National Bird Count

Every Christmas season, the National Audubon Society sponsors a count of bird species and bird numbers nationwide. Birding folks count a multitude of areas, with a different area each day and over 10 days. Our Moss Landing Quad is counted every New Year's Day. Your innkeeper Melanie has been participating for over 30 years. Many annual counters come and stay overnight at the Captain's Inn prior to count day. Our Captain Yohn donates his boat to the count and winds all along the slough. Once the sun is down, everyone gathers at the "countdown" dinner and shares the results and the rarities. The Moss Landing area is often in the top 10 to top 3 in the nation! This year there were at least 199 different species recorded. This is a photo of bird counters and Captain's Inn guests on the slough on New Year's day.

Elkhorn Slough Safari

One of the most popular day trips is visiting the Elkhorn Slough. Many of our guests take the Elkhorn Slough Safari. The stable pontoon boat and its naturalist guide take you on an exploration of the calm backwaters of the second largest wetland in California. You will see sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions, and thousands of birds. This is one of the best ways to see the highest number of sea otters. At the bed and breakfast many of the professional and amatuer photographers charter the safari to go out for a very special wildlife photo session. Guests come back to the inn full of stories of wonderful wildlife watching. For example an otter cracking open a clam to eat, pelicans diving to get sardines, or the baby seal nursing.

Photographers

This Fall has seen quite a few photographers visiting our area. Pros and Amateurs alike come to the Elkhorn Slough and Moss Landing to capture the perfect shot: the perfect row of terns, the perfect sea otter puppy, the perfect sunning seal, the perfect vista, the perfect whale tail, the perfect sunset. We get to have all sorts of digital fun in the parlor and dining room as the photographers review their shots. Photos from our area appear in National Wildlife Federation, National Geographic, and many others. Fall is a great time to grab your camera and capture the outdoors. This photo is of terns on the Elkhorn Slough.

Sea Otter Baby

A new puppy was born at the Elkhorn Slough January 2, 2009!!! This sea otter pup was watched by many of our guests all throughout the weekend. The little one was tiny and mostly a fuzzy ball. It would yelp the minute its mom moved off to find food. Our guests were all trying to out-tell and better-photograph the otter babe. Over breakfast the baby otter was the main topic and many shared their digital photos. Our area is so rich with wildlife but you need to keep heading into it for such wonderful opportunities. Most of the best photographs came from those who watched from the Elkhorn Slough Safari boat.