The Sandy Shore & Aviary

Bat ray touch pool
Western sandpiper
Red phalarope
Bat ray and leopard shark
Burrowing anemone
Starry flounder

Investigate a world of mud flats and marshes rich with life, a place where long-legged birds ply the sands and flounders lie flat to keep from being found. Watch our birds forage for insects, just as they would in the wild, and gently touch the back of a bat ray as it skims along the bottom of our touch pool.

Exhibit News

Snowy Plover Chicks Hatch

Our first snowy plover chicks of the season hatched behind the scenes. Each year plovers in distress and abandoned eggs are brought to the Aquarium, one of the main rehabilitation sites for shorebirds in northern California. Our goal is to release these chicks to the wild!

View the slide show

Did You Know?

Abandoned snowy plovers are often brought to the Aquarium for treatment. We also incubate eggs, and newly hatched chicks are raised by exhibit birds.
Our bat rays don't shock or sting, and you're welcome to touch them gently. Or, get a "bat-ray's view" by looking through our underwater periscope.
Mud is the ghost shrimp's favorite meal. It eats a bucketful of earth every few weeks, and you can see them in action in our exhibit.
A squishy sea hare can reach 10 pounds. They're named "hares" for their ear-like appendages.

More cool facts