prey, including insects, lizards and even mice and small birds, on barbed wire fences or thorns. I often see them right around the buildings and fences by the parking area here.

While there is a trail going out to the marshes, I also recommend the short Suisun Hill Trail for fine views and excellent hawk watching: These open areas host both golden and bald eagles in the winter, along with prairie falcons and ferruginous hawks. This raptor’s paradise is also well-stocked with the more familiar red-tailed hawks and kestrels, as well as non-raptor species such as meadowlarks, horned larks, Say’s phoebes and killdeers.

Continue up Highway 80 to reach the college town of Davis, home to several avian attractions. The most dependable is the California Raptor Center, a wildlife hospital with a large collection of outdoor aviaries holding non-releasable birds of prey: Stop in for free time with more than a dozen different hawks and owls. The town is also a hotspot for wood ducks, arguably the most beautiful of North American ducks, but a relatively scarce resident in Marin. Visit the Arboretum Walkway on the UC Davis Campus or the town’s West Pond preserve for a strong chance of spotting this often elusive species. Finally, the agricultural edges of Davis are as good a place as any for spotting yellow-billed magpies, fascinating birds that are found exclusively in California’s Central Valley. You might encounter them flying overhead in the Arboretum, gathering in oaks around Putah Creek or chortling in groves of trees as you drive through the quiet country roads that crisscross the surrounding fields.

A short distance outside of Davis on the way to Sacramento is the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, a large wetlands preserve with an auto tour loop as well as a few walking trails. While there are several such preserves across the Sacramento Valley (such as the Sacramento and Colusa National Wildlife Refuges), this is probably the easiest to get to and offers no shortage of birds. Even a quick 30-minute loop might present you with hundreds or thousands of Valley specialties like snow geese and white-fronted geese, as well as huge flocks of more familiar duck and shorebird species. Other less-frequently encountered birds for Bay Area residents include white-faced ibises and yellow-headed blackbirds.

One more species and spot deserves special mention: sandhill cranes, best encountered at the Cosumnes River Preserve in Walnut Grove, near Lodi. This is my favorite of the Central Valley’s avian attractions, magnificent birds with a nearly 4-foot height and 6-foot wingspan that fly overhead in majestic, trumpeting flocks and gather in the wetland preserve and adjacent fields. The preserve itself offers an attractive boardwalk trail from which you can view large flocks of waterfowl and other wetland birds (look for snipe!), as well as trails through a large valley oak woodland restoration site. While cranes may be spotted near the visitor center and boardwalk, more of these stars of the preserve are often encountered in the adjacent fields. Look along Desmond Road and Bruceville Road a few minutes away to encounter flocks of dozens of these prehistoric visitors from a wilder age.

Jack Gedney’s On the Wing runs every other Monday. He is a co-owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Novato and author of “The Birds in the Oaks: Secret Voices of the Western Woods.” You can reach him at jack@natureinnovato.com.