San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
From blue whales to butterflies — SLO County Highway 1 is open for discovery
There is no more exciting season to observe wildlife along Highway 1 on California’s Central Coast. From elephant seals to monarch butterflies, nature lovers would be hard-pressed to locate a more diverse and vibrant environment. When you add in the sea otters, whale species, thousands of birds, and even zebras (!), it’s easy to see why visiting the Central Coast to view wildlife should be high on anyone’s list.
Close to shore, California sea otters float upon their backs feeding off the kelp forest that “stands” just below the water’s edge. As you watch the comical antics of a sea otter, keep your eyes peeled for jumping dolphins and porpoises, as well as always curious harbor seals and sea lions “spy-hopping” to see what’s going on around them.
Always scan the ocean anywhere along this coastal area, because there’s a decent chance you’ll spy a whale spout or, should a gray whale cow be swimming with her calf, two blows. Gray whales are the most frequently seen species, though humpbacks and blue whales, the largest animal on earth, are also common winter residents.
Back on the beach, watching sanderlings skirt the surf is like viewing the keystone cops, though zeroing in on the distinguishing marks between snowy and semipalmated plovers can take some practice. No need to fine tune your powers of observation when visiting the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery, where as many as 25,000 elephant seals haul up annually. Piedras Blancas is not only known globally for the volume of these 4,500-pound and 1,500-pound male and female giants, the rookery is also considered the most accessible birthing nursery in the world – with over 1,500 pups last year.
Hundreds of tide pools abound where you can explore the crustaceans, mollusks, and other animals that inhabit these brilliant oases of life. Here, you can watch crabs scurry into crevices as well as vibrant anemones, urchins, and mussels. Like peering through a kaleidoscope, the longer you study a tidepool, the more life you’ll discover.
And then there’s the birds! You’ll find as many as 20,000 shorebirds gather upon these protected shores. And birds are not the things in flight. Monarch Butterflies also arrive in mass every winter. Western Monarchs are an extraordinary race of this impressive species, a group that typically travels 1,000 miles between roosting sites.
At 6,094 square statute miles, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary stretches from Marin at the north into Ragged Point, San Simeon and Cambria at its southern end, covering 276 miles of coastline and covers nearly a quarter of California’s coastline, including much of San Luis Obispo County’s stretch of Highway 1. Teeming with watchable wildlife, the protection of the MBNMS allows threatened species to re-establish in the delicate ecosystem, earning the area its nickname, “Serengeti of the Sea.” These include 36 marine mammal species, 180 bird species, 525 fish species, 4 turtle species, and 450+ algae species.
The Central Coast showcases amazing species, however, there is one exotic animal that provides an extra fun diversion in this rich habitat, the Hearst Castle zebra - a herd of more than 100 wild zebras grazes today upon the environs surrounding Hearst Castle and can be seen from Highway 1.
Whether you spy the largest animal on Earth swimming in the Pacific or capture the perfect photo of a butterfly’s gossamer wings, you’ll discover animals of every stripe, when you explore the Highway 1 Discovery Route.
If you are looking for the best advice for how to explore the 87 miles of coastline in San Luis Obispo County, the Coastal Discovery Trail downloadable map shows you where to go. Visit https://highway1discoveryroute.com/free-map/.