On October 13, a Stockton Record photographer stood at the Woodbridge Ecological Reserve west of Interstate 5 and photographed sandhill cranes that had already come back for the winter. The Stockton Record's photo report ran the next day and noted that thousands of cranes migrate to the Central Valley. That was more than three weeks before the festival that most people link with the birds.
The 28th Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival runs November 6 through 8 at Hutchins Street Square, 125 S. Hutchins Street. It's worth the trip. It also squeezes a season that lasts months into three days and a few dozen bus seats. If you live in San Joaquin County, the season is the bigger event, and you can reach most of it on any evening you choose.
What the Festival Weekend Has Left
The festival tours went on sale September 8, 2026. By mid-October, all three Staten Island Crane Fly-in tours were sold out. Those are the small-bus trips onto Staten Island's private working farmland that leave from the Staten Island Silos at 20250 North Staten Island Road. The Friday and Saturday fly-in tours at the Woodbridge Ecological Reserve were gone too. The Sunday listings still showed 2 seats in the North Unit and 16 in the South Unit. Seats open and close daily, so check the festival tour finder before assuming anything.
The festival itself doesn't need a ticket. Admission is free. Visit Lodi lists hours of 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, November 6, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Pre-festival tours run Wednesday through Friday for anyone who wants to start early.
Many of the daytime tours aren't about the evening fly-in at all, and they're easy to miss next to the crane tours:
- Sustainable Vines, Wines, and Wildlife: a naturalist-led walk through the LangeTwins vineyards and wildlife habitat, $30 at 9 a.m.
- Birding Beneath the Oaks: a birding and wildlife walk with David Yee at Jessie's Grove Winery, $40 at 9:30 a.m.
- Eagles and their Environment: a Pardee Reservoir cruise with naturalists to look for golden eagles, bald eagles and other raptors, $58 to $65 at 8 a.m.
- Delta Birding Cruises: several boat departures across the weekend.
- Sandhill Cranes with Paul Tebbel: a Delta drive with the crane expert to watch the birds feed, then stay for the evening fly-in, $40 to $50 at 3:30 p.m.
Book the daytime walks during the festival. The fly-in you can see on your own schedule.
The South Unit Is Open Every Evening
The Woodbridge Ecological Reserve, also signed as the Phil and Marilyn Isenberg Sandhill Crane Reserve, has two parcels. The North Unit, with its crane-viewing shelter, is open only on docent-led tours. The South Unit is open to the public. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife puts it plainly on its crane tour page. You can view cranes at the South Unit any evening, and you don't need a reservation.
You do need one thing. Everyone 16 and older needs a CDFW Lands Pass or a current California fishing or hunting license on hand. A one-day Lands Pass costs $5.66 when you buy it online as a guest, and there's also an annual pass. The cheapest Woodbridge South tour on the festival calendar costs $23 to $30. The pass costs about a quarter of that and works on any night the pass covers.
From Lodi, take Interstate 5 north to the Turner Road exit. Go north on Thornton Road, the frontage road, for about a mile to Woodbridge Road and turn left at the Isenberg reserve sign. The South Unit pullout is about 2.5 miles down, on the left. CDFW puts the drive at about 30 minutes from Stockton.
Here's how a weeknight visit goes, using CDFW's own guidance:
- Arrive before sunset. CDFW calls sunset the prime time for the fly-in all fall and winter.
- Use the viewing mound. A short concrete ramp leads to the top of the South Site mound, and there's viewing right next to the parking area.
- Drive farther west if you like. Woodbridge Road passes grain fields and marshes where cranes feed, and it dead-ends within 6 miles.
- Stay in your car on the road. It's a working farm road, and in fall the grain trucks move fast on a narrow lane. CDFW suggests flashers if you're going slowly or pulled over, and it asks visitors not to trespass on the reserve or the private land along the road.
- Plan the stop. Both units have accessible portable toilets. For anything more, CDFW points to Flag City, just south at the junction of Interstate 5 and Highway 12.
Dogs can come along if they stay in the car.
When You Want the North Unit Shelter
To get into the North Unit viewing shelter outside festival weekend, book one of CDFW's docent-led tours. CDFW runs them on the first three weekends of each month from October through February. Festival weekend is the exception, when tours are booked through the festival site. Each tour meets at the South Site 90 minutes before sunset for a docent talk. The group may caravan along Woodbridge Road, and the tour usually ends about half an hour after sunset with the fly-in, watched from the North Site shelter. Tours run rain or shine. CDFW notes that the cranes get especially animated in storms.
The deadline that matters is the booking date. Reservations open on the first working day of each month, for the following month's tours. The two CDFW pages give different start times. The crane tour page says noon, and the Woodbridge reserve page says 9 a.m. November 1 falls on a Sunday this year, so December tours should open on Monday, November 2, four days before the festival starts. Check the morning of the 2nd to be safe. The November dates CDFW lists after the festival are Saturday, November 14; Sunday, November 15; Saturday, November 21; and Sunday, November 22.
The CDFW page still shows an old banner saying registration is closed for 2025–2026, just above live links to the 2026 dates. Go by the dated links. Questions go to [email protected]. After you register, buy a Lands Pass for that date, because docents check for it at arrival. CDFW also asks groups to stay until the docent leads the caravan out, because headlights can disturb cranes as they land.
| Way to see the fly-in | What it takes | Cost per adult | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodbridge South Unit, self-guided | No reservation; Lands Pass or license | $5.66 one-day pass | Any evening |
| CDFW docent tour, North Unit shelter | Register when the month's bookings open; Lands Pass | Pass required | First three weekends, Oct. through Feb. |
| Festival Woodbridge South tour | Festival booking | $23 to $30 | Nov. 6 to 8 |
| Festival Woodbridge North tour | Festival booking | $33 to $40 | Nov. 6 to 8 |
| Festival Staten Island fly-in | Festival booking | $33 to $45 | Nov. 6 to 8, sold out mid-October |
The Season Peaks After the Festival Ends
The festival comes early in the season. The Cosumnes River Preserve's crane guide says cranes usually arrive in late September and peak in mid-December, with the most flight activity at sunrise and sunset. That guide dates from 2020, so read it as the usual pattern, not a promise for this year. Still, a mid-December evening on Woodbridge Road with no reservation can match anything on the festival calendar.
The preserve has its own options. Its homepage lists the boardwalk and lower lot as open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the upper lot as open until 6:30 p.m. The preserve is day-use only and allows no pets except service animals. The crane guide also describes roadside viewing on Desmond Road and Staten Island Road. On Staten Island, the paved public road turns to gravel, and public travel ends near the water-tower turnout. The levees, farm roads and fields past that point are private.
What's Planned for Staten Island
That gravel stretch is where the next change is coming. The San Joaquin County Planning Commission unanimously approved a 2,875-square-foot viewing platform at Conservation Farms & Ranches on Staten Island near Thornton. The site is on North Staten Island Road, between Walnut Grove Road and the Mokelumne River. The Lodi News-Sentinel reported that The Nature Conservancy, which bought Staten Island in 2001, plans to name the platform after Dawit Zeleke, a former employee and the founder of Conservation Farms & Ranches. Plans call for a shade trellis, a parking lot with a bus turnaround and loading area, and a portable restroom. The platform would sit on raised ground over the fields and hold up to 80 people at a time. The county's staff report on the project is dated June 18, 2026.
Eli Ferrier, speaking for The Nature Conservancy, told the Lodi News-Sentinel why the platform is needed:
"We have several thousand users who come onto our farm to watch the Sandhill cranes and other birds of the Pacific Flyway. They are exposed to our farm roads, which are narrow, gravel-sided, and have steep ditches. This is creating a place where they can go instead of just anywhere."
No opening date has been announced, so for this season, the festival's Staten Island bus tours are still the guided way onto the farmland. Woodbridge Road is still the way to go on your own, on any evening between now and February.
Sandhill crane season is one of my favorite things about calling this part of California home. If you catch the fly-in on Woodbridge Road this fall, I'd love to hear which night you went and how the birds came in. And if you're thinking about a home closer to the Delta, where crane season is part of your everyday routine, Amy Thomas is glad to help you look. Let's Connect.
