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.

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.