On to the next destination

After what was really a quick jaunt* to Zmudowski State Beach, we headed next to Moonglow Dairy which is by the Elkhorn Slough at Moss Landing.

At the entrance we were to spot the "California Specialty" Tri-colored Blackbird. Yep, it definitely was tri-colored. A Red-winged Blackbird with a white stripe below the red on the shoulder. I didn't grab my camera to take a picture quick enough. Sorry :(

We parked over by the eucalyptus grove which had across the way cattle feasting on artichokes... yes, artichokes! Geez, I thought you only fed pigs slop ;) I like artichokes and all, but these were apparently leftovers. Castroville, the next town south on Hwy 1 from Moss Landing, is the "artichoke capital of the world." (if you google artichoke capital Castroville comes up as 8 of 10 on the first page of hits) Click here for some interesting trivia on that! :)

We walked through the eucalyptus grove to see some non-water fowl that might be in there since it was a great riparian area. Here is a view through the trees to Elkhorn Slough.
Incidentally, Eucalypus trees are not native to California, they are natives to Australia and like most non-natives were introduced during the Gold Rush days. It's convenient to blame these "greedy" folks, but these kinds of things still happen today even based on good intentions and sometimes scientific theories. The common presumption is that they were planted for their fast growth to be used for firewood and needed building materials since California's trees are slow growers. Anyway, here at Moonglow, they were planted for wood and a windbreak.

The pathway through the eucalyptus grove must have been an old road. This was sitting along one side.
Doesn't it bring a whole new thought process to the commercial series, "got milk?"

After that, we walked back to where we parked and made a left onto the pathway that goes around the ponds and the slough. Kayaking is the way to go - except for a photographer!
I did not kayak, but it would be fun sans camera.

This is kind of a space alien POV :) Dried something or other on the path. I just love the coloring... sometimes a camera can enhance what is in nature and sometimes it just can't quite capture the majesty. This is one of the former.

Despite this area being Moss Landing, it was not so named based on the copious moss around. Really! I had assumed so. In fact, it was named for a Captain Charles Moss who set up a wharf area for commercial shipping in 1866.
Kinda creepy looking :) Would be cool halloween evening :D
This just fascinated me. Birds swim through this like it's nothing, but it looks thick... almost enough to walk on it. I don't recommend that of course. I am not sure what the purpose of that wood was. Maybe it was a walkway or something to fish off of once.


*seriously - yes i took tons of photos, and stretched it into three posts, but we spent only an hour there.