For a quick visit the area near the entrance from El Carro Lane has a nice mix of habitat. For a longer visit one can bird from Via Real to the south to the locked gate near Foothill Road to the north.

A convenient way to access the site is to park at the western end of El Carro Lane, then walk west and bird the paved bike path to the south or the dirt access road to the north. In each case one is birding along the eastern side of the channelized Santa Monica Creek channel. South of the El Carro Lane entrance is suburban habitat, including a few tall flowering eucalyptus trees, bottlebrush, and a cape honeysuckle hedge popular with nectar-feeders on the west bank of the creek just south of a pedestrian bridge.

Warblers, hummingbirds, and orioles in the part south of El Carro Lane; sparrows and oak woodland species to the north.

A paved bike path between Via Real and El Carro Lane, and a dirt path from El Carro Lane north to Foothill Road, is popular with bicyclists and dog walkers. The northern (dirt) portion of the path is somewhat less-frequented, as it passes through agricultural parcels on either side of the creek.

Vegetation includes hedgerows, live oaks, eucalyptus, and a few sycamores.

In the past there has sometimes been a small homeless encampment midway between El Carro Lane and Foothill Drive.