Bird Rock is situated along the 17-mile drive in Monterey, CA. It's a beautiful spot to observe various birds, seals, and sea lions resting on the same rock, about three to five hundred yards offshore. This location provides visitors with a great opportunity to see wildlife up close in their natural environment. Unfortunately, the fog rolled in quickly and was thick during our visit, making it hard to see the animals clearly. The area offers parking for 20 to 30 vehicles, along with clean men's and women's restrooms. read more

See all

8/18/25 and this guy claimed this as His Rock Simply, beautifully stunning! Slowly driving through this wonderful scenic route, we stopped at Bird Rock. You can't mistake the smell once you're there, bird poop! But the view is spectacular as you listen to the crashing waves against the rocks Leave no trace behind, keep this place as pristine as possible for the rest of the visitors & Mother Nature. Enjoy the lovely sights read more

Bird Rock - 8/18/25 and this guy claimed this as His Rock - Beaches Near Me - Pebble Beach, California

See all

Beautiful spot in Pebble Beach to take a stroll and enjoy the magnificent ocean views! If you're checking out the entire 17 mile drive, this is a great spot to stop and get out at! We really enjoyed it here and also got some great photos. 5 stars for sure! read more

Of the stops on the 17 Mile Drive, this is one of my top 3 stops. Beautiful views of the ocean and bird rock. From a distance, it's hard to tell just how many birds are actually perched on the rock until you use a camera to zoom in or have some binoculars. They have completely taken control of the rock. Look at the base, and you'll also see seals cozied up on the bottom. We only stayed for a few minutes, but it is a worthwhile stop for a gorgeous view. read more

Bird Rock - Beaches Near Me - Pebble Beach, California

This trip was in the late 2020 in the fall and its the prime time to visit Monterey, due to the weather mostly sunny no fog, and tourism season has drastically gone down. As many visitors always wanted to do the 17 mile drive trip, we decided to take an late evening photo trip to catch the beautiful Monterey sunset and we did just that! Bird rock is essentially a few large rocks of the seaside, where many birds call home aka bird rock. Parking: There is very limited parking all along this area, mostly little dirt turn offs, and when there is no fog, expect a good turn out of people to be camping in your cars enjoying this great view! Parking is very competitive lol. Overall: A fantastic place to enjoy natures wonders, with fantastic view of the sunset and the beautiful birds flying back home before the sunsets. read more

See all

I mean it's not that much to do or see here. But if you are into life and just appreciating the small things and nature itself, check out this tour! I was with a group along with my husbae and this was a featured stop on the tour. Gorgeous!! I have owned a few pet birds in recent years, so I love birds, big and small and this rock was perfect to just watch them do their thing. It may have been other animals nearby, but I mainly saw birds. On this particular day, some months ago, they were a bit chatty. I think they were talking about me and how I was freezing looking at them. So yeah... if you get cold easily or just want to be safe than sorry, bring a jacket or blanket. Because I promise a few miles away it was not cold at all. The temperature will change quickly. But oh what a joy and a great picture opp. Have fun and enjoy life :) read more

See all

One of my most favorite points of the 17 mile drive and probably the only one that presents a view of the wonderful wildlife comprising of seals, sea-lions as well as birds. I'd recommend keeping aside 30 minutes for this place and also bringing along a binocular to be able to view the sea-lions as they're at some distance and might not be totally visible to the naked eye. read more

See all

Listed #7 on the 17 Mile Drive map. Up until harvested for fertilizer in1930. Bird Rock was covered five feet deep in bird poop. Which is why my wife calls it Tird Rock. Hopefully, it's not because it's the only bathroom on the 17 Mile Drive. There's still bird poop from the pelicans and cormorants that hang out there. The cormorants literally hang there because they have to airdry their feathers. Be sure to bring binoculars if you want to see what they have been eating. If you're lucky you may also see California sea lions or harbor seals near the waterline, sea otters floating in the kelp beds, the spouts of grey whales (from Nov-March), and kids being bitten by the squirrels they tease. read more

Nice beautiful spot. Bring binoculars if you want to see anything. You can see birds and sea lions here. One of my fav stop of 17 mile drive. Views are amazing and perfect to get some nice clicks . Parking is also easy. It's amazing to see how so many birds want to be together in 1 small island. Nature at its best. It does gets cold though so would suggest to keep a jacket . read more

See all

Bring binoculars. There's a ton of sea lions to see. It's pretty amazing. Its a great spot to get a full vantage of the sea, the golf course, and the wild life. I didn't think I'd like this stop, but I did!! There are lots of eager critters trying to grab some food - chipmunks, I think. They are NOT shy! I'm afraid of these things - I had a bad experience with one and it scarred me for life (we won't get into that). read more

Bird Rock - Literally hundreds of birds and sea lion on this rock. - Beaches Near Me - Pebble Beach, California

See all

Bird Rock may not be the best view in 17 mile drive. But it is one of the best stop for relaxation if you don't want to pay and enjoy the coffee shop or restaurants in one of the hotel resorts location. The parking lot is very big and clean in front of the ocean with thousands of birds on the big rock or flying around. Very impressive! Bird Rock parking lot is one of the very few parking lot have restrooms. The restrooms are located in the end, close to the exit of the parking lot. The restrooms are clean! Many parking spaces available included large parking spaces for RV and tourist buses. You can plans to stay here for a little longer than the other location! read more

See all

I love this area. This is a beautiful spot to watch birds and (loud) sea lions! It does get foggy and cold, so make sure to bring a jacket. read more

See all

Smelly stupid tourists! and the birds smell, too! There's a sign that says DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS and the tourists from the tour bus think its fun to feed the squirrels, make the squirrels beg for food, and take pictures of them. One day I hope one of the rodents will bite them. The stupid tourists also climb on the rocks, stand on the fence, and run in traffic. I'm waiting for an accident to happen, and for the Pebble Beach community to get sued for stupidity that the tourists do. There's tons of birds, otters, and squirrels. It reminds me of the movie "The Birds"... too bad none of them attack the dumb tourists. read more

Bird Rock - Birds and other marine creatures - Beaches Near Me - Pebble Beach, California

See all

Bird Rock is a pretty well known spot in Pebble Beach. Once there you can see different species of birds, some seals and sea lions. There is a huge rock a few hundred meters out towards the Pacific where most of the sea lions hangout on and this place offers a row of stand alone binoculars (not sure if there is an actual word for these but will find out - see photos). Decent spot to stop at although we went yesterday and there were a lot of people on a cold rainy Sunday including a huge tour bus. We weren't there to check out the scenery as I've lived here most of my life but we stopped here before heading to Seal Rock (next door) for a casual wedding. read more

See all

One of the many fascinating stops along the 17 mile drive. Be sure to take along the binoculars if you want to see anything. You wonder why so many animals would want to get packed in like sardines in a can all on one tiny island rock. But there is not an inch of space between them and they seem to like that. A great place to see nature happening. And the birds have it all to themselves with no humans interfering with them. And I dont blame them. read more

One of my favorite spots to see birds and seals at Pebble Beach. I love the area. It's very active with wildlife and such a great quick stop for my family. Come early and walk along the nearby beaches. You'll see the seals sunning and they also follow you while they play in the ocean while you walk the beach. Please remember to stay away from the seals and don't try to touch them. We had several people try this during our most recent visit. They are wild animals. If you have questions or concerns call the marine rescue. read more

Bird Rock - Seals following us along the beach during our morning walk. - Beaches Near Me - Pebble Beach, California

Beautiful views!! Really neat to see and you'll know why they call it bird rock when you get there! read more

Bird Rock - Beaches Near Me - Pebble Beach, California

***************************** 1383 *************************** Bird Rock is a good stop if you are in the area. A perfect spot to chill, picnic and wild life watching. Just don't come on the weekend, it's too much tour bus tourists and cars... You won't even find a parking spot. I was here for the Monterey Car Week 2015 with Bentley private dinner. The sun setting view was amazing... It was quite quiet at night. But once it was over, it was so dark, that we couldn't see the ground to walk back to the parking lot. Some of the the cooks and chefs from the catering company had to use flash light to walk us up. Strange set up! Absolutely there was no light here at night! read more

Great area with fantastic ocean views and plenty of wildlife. Where the forest meets the ocean. There are several places to pull off and take amazing pictures. There are many dream homes throughout the drive as well. read more

I come to Bird Rock all the time to look out at the beautiful scenery and relax. All throughout the year you can see (and definitely hear) sea lions from a distance. Bird Rock has a small beach you can walk down to as well. This spot in Pebble is generally pretty crowded. People feed the squirrels and seagulls all the time but I don't recommend it! read more

When planning your first adventure into California's wonderful coastal towns of Monterey and Carmel, there's one thing that everyone suggests you must ABSOLUTELY DO: The 17-Mile Drive. This tourist attraction is essentially a whirlwind tour of the most scenic and gorgeous locations along the Monterey Peninsula. There's 21 points of interest on the 17-Mile Drive (yes it's actually 17 miles) that are unique and worth visiting for various reasons (https://www.pebblebeach.com/content/uploads/17miledrive-map-20170920.pdf). One of the spots that you HAVE TO SEE is Bird Rock. Bird Rock (officially labeled as Stop #10) is located towards the western end of the 17-Mile Drive. Regardless of where you choose to enter (there are five points of entry), you will most likely encounter Bird Rock during the middle of your tour. Personally, I recommend starting either at the Pacific Grove, Country Club, or Morse Gate entrance and then heading west because the best parts of the 17-Mile Drive are directly along the coast. If you ever get lost, just follow the signs. You literally stay on 17-Mile Street throughout the whole experience. Out of every stop that my girlfriend and I made, the best one HANDS DOWN BAR NONE had to be Bird Rock! Whether you are an aviary aficionado (bird lover), or just an admirer of nature, you are going to find something special about Bird Rock. At this state landmark, you'll find an INSANE number of birds (apparently 180+ species, https://www.pebblebeach.com/insidepebblebeach/pebble-beach-a-playground-for-wildlife/) ranging from your average seagulls to giant pelicans! Don't worry about struggling to capture the moment with your camera because there's so many birds flocking around that it would be IMPOSSIBLE to miss one. If you're not into birds, I guarantee you will love the scenery. The waves are pretty calm, the rocks are MASSIVE, and can you believe there's also seals + sea lions here too?! Also, there are telescopes that will allow you to see marine animals in the distance. In my opinion, Bird Rock is THE prime location for relaxing and enjoying the view during the 17-Mile Drive. Just make sure to watch out for the bird poop! When planning your visit, there are three things you should keep in mind. First off, admission is $10.25 (not sure where the quarter comes in) and they ONLY TAKE CASH. Second, I highly recommend bringing a jacket because it gets really windy next to the shore. Third, it's best to come around fall or spring to avoid the fog. Luckily, you won't have to worry about parking because there's plenty of spots along the street. Even though HELLA tourists come by, you shouldn't have TOO MUCH trouble if you are patient. My girlfriend and I were able to pull right up when we arrived. If you only have the time to visit one stop on the 17-Mile Drive, I highly recommend checking out Bird Rock. Here, you will get a perfect bird's-eye view (get it?) of the best wildlife that the Monterey Peninsula has to offer. Plus, the view is pretty spectacular! In the end, I promise you will get your money's worth. For those reasons, I have to give Bird Rock an "omg, I'd travel 2 hours for this" rating. Have fun and prosper, read more

One of the stops in 17 mile drive. Why is it called bird rock? Is it in the shape of a rock? No. Simple, it's just a giant rock that a ton of birds like to sit upon. I shutter at the thought of how much bird poop must be on there. Make a stop. Take your pictures. Enjoy the annoying sounds of the sea birds. Be on your merry way. read more

This is one of the points of interest on the famous 17 mile drive, which costs $9.95 to traverse. At bird rock, there is lots of wildlife to see, but a bit smelly :P read more

Not as many birds at this time of year...and the seals are closer than at Seal Rock! Lotsa critters around who are unafraid of begging for food, because they know the tourists will feed them. The stupid spotting scopes cost $.25, and last about 53 seconds. Gotta remember to bring my own binoculars/spotting scope! read more

Bird Rock is nice way to putting the actual "white" covered peaks of the rock out in the Pebble Beach description. Dont feed the animals, but ppl do it anyways. The muskrats are not afraid of you and will walk up to 3 inches from your foot and stand on its hind legs hoping to get food. read more