ENCINITAS -- A new trail opened this week so that the disabled can use a popular location to watch birds and commune with nature.

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The trail is part of a miles-long network in the 1,000-acre San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve between Encinitas and Solana Beach. It includes a raised boardwalk that is 500 feet long and that crosses a willow-filled area that often is flooded.

The newest section of the network is part of a quarter-mile loop that begins and ends at the nature center parking lot on Manchester Avenue. The entire loop is flat and wide enough to comply with federal accessibility requirements for the handicapped.

"The great thing about this new trail is having that access for people with disabilities," Doug Gibson of the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy said Friday.

The crowning feature of the approximately $200,000 pathway is its boardwalk, built of synthetic boards made of recycled plastic.

Nick Basinski, a bird-watcher from San Diego who visited the lagoon Friday, said the new trail would open more of the reserve to more people.

Basinski toted a tripod fitted with a powerful lens. Binoculars hung from his neck, and his pack contained a field guide. He said he had come to look for ducks and pointed out a green-winged teal.

Also occupying the tidal channel near the trail were marsh birds in great numbers. Buffleheads, ducks with white patches on black backs, floated along the tidal channel near the trail. Along the channel's muddy margins, a marbled godwit poked its finger-length bill into the muck.

"I'm one of the few bird-watchers who's under 60," said Basinski, who is able-bodied. "The trails mean all of us can enjoy the habitat."

That's the point, Gibson said.

He said a similar, quarter-mile loop is expected to open in 2008 east of the visitors center.

At the same time, a new, $4.75 million nature center should be finished, county officials say. The 5,600-square-foot center would occupy the same area as the existing one, which will be removed. At the environmentally sensitive site, the two-story structure will be built for energy and water efficiency.

If the new nature center increases public understanding of the lagoon, so will the new trails, said county Supervisor Pam Slater-Price.

The county owns much of the reserve and is coordinating construction of the nature center.

In addition to providing access for handicapped people, the new trail will make lagoon walks easier for people pushing strollers, she said.

"For anyone with a mobility device, you can get right out on that trail," Slater-Price said.

One such person is a wheelchair-using acquaintance of Encinitas Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan, who said Friday that her friend, who has Lou Gehrig's disease, came closer to nature than he had in many years because of the trail.

"He wept a little," Houlihan said. "He said, 'I can't tell you how much this means to me.' "

Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 943-2312 or akaye@nctimes.com.