February 22 - Morro Bay

I got up when Sarah made coffee and we had a light breakfast.  After saying thanks and goodbye, I finally got out of town, heading up the coast toward Big Sur.  I drove pretty much steadily as far as Morro Bay, when I just couldn’t take it (driving) anymore.  It was sunny and 55° F, with a 10- knot west wind, and I saw a sign for the Cloisters Community Park.  So I pulled in around 2 p.m. and walked the trail around the pond.  The first thing I noticed, after spending a week in the snow and cold, was that it was warm and the flowers were blooming.

Bermuda Buttercups are not buttercups - they are Oxalis pes-caprae

Some neighbors didn’t seem to take kindly to having the park’s vegetation encroaching on their property, so took remedial action.  Perhaps even on the public’s property . . .

Keep your pesticides on your own side of the fence . . .

The willows were flowering, and bushtits, bluebirds, sparrows and phoebes were foraging.

The yellow eye on this bird indicates that it is a female

Cheery Western Bluebird

White-crowned Sparrow

Black Phoebe

In the pond itself, a few water birds enjoyed a pleasant afternoon.

Red-eyed Coot

Graydiggers barked at me from the willows,

I grew up calling the "California" Ground Squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi) a "Graydigger"

and several buzzards coursed the light west breeze.

Yeah, yeah . . . Turkey Vulture, not "buzzard" . . .

I walked the trail through the dunes to the beach,

noting that dogs are not allowed.

Not that some people pay attention to rules.

Having been away from the Ocean for three weeks, it was good to see the waves beating against Morro Rock.

Morro Rock

I enjoyed seeing the shorebirds feeding in the light surf,

Willet (or won't it?)

Marbled Godwits

Long-billed Curlew

even though they didn’t all get along.

 . . . Like there's not enough sand worms on the beach!

After a half-hour, I left the beach, and drove north toward Big Sur, to stay with my sister-in-law’s husband Dan at the Deer Flat Ranch below Highway 1, where they are caretakers.

The ranch is 'way below the highway

We walked around the ranch, looked for sea otters off the beach, watched the gray whales spouting ‘way offshore, and returned to the house.  As we came inside, we looked out at the bird feeder and saw a Pygmy Owl sitting on a tree limb above it!  A great way to end the evening.

Cloisters Park eBird Checklist is Here

Cloisters Park Beach eBird Checklist is Here

Deer Flat Ranch eBird Checklist is Here