Exploring Abundance and Balance in the Morro Bay Estuary with Sea Otters, Whale Falls, and Bait Balls

We are grateful for the many people—volunteers, supporters, partners, lovers of the bay and the wild lands that surround it—who make the health of the Morro Bay estuary a priority. We are grateful for the slopes of the Morros that send freshwater running down the creeks, carrying detritus to feed the bugs, bringing bugs to the fish, and tempering the salty bite of the incoming tide when the waters mix inside the bay. If the video above doesn’t load, click here to watch a timelapse of a twelve-hour tide cycle in Morro Bay. We are grateful for the push …

Help Scientists Track the Dwindling Population of Monarch Butterflies

November 22, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program butterfly migration citizen science help monarchs MBNEP monarch butterflies monarch butterfly monarch count monarch decline monarch grove monarch migration monarch population morro bay thanksgiving count Xerces society Blog Posts citizen science Thanksgiving Volunteering

Monarch butterflies cluster on eucalyptus leaves in Sweet Springs Nature Preserve. Photograph courtesy of Michael "Mike" L. Baird, bairdphotos.com by Flickr Creative Commons license.

Monarchs come to the Central California Coast when cool weather hits Starting in October, monarch butterflies fill the branches of eucalyptus, Monterey pines, and other trees along California’s Central Coast. They cluster together high above the ground, looking much like bunches of dead leaves unless you use a spotting scope to take a closer look, or catch a flash of their black and orange wings as a butterfly moves away from its cluster to a sunny spot where it will open its wings and take in the sun’s warmth. Monarch butterflies come here to ride out the winter in …

Thankful in Morro Bay, 2018

November 23, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program bird poem estuary Gallery at Marina Square grateful Love Morro Bay MBNEP morro bay morro bay national estuary program Morro Bay poem Morro Bay Standup Paddleboarding State Parks Docent thankful thanksgiving Blog Posts Thanksgiving

Drone photograph of the Morro Bay estuary. Courtesy of Nic Stover, StoverPhoto.

At the Estuary Program, we are grateful to have the opportunity to work collaboratively for the health of the Morro Bay estuary, its watershed, the wildlife that depend on it, and the people who love it. We are thankful for the many citizens, landowners, agencies, and organizations who make this work possible by funding, advising, volunteering, and otherwise participating in projects that benefit the bay. We asked local business owners, volunteers, and artists to share what they are thankful for in and around the Morro Bay estuary. Read on to see the many ways that the bay has touched …