location, location, location: seaside bird condo

If you are a biologist, and you look up a cliff side and see this?

You're psyched.

Whitewash Falls

Whitewash = birds.

(& I didn't know that whitewash was

specifically a TYPE of bird poop,

common to seabirds. Learned that here. =) )

Whitewash Creek

To a biologist, this is exciting.

Look at all those lovely crevices and perches!

And this all overlooks the ocean,

so no wonder these birds love it here.

The water was such a lovely color, that day.

The sound I heard while taking the cliff photos

was a pair of Peregrine falcons zooming around. Awesome.

Apparently, their existence here was not a news flash:

(p.s. how does one enter a rock?)

And I just have to show the lovely coastal sage scrub on the

vegetated parts of Morro Rock (in San Luis Obispo county).

 *sigh* Love that stuff...

my fuzzy, tough little friends. =)

Anyhow, yet another example of wildlife "sign"

that means something cool is afoot.

Or, way, way over your feet. =)

xobb

video of crazy flash flood in Queensland...

 
But make SURE, if you watch to the end, you look at how the cars are arranged, because...



... Geotripper explains probably WHY they settled in that position, just like river rocks. THIS is TOO COOL!

Wow. And to think I like to park my car so it has a "view" of something scenic, like a river. MAYBE not during crazy rain/floody times...

=)

bb

P.S. DONATE HERE if you wanna help--it goes directly to the government efforts to help everyone out.

kindaquiz answer + contextual pics

 

Well, the first guess, which was cracked brownies, is precisely why I like this picture. Because it is not clear, right away, what it is. That is a quality I adore in nature photos.

So, it IS a nature photo, and all of you next guessers were there. Funny, it's not dune or cliffs but it's rock (relatively flat) right NEXT to a cliff and just downhill from dunes. And yes, it was recently wet (since it's intertidal). How freaky is that? Again, y'all are a bunch of smarties!

Welcome to Montana de Oro State Park, California, home to AMAZING rocks. Oh, yeah, and there's an ocean, too. =)

 Here's where the trail starts descending toward the sea

 Nice dune shoulder

 

Dune resident

pink sand verbena

My guess re: the rock type was sandstone/mudstone, but I'm SO not a geologist, so found this re: Montana de Oro geology:

"The Monterey Formation is a widespread, thick body of silica-rich rock laid down in Miocene time, approximately 16 to 6 million years ago. It's easily recognized throughout the Coast Ranges by its rhythmic bedding and cherty nature, although parts of it are shaly and full of fossils."


If you were describing a person and said they had a "cherty nature," what would that mean?

This place has amazing rocks--freaky lumpy cracked rocky landscape. It's like the whole place is an experiment in clay and porcelain manufacturing techniques.

Are those the coolest rocky mounds, or what?

Biobabbler descends

to a very fancy, cracked porcelain floor

Beauty!

Root descending cliff

Check out the 50,000,000 rocks layered in that crazy cliff...

So there ya go, rockin' intertidal rocks.

More pics later, including one of my all time favorite shorebirds--sweet!

=)


biobabbler