Pacific Grove & Seventeen Mile Drive

April 13, 2014

Pongo and I drove out to the coast Sunday for a little R & R.  He's been getting a bit wound up lately, I figured a trip would do him some good.  We saw a  lot of birds, which makes Pongo happy.  He's really into wildlife these days.

Harbor Seal -- Pacific Grove, CA

Pacific Grove, CA

Black Oystercatchers -- Pacific Grove, CA

Pregnant Harbor Seal

Our first stop was Pacific Grove, where we made the obligatory drive along the ocean from the aquarium to Point Pinos.  We saw a number of harbor seal ,others with newborn pups.  Well, I saw them anyway.  Pongo doesn't tend to see animals from a distance.  Dogs don't have the best eyesight, I guess.

Harbor Seals -- Pacific Grove, CA

Point Pinos, Pacific Grove, CA

Wild geese have built a couple of nests near the trails on the rocks at Point Pinos.

Are non-migrating canada geese really wild?

It's that time of year.  We saw a couple of nesting black oystercatchers as well.  These rocks don't seem like the best place for building a nest.  People swarm the rocks.  Dogs, too.  The geese nests I saw are right next to the trails.  Urban geese, I guess.  Do they take their chicks into the ocean from there?  Yikes.  The pond at the golf course across the street seems better to me.  It seems like the goslings would have a tough time scrambling on the rocks out there.

Canada Goose -- Pacific Grove, CA

Surfbirds

After watching surfbirds hopping around on the rocks for a while, we found a different route back to the car that avoided the geese.  Our next stop was the beach at Spanish Bay.  It's a nice stop for us because it's a long beach where Pongo can stretch his legs.  This beach has been covered in washed up seaweed the last couple of times we've visited.  The birds don't seem to mind.

Sanderlings on the Seaweed -- Spanish Bay, Seventeen Mile Drive, CA

Marbled Godwit -- Spanish Bay, Seventeen Mile Drive, CA

Have I mentioned all of the wildflowers we saw on the drive?  It's that time of year.  Purple.  Pink.  Orange.  Yellow.  Pretty much everywhere you look right now you'll find some wildflowers.  It's not a banner year for flowers in California because of the drought, but we got enough rain there in March to give us at least a bit of a show.

Seventeen Mile Drive, CA

Our next stop was Seal Rock.  Pongo wasn't scared of the sea lions this time.  Last time we were here he was overwhelmed by the noise they made.  It was smelly that time, too.  He seemed more curious than scared.  I don't know if he can actually see the sea lions out on the rocks.  He'd give the rocks a good hard stare every time one of the sea lions got worked up out there.

Rocky Point, Big Sur, CA

After Seventeen Mile Drive, we drove down South to Bixby Bridge.  Pongo was pretty tired at this point and we lost the sun in clouds, so this marked the end of the day's adventures.  Pongo did get to see some cows up close.  He wasn't too sure what to make of them.

Rocky Point, Big Sur, CA