Bird Watching at Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing (CA) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Bird Watching at Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing (CA) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

After I chaperoned a field trip for my daughter’s Waldorf School to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I wanted her to see ocean and migratory birds in their natural habitat.  We drove to Elkhorn Slough, a few miles north of Monterey across from Moss Landing to do this.

Elkhorn Slough is an estuary.  It is a body of water with an opening to the ocean with rivers and streams flowing into it.  The Reserves’ brochure said that Elkhorn Slough winds inland for seven miles and encompasses 2,500 acres of marsh and tidal flat.

The visitor’s brochure went on to state that nearly 90% of California’s estuaries have been destroyed.  An impressive number of wildlife finds homes in estuarine habitats.  The one at Elkhorn Slough is home to over 400 invertebrates (animals without a backbone), 80 species of fish, and more than 200 species of birds.  The visitor’s center staff said that if you included migratory birds, Elkhorn Slough hosts and is home to 267 species of birds that have been identified in its area.

The visitor’s brochure also stated that six rare, threatened, or endangered species use the Slough – peregrine falcons, Santa Cruz long-toed salamander, clapper rails, brown pelicans, least terns, and sea otters.

You can see the birds and other wildlife from eight different walking trails.  The day of our first visit, we started with the Overlook of Elkhorn Slough Channel Trail, which follows the main channel.  There are Native American burial sites visible on this trail, but you cannot visit them.

We had exchanged our driver’s licenses for binoculars at the visitor’s center and looked at tree branches and over the water for birds.  We saw white pelicans form a circle in the water and then dive for fish.  It was a cute bobbing show.  There were also black cormorants and bald eagles out in the water.  We walked about two miles and soaked up the sea breeze as well as the smell of dry leaves.

We bought a membership to the Elkhorn Slough Foundation to obtain free entry for a year.  There were seven more walking trails that we wanted to explore:

-Long Valley Loop Trail – Woodland Trail

-Coast Live Oak Trail – Native trees that are home to birds, mammals (warm-blooded animals whose females carry developing babies within them), and insects

-Parson’s Slough Overlook – Sand dune area with the opening to the Monterey Bay

-Eucalyptus Grove – Trees imported from Australia in the 1800s

-Old Elkhorn Dairy Site – Kids love playing in the abandoned barns here that are supplied with a few haystacks

-Marsh Restoration Project – Site of experimental studies in marsh biology and ecology

-Elkhorn Slough Overlook – Ancient river valley trail

I left the Elkhorn Slough happy that groups like our French-language and culture club, the Alliance Française, did monthly walks there to support the conservation efforts of the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve.  Elkhorn Slough also has picnic tables for families and groups who wish to make their visit an all-day outing.

I love exercise that involves bird watching and think Elkhorn Slough is great for this reason.

By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Ruth Paget Selfie