CSUN Pond

Wasn’t able to find parking nearby, so only experienced the pond at a distance driving around the extended perimeter. We did locate it, and have a better idea how to approach it the next time we’re in the area.
Were scouting for a (free) place to go to hang out for a bit of time with our grandson. Now we have to make it work logistically. Am glad others have shared their reviews so we even knew it existed.
Anyone have parking tips for those who aren’t registered students?

A little of a getaway from the busy campus. I always go feed the ducks and turtles every week. (A small place where you can enjoy the area of wildlife) I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I enjoy going here. Just to relieve the stress and take a break from the books.

Nice little place. There’s a lot of ducks and turtles. Omg! The turtles already know when you’re about to feed them. They start following you. It reminded me of the movie finding nemo where the seagulls keep saying mine, mine, mine! There’s a little machine that you can buy food for them. Just make sure you have quarters because there’s no change machine. My little one enjoyed it.

The CSUN pond is a great option to go if you are feeling stressed or obnoxious. Whenever I come to this place I feel in peace and in contact with nature. This pond is like a retreat for students. I try to go once every month, because it makes me disconnect from my daily routine. It is sad that many students do not know the existence of this wonderful place.
If you come to the pond, you would be able to see turtles, ducks, and some squirrels. The first time that I went, I was not expecting to see turtles. My friend and I were studying last week, and we decided to take a break and go to the pond. We were feeding the turtles, when we realized that we were there for more than two hours. However, it felt so good been able to appreciate and see how animals act when they see food. There is always something new that you can see in this pond.
Whenever I go I sit in the bench, close my eyes to hear the birds, the ducks and turtles in the water, and the wind blowing the orange trees. I encourage every single student to do this. Doing this activity once in a while helps you to understand and feel in touch with nature. Coming here makes me realize that no matter how many essays I have, it is important to always take time to relax and appreciate the nature that surround us.
I have to admit that the pond sometimes has a weird smell. However, that factor does not discourage me from attending this small paradise. I am also a little bit concerned about the animals. I would like to know if someone takes care of them or checks them often. You should also bring quarters to feed the animals. Please do not give them junk food, the animals do not have our same metabolism. The CSUN pond is a wonderful place!

It saddens me to have to give this a 3 star rating, because if this were just 3 or 4 years ago I would have given it 5 stars. It used to be lush with clean water, and I’d love coming here with the kids and feeding the ducks. Now it has absolutely disgusting water, looks barren, and has a feeder that is ALWAYS broken, so you can’t even buy any food to feed the ducks. It looks as if they’ve stopped caring for this pond, which is a shame as it was very well put together and was an absolutely beautiful pond before. It’s fun to come here once in a while to visit the ducks but usually we would rather visit some other park or pond.

I’ve always been exceptionally proud of being a CSUN Matador, partially due to this gem that’s hidden away from the other 35,000 students.
The pond is a retreat center for students stuck in the midst of finals with nowhere to go.
Stop by, put a quarter in a machine to get some good to feed the ducks and turtles.
Really relaxing, and quite enjoyable.
CSUN SHINE

Usually come to the pond to feed the ducks, turtles and the squirrels. Nice place to relax and study.

DEAD TURTLES Everywhere! Wth? So sad. I brought my daughter to feed the turtles and ducks and was horrified by what we found. Do not bring your children! CSUN shame on you for not keeping the pond contaminate free.

Beautiful amazing place to bond with your spouse and very relaxing at the same time, buy bread for the ducks! It’s adorable

Turtles are so friggen adorable and playful. It might stink sometimes, but its a great place to go to take your mind off of things.

I love this pond so very much. It’s a pleasant place to sit or to just let your mind rest from the crazy world around you. My only reason for a star less, is the fact that the pellet feeder is always either empty or broken. Really wish the school could provide us with one that doesn’t look like its from when the school first opened in 1955. Also maybe having a few of them & someone to monitor when contents get low. Other than that this area truly is lovely to see all the animals & smell the orange blossoms!~!

The Pond! Many CSUN students don’t know that it exists. It actually is pretty big, it starts from a little waterfall to the large pond. In the Spring you see the ducklings with the mother Duck around the pond. There are a variety of animals. ducks, turtles, fish, frogs, and a variety of plants. There are classes that do studies using the pond, because of its growth.
It’s a great place to bring kids, also a good place to relax or go for a walk. There are plenty of benches near the pond, but also many around the Orange Grove area in general to sit around and enjoy the day. You can bring your own food to feed the animals, but they also have food there, just remember to bring quarters. The evening there are a few lights around to show you the paths, but I would recommend bringing your own flashlight. It’s a good area to visit, it’s also safe because its on the CSUN campus.

#3 of 100– Yes, there is a pond at CSUN and it’s easy to access! No matter which side you enter to reach the pond you can’t miss the smell of citrus and the protected historical site of orange groves.
Valencia oranges surround the pond of ducks and slider turtles and is a peaceful place to check out. Perfect place to bring your little one to chill out on a park bench, rock or grass and/​or take a stroll.
Picking oranges is permitted.

This pond is the worst pond I have ever been to. If you come during the day, it is super hot. There are a lot of trees, but they are all short so they provide no shade whatsoever. The benches are strategically placed in areas with no shade coverage so if you sit on one you’ll burn to death. If you want to sit near the pond next to a tree for shade you’ll have to face the fact that there is no grass. You’re going to have to sit on dirt.
As for peaceful and quiet, it is the opposite of that. It might not be crowded, but there are always people there, including kids. The last time I went there was a child throwing rocks and that little bastard almost hit me. The adults in charge of him, two ladies, were just talking to each other and didn’t even try to calm the kid down.
There are also so many ducks. Green headed ducks, brown ducks, white ducks or geese, whatever they are, all inhabit this little space. The pond is like 50 feet long and there are hundreds of ducks. Ducks are the worst. They smell like s#!% and their quacking is really annoying.
This pond is not beautiful. The water looks disgusting. It is a solid green color and it is not even see-​through. Only the top of the rocks that are in the water are visible and the bottom is hidden by the ugly green water. Like mentioned earlier, there is no grass either. The ground is all dirt with a couple shrubs on the sides of the pond.
The only good thing about the pond were the turtles. Turtles are cool. If anybody hates turtles they deserve to die. The pond has so many turtles. I’m sure there are even more than I saw because you can’t see if there are turtles under the water, due to that disgusting green color.
There are two reasons why I give this pond two stars. They are because turtles are awesome and because I saw a duck humping another duck. It was pretty funny. Looking at how aggressive they were, if they were people, it would have been considered rape.

Great place to bring the kids! Especially since it is FREE but you do have to pay for parking. So, park on the street.

I’m so glad CSUN fixed up their pond area and made such a great place for students and neighborhood kids/​families to feed so many ducks and a bunch of ninja turtles (seriously, there are probably 100 of them and a few are biiig!)!
Tip: BYOF (bring your own feed). A man gave me a bag of Cheerios since he was leaving and couldn’t feed the rest to the animals. Thanks kind man! Now, I have a box in the car «just in case» we have time to visit.

This place is awesome to have on campus. I have been here for 5 years and never knew about its existence?! I’m so excited that it is part of the school.
Families come by and bring bread to eat. The animals are pretty well trained and automatically know that when they see people they start swimming over. I wish there was a place that we could leave some info about it. They was a hurt white duck and a baby duck looked like it was attacked and no longer had the use of one leg. It was awful to see them struggling.
There is a machine by the pond that takes quarters to feed the turtles (.25 cents for a handful). Although it got stuck when we were there, but think someone was able to fix it. The ducks end up eating the turtle food.
The orange trees surround it and you can help yourself to the oranges

So beautiful and peaceful! Great place to take the kids !!!
I don’t have to drive to Balboa Park for the kids to feed the ducks!
Park on Nordoff street between Lindley & Zelzah and walk through the orange orchard. You’ll discover the quietest, lovely, and serene landscape. The ducks are quacking loudly and waddling along in the pond. The squirrels are running and hiding in the trees.
There’s a little vending machine for duck food. Make sure you bring quarters. My kids absolutely loved this place. I brought lunch and we sort of had a picnic. Just be sure to pick up after yourself!

So we the taxpayers must have spent a small fortune for this little slice of a Nat Geo
microcosm aka the CSUN Pond. I for one am thankful to see California tax dollars hard at work to bring a smile to children and adult faces alike. it is a freebie to partake you just need to pay for coin operated metered parking or grab a spot on the street (that can be a challenge). On the weekends it’s not too crowded or at least the times we have visited.
It is a relaxing way to spend 20 minutes or a few hours depending on your attention span. The Pond is nestled inside the Orange groves, left over from the days when the Valley was filled with orchards and groves. They do have a small dispensary for duck feed but it’s best to bring bread or similar to feed the various creatures that will be looking for a hand out. Geese, ducks, coy, turtles, cranes and the plethora of squirrels will all want a little something. The pond is bustling with activity.
Spring is in the air and man have the critters been procreating. Ducklings are everywhere and turtles are in nearly every size imaginable.


Several large coy may surprise you.
Nature on a budget and it’s easy to get to as long as the summer heat is not in full effect.
A nice little slice ‘o nature without having to navigate a huge park, zoo or
the like. Nice job CSUN on getting it right.

Love, Love, Love the CSUN Pond. I’ve heard about this place but never had the opportunity to go until last week and I’m sooo happy. The duck pond is so cute, lovely beautiful ducks with cute little turtles swimming happily waiting for you to feed them. They even have a duck feeder that you can purchase food from.
The pond overall is just a nice beautiful habitat, my son had a great time looking at the ducks and feeding them. We even saw a cute lil bunny rabbit that was playing with my son, my son kept chasing after it and the bunny would stop and than run away as he would get closer it was too cute, wish I had my camera rolling.
Overall the CSUN pond is a great place to come and relax and have fun feeding the ducks.