Bobcat by Cleve Nash

Bobcat by Cleve Nash

Snowy Egrets by Alan Schmierer

Goats and Dogs at Point Buchon
by Jeanie Greensfelder

Peregrine Falcon image on banner by Cleve Nash

A Bird's Eye View by Mike Stiles

If you had the time and the money, you could attend a bird festival every month of the year, and travel the entire continent doing it. Many festivals are timed to coincide with migration periods, or to showcase a certain habitat or region. Most offer a wide variety of field trips, workshops, and lectures, and there are even bird festivals dedicated to specific birds like the Lesser Prairie Chicken Festival in Oklahoma or the Kirtland's Warbler Festival in Michigan. Read More

Coastland Contemplations by Michele Oksen

February on our Slo Coast of California is a great time to emphasize the importance of relationships. And, as luck would have it, Mother Nature has, with lichen, provided a wonderful example of how to have a successful one. Lichen? Yes, lichen — the result of a mutually beneficial partnership between algae and fungi. Read More

Elfin Forest by Jean Wheeler

Looking out from Bush Lupine Point or Siena's View, Morro Bay National Estuary is covered with ducks, geese, and other birds, as it normally is in February.  They are flying over the water, swimming or sleeping on the water, or diving down under the water after food.  Virtually all of our winter visitors are still here, but some will begin leaving before the end of February. March will see a much larger exodus.    Read More

Exploring the Coast by Ruth Ann Angus

Whalers and sealers hunted them for their blubber. By the end of the 1880's they were thought to be extinct. But a small colony — between 20 to 100 individuals — managed to survive and took up residence on Guadalupe Island, off Baja, California. All of the elephant seals on the West Coast of the continent are descended from this group. Read More

Marine Sanctuaries by Carol Georgi & Karl Kempton

Imagine a San Luis Obispo (SLO) County Heritage Fishing Area encompassing both Morro Bay and Port San Luis with its heritage fishery as protected waters from the coast to 45 miles offshore for the local fishing community. Heritage fisheries can be carefully maintained aquatic areas where the habitats within the ecosystems surrounding fishing are protected from today's modern hazards. The goal of preserving fishing for the future can be achieved by using sustainable fishing methods.   Read More

Sweet Springs Reflections by Holly Sletteland

It's been a good year for monarchs at the preserve. We've seen dozens of them fluttering around the tops of the eucalyptus trees near the ponds in the morning sun. We've even had a couple of small clusters.  Ryan Slack, who is conducting a formal survey of monarch (Danaus plexippus) activity on both the central and eastern sections of the preserve, discovered a cluster of about 35 monarchs on one tree and another with about 50 butterflies. Ryan works with the Monarch Alert Project, a citizen-based research project conducted by graduate students and faculty from Cal Poly.  The project monitors overwintering monarch populations in San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties by conducting weekly surveys from the first week in November through the last week in March.   Read More

Female Elephant Seals in
Dispute Over Space by Kevin Cole

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