On Friday, we spent a few hours driving around to different places. The first place we stopped at was the Morro Bay Natural History Museum. It's a small museum with exhibits geared toward children. It's very nice and has trails and a platform with fantastic views. Below are three views from the museum.
There were quite a few Dark-eyed Juncos (Oregon subspecies) around. They were all singing and hopping around in the trees and scratching at the ground. Below is one of them.
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| Dark-eyed Junco |
There was quite a large gathering of American White Pelicans. We were very surprised to see them, since they are only supposed to be in California in the winter. I guess these pelicans wanted to stay all year long. In the photo below, the white birds in the back are the American White Pelicans. The black birds in front are Double-crested Cormorants.
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| American White Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants |
There were a few Harbor Seals swimming around, with the tops of their heads and backs peeking out of the water. Harbor Seals are gray and speckled and are found along the coasts on North America, Europe, and Asia. Below are two photos of Harbor Seals.
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| Harbor Seal |
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| Harbor Seal |
There were quite a few Caspian Terns flying back and forth over the water. Below are two photos of them.
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| Caspian Tern |
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| Caspian Tern |
There were also a large number of Turkey Vultures circling around above the hills and beaches. Below is a Turkey Vulture.
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| Turkey Vulture |
Right near the museum was a cormorant rookery, so there were many, many Double-crested Cormorants everywhere, swimming in groups in the water, perching in trees, and flying through the air. Below are four photos of Double-crested Cormorants.
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| Double-crested Cormorant |
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| Double-crested Cormorants |
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| Double-crested Cormorant |
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| Double-crested Cormorants |
There were a few Snowy and Great Egrets around. One Snowy Egret was walking along the shore, and when another tried to land nearby, it ran at the incoming bird with fluffed-up feathers and a surprisingly deep squawk. The other egret flew away and first one just continued walking. Below is the egret just before it started running.
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| Snowy Egret |
As I said above, there was a huge cormorant rookery in the trees. There were also Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and Black-crowned Night-Herons nesting together with the cormorants. The birds were making all sorts of strange, loud squeaks, grunts, croaks, whistles, and squawks. Below are four photos. The first is an adult Great Egret and two chicks in their nest. The second is a photo of a few Double-crested Cormorant nests. The third is a Great Blue Heron nest (both herons in the photo are immature), and the fourth is of a bunch of nests high up in the trees.
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| Great Egrets |
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| Double-crested Cormorants |
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| Great Blue Herons |
A couple of Black-crowned Night-Herons were sitting right out in the open below the trees where the nests were. They were fairly close, and didn't seem at all bothered by us looking at them. Below are two Black-crowned Night-Herons (the second one was sitting just beyond a fence).
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| Black-crowned Night-Heron |
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| Black-crowned Night-Herons |
After we'd finished walking around by the museum, we headed over to the Elfin Forest, which isn't really a forest (unless you're a tiny elf), but a wide expanse of coastal scrub with a few trails running through it. We didn't see anything too exciting there, but the views were very nice, and as we stood there looking, the fog in the distance cleared and we could see Morro Rock. Below are two photos of the Elfin Forest (in the second, the hill behind the trees is Morro Rock).
We did see a couple of lizards at the Elfin Forest. Below is a Western Fence-Lizard that just sat there, looking up at us.
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| Western Fence-Lizard |
After the Elfin Forest, we headed over to the Sweet Springs Nature Preserve. It was a very pretty place with tall trees, waterways, and flowers. It looked like it would be amazing in the winter with all of the migrating ducks, and at low tide there would probably be a lot of different shorebirds. Below are two views.
We saw a couple of Western Pond Turtles, which are one of the few turtles native to this area. They are grayish-brownish-green with dark speckles on their bodies. Many populations are in decline, largely due to habitat loss. Below is a Western Pond Turtle sunning itself on a wooden plank.
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| Western Pond Turtle |
There were three young Mallards swimming around together. Below are the three ducks.
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| Mallards |
There were a couple of Great Egrets which, like the Snowy Egrets at the Natural History Museum, did not want to be near each other. Whenever one approached the other, they would squawk and chase each other. Below is one of the Great Egrets fishing.
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| Great Egret |
There was a Red-tailed Hawk nest high up in a eucalyptus tree. One hawk stood there for a while, then took off and landed in another tree. Below are two photos. The first is the Red-tailed Hawk standing on the nest, and the second is of it sitting in the other tree.
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
Just as we were leaving, we saw a Mule Deer eating some plants not too far away. Below is a photo of the deer.
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| Mule Deer |
After the nature reserve, we drove over to Morro Rock. There were hundreds of birds sitting on or flying around the rocks. There were gulls, vultures, pelicans, cormorants, and others flying everywhere. When we first arrived, it was mostly clear, though there was some fog creeping in. When we left, it was so foggy that we could hardly see Morro Rock. Below are two photos, the first of Morro Rock when we arrived, and the second when we left.
As we were driving into the parking lot, we saw several dark shapes bobbing in the water that we initially thought were ducks. However, when we walked back along the road, we were surprised to see that they were Sea Otters floating on their backs. A couple of them were spinning around in the water, while others were rubbing their faces with their paws or sleeping. They seemed to be very used to people and didn't even move when a tour boat came by. Below are four photos of the otters. The second photo is of a mother holding onto her baby.
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| Sea Otters |
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| Sea Otters |
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| Sea Otter |
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| Sea Otter |
There were Double-crested Cormorants all over the rock, in the water, and flying around. Below are two photos of cormorants sitting on Morro Rock.
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| Double-crested Cormorants |
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| Double-crested Cormorants |
There were a few different gull species hanging around. Most of the gulls in the parking lot were Western, but there were a few Heermann's and California Gulls as well. They were all just sitting or standing around on the ground and on top of cars. They left dirty footprints all over the hood of our car. Below are three photos. The first two are Heermann's Gulls and the third is a Western Gull.
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| Heermann's Gull |
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| Heermann's Gull |
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| Western Gull |
White-crowned Sparrows are found all year round in the Morro Bay area, and we saw quite a few of them there, hopping around the parking lot and up on the stones. There were a couple of young sparrows following their parent around. Below are two photos of the sparrows. The first is of the parent sparrow, and second is of the two young sparrows.
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| White-crowned Sparrow |
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| White-crowned Sparrows |
We had heard that there were Peregrine Falcons nesting at Morro Rock, but we hadn't expected to actually see them. However, as we were standing there looking at gulls and cormorants, I looked up and saw the shape of a large falcon. It flew around screeching, and soon another one appeared. They landed together on the edge of a cliff and sat there for a while. Then, suddenly, they took off screeching. They flew around the rock a few times, soaring and diving and screeching loudly all the while. It's always amazing to see Peregrine Falcons, especially in flight. Peregrine Falcons are found throughout the world. In North America, they summer in northeast Canada and Alaska and winter in the southeastern United States and Mexico. They are found all year round in much of the southwest and all along the west coast. They can be found in much of eastern North America during migration. They are blue-gray above and pale below with barred bellies, legs, and tails. They are the fastest animals on the planet, capable of diving at 200 miles per hour. They're very spectacular birds. Below are four photos of the Peregrine Falcon pair.
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| Peregrine Falcons |
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| Peregrine Falcons |
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| Peregrine Falcons |
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| Peregrine Falcon |
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