The Central Coast is the location for the official gray whale population count. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sends dozens of scientists from around the West Coast to Big Sur in December, January and February to count the animals as they make there way south.
It's one of the great migrations on the planet. Each winter, gray whales swim south from the Arctic to Mexico to rear their calves before turning around in spring and heading north again.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and Society for Conservation of Bighorn Sheep (SCBS) are seeking volunteers to assist biologists with a bighorn sheep count in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties on Feb. 29 and March 1 (Saturday evening and all day Sunday).
https://cdfgnews.wordpress.com/2020/02/04/volunteers-needed-for-bighorn-sheep-survey-8/amp/
Estuaries once harbored thousands of otters, and now conservationists want to extend recovery efforts to California’s largest estuary: San Francisco Bay.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended Thursday that six struggling mountain lion populations, some in southern California, be protected under the state’s Endangered Species Act.
For a long time, the only squirrels found at Mission Trails Regional Park were California ground squirrels (Otospermophilus beecheyi). But in 2016, an iNaturalist user photographed a fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) on a trail west of Kumeyaay Lake. No one reported another fox squirrel in the park on iNat until April 2019 and since then, seven more observations have been posted, including one by skylukr (bit.ly/2uhjARI). This new population of non-native critters seems to be confined to an urban border of the park, just east of Kwaay Paay Peak Trail (off of Father Junipero Serra Trail).
https://missiontimescourier.com/observation-of-the-month-fox-squirrel/
"Monterey Bay Whale Watch just captured some rare underwater video of a little known and very unusual kind of dolphin that is shaped like a torpedo, has no dorsal fin, with a delicate small tail stock and fluke, and is strikingly colored black and white."
The Marine Mammal Care Center is the only 24/7 hospital for marine mammals in LA County. They are in desperate need of funds to stay open.
The upwelling from the canyon, along with the mixing of cold ocean currents from the north and warmer currents from the south, provides nutrients for a vast variety of more than 525 fish species, 36 species of marine mammals (such as whales, dolphins, seals and sea otters), kelp and another 450+ species of algae, and thousands of invertebrates varieties.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/nature-up-close-marine-biology-at-monterey-bay/
Dozens of events will be held Mar. 7, 8, 14 and 15 for the 49th iteration of the event, including several boating-themed festivities. The event will, of course, feature whale watching, both from land or sea. Several different whale watching boat trips will be offered throughout each day of the festival. Festival goers can also walk to the cliffs at Dana Point Headlands near the harbor for a good land-based whale watching location.
https://www.thelog.com/local/festival-of-whales-swims-into-dana-point/
