Moss Landing

September 1, 2013

Moss Landing is a tiny little town on the Monterey Bay roughly half way between Santa Cruz and Monterey.  It's got a small boat harbor with a restaurant and a couple of shops.  It was a whaling port in its early days.  It might be best known by Bay Area folks as that place near Monterey with the big smoke stacks.  Those belong to the power plant and they dominate the skyline.  Hell, they are the skyline.

California Sea Lions

Wildlife is abundant at Moss Landing.  You don't even have to work to see it.  You can just park your car at the Moss Landing Beach parking lot, stick your head out the window and you'll find you're already in the middle of it.  Above you will be birds, perhaps lots of birds.  In the harbor will be seals and sea lions and sea otters.  There's a beach and sand dunes to explore in the other direction.  I hear it's even more amazing in a kayak.  Next time that's what I'm doing.

Willets and Marbled Godwits

Brown Pelican

I've never seen so many pelicans in one place.  I was seeing brown pelicans in the harbor, but I also saw two large flocks of white pelicans fly overhead and land in the slough area across Highway 1.  That's why I'll need to rent a kayak next time if I haven't already bought one, there's a whole huge area to explore over there in Elkhorn Slough.  I should read up on the seasons for the slough to figure out the best times to visit.

Southern Sea Otters

I came to Moss Landing on the recommendation of a Point Lobos park ranger.  He was telling me about the raft of sea otters he'd seen there a couple of weeks ago.  Sure enough, there was a large clump otters out in the harbor.  I'm guessing there were a bit over two dozen otters in the raft, with a few stragglers here and there in the harbor.  I don't think those guys and gals ever stop eating.  Seemed like a nice way to spend the day to me.

I couldn't find an interesting way to photograph the otters, though.  They were a little too far out for good close ups, but from a distance they're just a bunch of brown blobs.  Maybe I just needed a little more patience than I seemed to have on this trip.  I don't think I ever found that quiet place that comes about when you're out in the wilder areas.

Anise Swallowtail

Even though the otters weren't all that into looking good for the camera, I came across a swallowtail that seemed really into getting its picture taken.  That's one of the prettier butterflies I've seen.  I also saw a school of anchovies.  They looked like wind on the water's surface, but when I got closer I could see that the disturbance in the water was caused by these little fish.