Today was a day filled with a variety of activities in Central California. Since Tyler and I saw very little wildlife on our entire trip west, I was determined to try and turn things around today, starting with a simple bird walk in the neighborhood near the hotel I was staying at. It was a great “walk about” and I actually picked up several new lifers, including Acorn Woodpecker, Chesnut-backed Chickadee, Oak Titmouse and Anna’s Hummingbird. As I waited for Tyler and Amelia to pick me up, I tallied 22 species just around the hotel neighborhood-not too shabby for an hour of walking along the sidewalks! I may have gotten a few more, except the last small house I walked near had a pit bull the size of a small cow. I was ok, until I noticed his backyard fence had a large hole in it, and he was headed for it, keeping one eye on me. I quickly waddled around the corner of a warehouse, not stopping to see if the “excited pooch” was following!
Amelia was our local guide today, and she did a great job planning our day. First stop (and 2nd stop, and 3rd stop), was our mini wine tasting tour. Although I’m far from a wine expert (and actually not much of a wine drinker), I did find one that tasted pretty good! Where Amelia lives, here in Paso Robles, there are over 200 wineries in the area! If you can’t find a wine you like here, then you should stop drinking wine! As Tyler and Amelia sampled wine (I became the designated driver after the first stop), I was busy searching for more birds around each vineyard. The locations of the wineries was surprisingly good birding, or maybe it was simply the wine! But, I did manage to see Yellow-billed Magpies, Bushtit, Dark-eyed “Oregon” Junco and Varied Thrush. Four very cool-looking birds!
We then headed south toward San Luis Obispo, or as everyone calls it, SLO. I like the idea they have a shortened “nickname” for their town that actually sounds pretty cool. Not sure it would be very wise for me to return home and start referring to our town as POTT. I may end up explaining the whole town name thing to the local police! Our destination was a weekly street fair and farmer’s market in downtown SLO (I just like saying it!). But, since it didn’t start until 6pm, we had about an hour and half to check out a very cool park in Shell Beach that Amelia knew about. This turned out to be a fantastic stop. The park, with its steep rocky cliffs, overlooks the Pacific Ocean. Down below us, we enjoyed watching Sea Otters floating on their backs eating clams, Harbor Seals lounging on the rocks, and Brown Pelicans, Brant, Comorants, and a variety of seagulls flying back and forth between the ocean, the beach and several, small rocky islands. Amelia even spotted a Black Oystercatcher only 20′ directly below us, picking at barnacles-another lifer for me! Good eye Amelia! As we watched the sun set on the Pacific Ocean, we snapped a few last photos and headed for the street fair. A good day of wine, women and wildlife!
