Beautiful  California Coast and Wildlife
潔淨蔚藍的海灣

Point Lobos State Reserve (SR), about 3 miles south of Carmel on California coast
Seals sunbathing on rocks in Point Lobos State Reserve
青山碧海， 得天獨厚的浪漫美麗海岸線，景色令人心曠神怡。

Beautiful California coast along Highway 1
海岸邊的岩石嶙峋，遍布許多造型特殊的奇岩異石。

Rocky shore along 17-mile scenic drive between Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach
眾多飛鳥在海岸邊歡舞。

Many seagulls in flight along 17-mile scenic drive
We spent 3 days in February 2006 touring the beautiful mid-section of California coast along Highway 1. We
started at San Gregorio Beach (about 6 miles south of Half Moon Bay) and toured southward through Santa
Cruz, Monterey to Big Sur including Pescadero State Beach, Elkhorn Slough, Salinas River Wildlife Area, the
famous 17-Mile Scenic Drive and Point Lobos State Park.  We saw two elephant seals at Año Nuevo State
Reserve.
蒼勁挺拔，一枝獨秀， 浩然正氣貫長虹。

A lone cypress on the 17-mile scenic drive

Map: Click here to see Google Map showing location of 17 Mile Scenic Drive
鳥島上密密麻麻的海鳥

Many fishing birds, cormorants, on bird rock along 17-mile scenic drive
岩岸與海灣景觀，視覺饗宴，美不勝收！

Another view north from Point Lobos State Reserve. Endless gazing, and bird watching are favorite pastimes
at Point Lobos State Reserve
A sea lion with one flipper up in Santa Cruz Wharf
Several cormorants on the rock and several sea lions in water with their flippers up near the rock along 17-mile
scenic drive
Cypress along 17-mile scenic drive
觀海浪，賞海景，悠閒的吹著海風，坐在岸邊可以聆聽海濤聲。

Another view from Point Lobos

Map: Click here to see Google Map showing Point Lobos area along California Coast
Elkhorn Slough (www.elkhornslough.org) is one of California's largest wetlands and part of a National
Estuarine Reserve located in central Monterey Bay, California, just a short trip from the Santa Cruz area and
the Monterey Peninsula. The wildlife rich reserve winds inland seven miles and provides an important feeding
and resting place for a fantastic variety of wildlife such as playful sea otters, curious harbor seals, and
hundreds of species of waterfowl and migratory shorebirds. It is one of the premier bird-watching sites in the
western United States.

It is at 1700 Elkhorn Road, Watsonville, CA 95076, Telephone: (831) 728-2822. Aerial photo and the map of
Elkhorn Slough are available at the following website:

http://www.elkhornslough.org/map.htm

We got on the 2-hour Elkhorn Slough Safari (Phone: 831-633-5555), which is a 27-foot pontoon river tour
boat, departing from Moss Landing, California to tour the Elkhorn Slough. Website of Elkhorn Slough Safari is:
www.elkhornslough.com
Bixby Bridge on Highway 1 spanning Rainbow Canyon near Big Sur
Seals sunbathing on rocks
追逐嬉戲， 有時高飛，有時低掠。

Two playful big birds, probably hawks, soaring near the coastal area
A seal in "banana" posture at Elkhorn Slough
Many cormorants at Moss Landing. Two of them are drying their wings by extending the wings out.
According to the tour boat captain, this cormorant is doing courting dance posture to attract a mate.
絢麗的羽色讓我驚歎自然造物的奇妙

A colorful waterfowl, probably merganser, is taking off from the water
圍獵

A group of fishing cormorants form a ring to corner a school of fish which are jumping in the middle of the ring.
Two egrets are also standing by ready to catch the fish.
A group of sea otters floating leisurely in Elkhorn Slough
A group of mergansers in Elkhorn Slough
Shorebirds with very long beak to dig into mud or sand in Elkhorn Slough
漫天密密麻麻的飛鳥

Concentration of very large flocks of birds where each tiny white dot on this picture is a bird in flight. They are
flying over the secluded coastal lagoon where Salinas River comes close to Monterey Bay. But the exit into
Monterey Bay is blocked by sand bank such that it becomes a long lagoon. This is in Salinas River Wildlife
Area, which is about 4 miles south of Elkhorn Slough.

Map: Click here to see Google Map showing Saline River Wildlife Area
夕陽無限好， 銀鷗歡舞，欣賞萬丈彩霞之美景。

Sunset viewed from Highway 1
We also toured the southeastern part of California in October 2006 including Salton Sea National Wildlife
Refuge, Joshua Tree National Park, and Palm Springs.

We toured the northern California and southern Oregon in 2004. Photos from northern California will be
uploaded in the future.
The large number of fishing birds on these bird rocks is a good indication of abundance of fish in the water in
this area. This is somewhat similar to millions of sea birds on the bird islands in Witless Bay in Newfoundland,
Canada.

Cormorants are very skillful fishing birds to chase and to catch fish under water. In China, Japan, and
Macedonia, fishermen trained cormorants to catch many fish for the fishermen. The following movie on the
YouTube website at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjjJTyt6U-Y&feature=related

provides excellent demonstration on how fishermen use their trained cormorants to catch fish. The under water
movie also shows that cormorants can swim very fast under water to chase and to catch fish.

More photos and stories of such trained working cormorants catching fish for fishermen can be seen at the
following websites:

http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Tourism/Guilin-fishing.html

http://www.denniscox.com/guilin.htm

ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant
Please press the F11 key on your keyboard to get full-screen view of photos and web page. Pressing F11 key
again will return to your normal screen with various tool bar.
蔚藍的天，碧綠的海，和煦的風，蒼翠的山，在這裏組合得渾然天
成，發出一種濃烈的休閑氣氛和浪漫情調。
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天然壯麗的海岸線，盡情的徜徉於青山碧海藍天之中