Islay Creek Hike Day

Went up an old loop trail along Islay Creek yesterday to see if we could get to the back of the park. Well, we could not as the vegetation is extremely overgrown. I actually have a little black poison oak tattoo on my face from the walk (black spots from the sap). The trail was really beautiful though with lots of interesting views and vegetation. 1 1/2 hours to the top, 4 1/2 hours back through the nettles, blackberries and poison oak.

The first picture is of the panorama from Alan Peak to the far left at the end of the Oats/Valencia Peak trail and then all the way around to Hazards Peak to the right. The road up Islay Creek is right down the middle.
Here's some Gaultheria shallon or Salal that is growing in Islay Canyon. We don't get much of this in our area, so it was a treat to see.

Ceanothus papillosus var. roweanus growing right over the trail. This is a rare one in our area and only grows in scattered locations around the region. Usually represented by only a few individuals in any one locality. Another treat to see.

Here's a closer look at that view right down the middle of the canyon.

Waves

We have some fun waves around here. The little finger or groin jetty inside the harbor. If I were only smaller.
And the inside bowl somewhere secret...also known as I can't remember where this was, except for around here somewhere. Waves are all the same, right?

Montana de Oro Sandspit Views

The Sandspit at Montana de Oro is such a wonderful place to explore. The scenery is constantly changing. The following are a few pictures to show you some of the views we see out there. Go take a walk and explore. It is so close to town, yet seems so far removed once you are out there. Definitely worth it.
The first two are of sunrise in late September of 2009.

Here's a nice view of the rock from the largest of the corridors provoding access from the bay to the beach. These corridors are extremely important as they allow access across the spit without disturbing too much of the dune system, or during plover nesting season the snowy plovers.

Here is a nice view of the morros looking back towards San Luis Obispo. These peaks line the way from San Luis Obispo out to Morro Bay. That's Black Hill in the foreground with Cerro Cabrillo and Hollister beyond.

This is just a nice shot of the windswept dunes. They remind me of my days in the mountains during the winter time playing in snowdrifts.

Morro Shoulderband Snail

The illusive Morro shoulderband snail. They hide onder the leaf litter and only come out to play (well forage, etc.), when the ground is wet. Usually this is after rain events, but can sometimes ba after a heavy fog. During the dry season, these little invertebrates aestivate under ground, or deep within any clump of vegetation. They seal themselves off from the outside world and wait until the ground is wet again. Oh, and they are federally listed so montoring and moving them if necessary is only done by persons permitted by US Fish and Wildlife Service. They can be distiguished from other shoulderbands in the area by the narrow (almost closed) aperature, incised grooves along the shell and papillations within the grooves. The best advice I can give you is that if you see one of these snails, just leave it alone. It is not a pest like the European garden snail and will do no harm to your garden. It lives off of detritus and is a beneficial member of the ecosystem.

Some older bird photos

Here are some older photos, but some of my favorite bird pictures from over the years. The first is a group of Avocets near Turri Road in the estuary.
The second is group of newly hatched Canada geese swimming along State Park Road in the channel.

And the last is a flock of gulls flying overhead at Estero Bluffs State Park one day when we had a juvenile grey whale wash up dead on the beach. We were out interrrupting their feast taking measurements with the folks from the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

Don't Park Too Close To The Landing Zone

We had a helicopter rescue an overheated hiker today at Montana de Oro State Park. The helicopter was going to fly the person down to the ranch house to be put in an ambulance. Here it is on approach to the landing. Hey, it's getting kind of close to me.
Okay, they decided to land closer to where I was instead of where we chose for them to land. I was posted on the road to stop all traffic on one end. I guess the flat spot behind me was better than the grassy traingle that was slightly sloped. And my windows were open in my truck, so now I really have to vacuum it out. I got so much sand and dust in my hair, my ears, down my shirt it was ridiculous. Lesson learned; don't park so close to the landing site.Here they are on the ground with the rotors shut off. Nice view of the ranch house in the back and the ambulance waiting for the victim, who was about 2 1/2 miles back on the trail in 100 plus degree temperatures. It was a good day to just sit with your feet in the water and not stray from the shade or the water.

Oh, and the hiker is fine. Many thanks to the CHP, CalFire and San Luis Ambulance.

Morning Dew and the Web of Life

This little gem was above the walkway to our field ofice the other day. Caught a bee later that day.

Here's another good quote

Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

Quote For Tough Times

DON'T FIND FAULT, IMPROVE THE PROCESS!

Spiders Butterflies and the Cycle of Life (or what's left of a lizard)

Here's a real common member of our grasslands locally. It's a wolf spider. This one was really big, and cooperative, so I snapped a few shots. They live in the grass under rotting logs and running through the grass in search of their next meal. really good eyesight helps them as hunters.

This is another one you might see locally flying around in the grasslands. Its a common buckeye butterfly. A beautifully colored medium sized butterfly.

This last one is the cycle of life as illustrated by the partially eaten alligator lizard being finished off by a group of small ants. I saw a king snake in the same situation later this day being fed on by flies. It may be gruesome or grotesque, but it's all part of the cycle of life.

Sand Verbena

There are these low growing plants in the dunes that we call sand verbena. They are in the Nyctaginaceae family and locally we have three different versions. Pink sand verbena or Abronia umbellata, red sand verbena or Abronia maritima, and coastal sand verbena or Abronia latifolia.

The first two pictures show pink sand verbena and the color variation that can occur in it. It grows in the rear dunes and is usually the first sand verbena you see when you traverse the dunes from east to west.

This next picture is red sand verbena which is the darkest in color and grows closest to the water. Viable seeds of this plant are very difficult to find and most of the seed pods will contain no seeds.

These last two pictures of coastal sand verbena show the color variation that occurs in it. A. latifolia is usually yellow in appearance but occasionally takes on this peachy color that I really like (I guess that is the horticulturalist in me coming out). It grows in between the other two sometimes mixed with one or the other.

Nature Blog

Okay, this is not about my job or the parks or the central coast directly, but I stumbled across this blog and I think they describe it best. You can really get lost in this one.

"Welcome to the Nature Blog Network, a nexus for the very best nature blogs on the net. If you're looking for outstanding blogging about birds, bugs, plants,herps, hiking, oceans, ecosystems, or any other natural topic -- or if you blog on those topics yourself -- this is the place for you!"

http://natureblognetwork.com/

I added it as a link as well.

Geese at Estero Bluffs State Park

Sometimes you're not watching where you are going and all of a sudden there's wildlife in front of you. It happens with snakes a lot, but on this day it was geese. Brandt geese at Estero Bluffs State Park enjoying the tidepools. They are often seen out here and are very approachable. Please try not to get too close...when they start to walk away and look nervous, you're too close.
Here's a close up of a Brandt.

Incidentally, today I saw two of the biggest gopher snakes I have seen in a long time. One was on a trail and the other crossing the road, which almost caused a few cars to crash. It was safely moved over to the brush.

Links

I've been adding some links of the sites that I regularly visit. They are great resources in themselves and you can really learn a lot from them. They are over on the right side of the blog as you scroll down below the hello message.

Pygmy Butterflies and Baby Snakes

We've been seeing lots of these little Western Pygmy Blue butterflies lately on Suaeda around the area. They are so small and variable, but very approachable.

We have also been seeing lots of snakes lately, especially king snakes. I saw three yesterday up at Estero Bluffs State Park.

We've also been seeing lots of baby birds around; quail, starlings, plovers, gulls, hummers, swallows and more. It's a good time to get out and see some babies.

Paddling the estuary

During the plover nesting season we sometimes paddle across the bay to place signs and ropes on the inside of the bay. Recently I paddled on my day off, but I was closer to Turri Road. I paddled under the bridge and out the channels into the middle of the estuary. It is such an amazing place to just float around and see what lives out there.  Bait fish, rays and sharks, birds and tires. Oh wait, tires don't live out there. Well I did see over twenty tires amongst other garbage.  It's a shame people think they can dump things into the estuary or creeks and it will just go away. We are making plans to clean up some of this junk, so maybe soon you too can help clean up the bay. But first the planning...

1st pic looking towards the gap between Black Hill and Cerro Cabrillo 

2nd pic looking towards Baywood
3rd pic looking over to the Sandspit
4th pic looking over Turri Rd., Cerro Cabrillo  and Cerro Hutash

A walk in the woods

We took the little one out to one of my favorite hikes recently, Coon creek.  It is such a nice leisurely walk.  Even if you walk the whole 3 miles to the back it is fairly flat and always enjoyable with lots to see.  If you want a more challenging hike, walk to the cypress trees in the back, and then on the return go up to Oats peak.  You can choose to walk out to the back of MdO from there to Alan peak or just head back downhill along the Valencia peak trail.  I think this turns it from a 6 mile loop into a 10 mile trek, plus or minus.  Last time I did it was tired afterwards.  

What the duck is that?

I was up at San Simeon yesterday and in the lagoon near the campground there was this duck. It was larger and much darker than the mallards with dark legs as well. A hybrid of some sort maybe. I really don't know. What do you think it is? Sorry for the poor quality of picture, I was on the wrong side of the creek and the photo is back lit, so the detail doesn't come through. But you can see the size difference with the mallards and the dark legs.

For more info on oddball and mallard hybrids check out

http://10000birds.com/manky-mallards-domestic-feral-or-just-plain-odd-mallards.htm

Little gems

It's hard to pick favorites when there are so many out there, but these are some of the little gems that are out there if you look hard. The key is to take it slow and enjoy all there is to offer, not just fly by the small stuff that might be beneath your boots, shoes, flops, barefeet, etc.

Centaurium venustum is a little one that blooms out at Cerro Cabrillo and has such a lovely little flower. The whole plant is less than a foot high and just covered with these vibrant flowers. Look for it along trails at the edge of grasslands.
This next little one pops up from the sand and is sometimes referred to as purple golfballs. Sand food or Pholisma arenarium is a parasitic little plant that attaches itself to other root systems with it's flowers popping up in the dunes. A very showy but very tiny plant that can be seen all over the dunes of Montana de Oro and even over at the Powell properties behind Los Osos middle school. It only occurs as far north as San Luis Obispo county.

This last little one is also a parasitic plant called broomrape. There are many broomrapes out there and this one is Orobanche fasciculata. It is a bit more difficult to find and I have only personally seen it is couple of locations in the middle of the sandspit of Montana de Oro in the stabilized dunes.

birds in a hole

We went to pick up take out tonight after voting and I saw some little heads popping out of a hole in the wall.   I only saw three, but apparently there are four kestrel chicks in the wall.  I'll try to get back over soon and get some pictures.  So cute and fluffy. 

I went back over today and got some pictures.  If you look close you can see all four chicks in there.  Two in front, one behind and in the middle and one off to the left side and behind (you can barely see its eye). 

It doesn't look that far away

The walk from Hazards Canyon to the tip of the sandspit is probably close to 6 miles, but this view shows how it seems like it is just right there. The entire beach is habitat for western snowy plovers, but this south end with the high bluffs does not get much activity fromthe nesting birds.  Morro Rock at the north end of this picture has many nesting birds including gulls, cormorants and two pair of peregrine falcon.  

Montana de Oro from Harmony and vice versa

This first show is taken from the high point at Harmony Headlands looking back over Estero Bay at Morro Bay.  The Rock and the chain of seven sisters can be seen running diagonally towards San Luis Obispo. Montana de Oro (where the next picture was taken from) and the Irish Hills are to the right of center.

Looking across the hills of Montana de Oro, Cayucos is way over there on the north side of Estero Bay.  And to the left of the picture is the headland that the first picture was taken from. Cambria, San Simeon and Big Sur are beyond.

Morro Bay View

This is the view from up on Cerro Cabrillo looking over the Morro Bay estuary towards Los Osos.  The barrier beach in the background is the sandspit at Montana de Oro State Park. From the parking lot to the tip is 5 miles. 

Little Dudleya

Here are some pics of a little live forever out at Estero Bluffs State Park.  These plants are so small most people either step right over them or step on them without even ever seeing them. They have such beautiful little flowers.  Today was the right day to go look for them. 

Inch-worm and Christmas frost

Here's a little inch-worm that was hanging out on a newly emerged giant coreopsis flower. Lunch time!

The day after Christmas was the coldest I've felt in a while. The ground was frosty from Los Osos to Harmony. This is a coastal grassland on the central coast of California. It was actually a really good day for surfing too, just brrrrrr cold.