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

I call them creeks, but riparian zones hold a special place in my heart. I more or less grew up in the creek bordering my grandmother's farm, often biking or walking the ten miles to get there if I couldn't get a ride. These zones are fantastically rich in birdlife and harbor an amazing variety of plant and animal life.  Read More

California State Parks

Have you been wanting to get outdoors more and have a fabulous time? These "Adventures With Nature" surely have something perfect for you. Read More

Coastland Contemplations by Michele Oksen

While weeding and creating defensible space around your structures you're likely to encounter living things in the grass. Sometimes it's a lizard or a mouse scurrying out of the mowers path. Then there are those other times when the creature is slithering out of the way.

This time of year the SLO Coast's Santa Lucia Mountains are crawling with snakes. There are garter snakes at the pond's edge, gopher snakes around the garden, king snakes on the trail, and rattlesnakes in the tall grass. Yikes! Read More

Elfin Forest by Jean Wheeler

Our Elfin Forest is never dull, but May is an especially colorful month with lots of flowers in bloom attracting many butterflies and birds.  Flowers to look for against the green backdrop include white California sagebrush, chamise, and popcorn flowers and the bright yellows and oranges of California poppies, dudleya, deerweed, fiddleneck, golden yarrow, and sticky monkey-flowers.  Slightly less common but worth looking for are small pink California roses and larger pink native cobwebby thistles.  On the ground under the oaks are Indian pinks—bright red flowers with edges seemingly cut by pinking shears. Blue flowers blooming this month include blue dicks (wild hyacinth) and the lovely spikes of blue flowers on silver dune lupines around Bush Lupine Point.  Read More

Marine Sanctuaries by Carol Georgi & Karl Kempton

Hanalei Bay, Hawaii and San Luis Bay, California are popular tourist destinations thousands of miles apart across the Pacific Ocean from each other. Boasting legendary beauty of ocean and land with natural habitats, the communities bordering these bays could become "sister communities" working together to improve and preserve the health and beauty of their bays. Read More

Female Elephant Seals in
Dispute Over Space by Kevin Cole

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