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.

Ho Ho Ho, Rainbows and Snow

Here's a cool picture of Morro Rock with a rainbow from December 16th 2008. Kimi May-Paradis gets credit for this picture.

This one is over at Morro Strand where it hailed today and almost looks like snow. Jacob Long took this picture and the next one.

Here's another Morro Strand picture showing more of the Christmas spirit.

Fire, Fire!

Okay, it wasn't that exiting, but we had a controlled or prescribed burn at Estero Bluffs State Park a couple of weeks ago. It is an attempt to control the weedy species and to help out the native bunch grasses. We burned off a total of 180 acres with no problems in about an hour and a half. We actually started the day clearing the site of people and posting signs around 7:30 am and mop up finished at around 4:30 pm.

Apologies for the lapse in posting.

I've been really lax about inputing new pics lately, and so I apologize. Been really busy with work and the new baby. Anyways, here is a cute picture of some Phoebes in their mud nest alongside some cliff swallows. Ain't they cute!

Some Rarities

This first picture is of a nice view along Islay Creek near the old dam. It is apparently part of the cultural and vernacular landscape of the area. Besides having some debris stuck in the diversion flap, both above and below still provide nice habitat for steelhead, one of our most threatened species.

We've also been doing some rare plant surveys in Montana de Oro recently. Here are three of our rarest plants that occur in different areas of the park. They range in habitat from the higher mountains mixed with Manzanita and Chamise to the lowest ares of the park where the salt and fresh water meet in the estuary. Here are;

Cordylanthus maritimus (Salt Marsh Bird's Beak)

Dithryea maritima (Beach Spectacle Pod)
Eriodictyon altissimum (Indian Knob Mountain Balm)
This last one with the penny shows how the IKMB emerges from the middle of disturbed sites. It will grow up to six feet tall and more, but always has little slender leaves and tiny purple flowers. This one is at risk of being trampled if we do not keep this section of trail closed.

Some Interesting Birds

We have a MAPS program here locally that I go and work with every now and again. The acronym stands for Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship. It is a nationwide effort started in 1989 by the Institute for Bird Populations to study and come up with statistics for mostly passerines . Here are a few of the more unusual bird we have caught and banded. The first is a common bird, but not common in the mist nests, it's an Oak Titmouse. The second is also a common bird in the area, but we have never before caught one, it's an Ash-throated Flycatcher. The last bird is a bit more unusual for us this close to the coast. It was probably passing through on it's way to higher elevations locally, it's a MacGillivray's Warbler. It's a really fun program to be a part of and a great place to learn more about birds. You learn so much more when the bird is in hand. Just look at that partial eye-ring on the warbler. That kind of detail is so hard to see when looking through a hundred yards of willow branches.