A Time to Be Thankful at the Ocean

             Seagulls on Pismo Beach, CA Photo by Kathy Vilim

It is Thanksgiving and time to be thankful. While I have much to be thankful for every year, this year I turn my thoughts to the special experience I enjoyed this year of spending time on the Central Coast of the long Golden State of California.  Getting to know the world of Ocean Dunes and its wildlife was wonderful. (Read more about the Dunes at http://www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com/oceano-land-of-dunes.html )

This Thanksgiving hope you find much to be thankful for right outside your door.  It's there waiting for you~  Kathy 

West Coast Monarchs are Over Wintering Happily

Monarchs Over-Wintering Now in Pismo Beach, CA Photo by Kathy Vilim (click to enlarge & enjoy)

As I write this, Hurricane Sandy has made life very perilous for many hundreds of Monarchs on the eastern seaboard. They are supposed to be long gone on their way to Mexico to over-winter.  Why are they still around? Read: Hurricane Sandy Hits by Carole Brown.

Yet, here on the West Coast, oblivious to the perils their eastern cousins face, Monarchs are happily overwintering right now. I just visited two sites where there is protected habitat for them, and they are here in full force, swooping and gliding, gold-orange wings against blue sky.

I viewed them through a telescope at the Monarch Grove in Pismo Beach. The telescopes were great because my neck was getting sore from looking up into the giant Eucalyptus trees.  The Eucalyptus are their favorites, and I was glad this grove of trees was spared so that the Monarchs could return here year after year.

Hope you enjoyed my monarch picture (Click to enlarge).  For more on the Western Monarchs, see my post from last November: Monarchs of the West via BeautifulWildlifeGardens.com.