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.