Biggest Bird Ever

The crew aboard the Elkhorn Slough Safari logged the biggest bird ever sighted when the U.S. Space Shuttle Endeavour did a fly by over the slough and Moss Landing. At about 10:50am this morning, the oversized bird was identified by all passengers on board. The escort jet plus 747 with the space shuttle attached was captured on camera by passenger Paul Romero who let us post his photo here on the blog.

Vows with the Captain

June is a month full of weddings and anniversaries. Our Captain can officiate at your wedding or renew your vows. He specializes in small, intimate weddings. He has married couples on Elkhorn Slough aboard the Safari boat, on the back deck at Captain's Inn, and at the beach. We can help with vows, especially seaside, nautical ones. We also have a great flower shop and affordable cake lady.

Spring on the Slough

There are all sorts of nesting and breeding birds out on Elkhorn Slough this time of year. This mating American Avocet pair is no exception. It is easy to compare a defining characteristic between the male and female in the photo, the female is described as having a more pronouced upward curving beak. These elegant colored birds slide their bills through the soft mud and capture worms or small shrimp that they find by taste. Thanks to passenger Franz Carver for sharing his photo captured while out on Elkhorn Slough Safari this month.

Specialty Cruises

Each season we offer focused tours on topics of interest to our passengers. This Spring we are offering a tour on marine mammal babies, on birding, and photography. The birding cruise is good for beginners to professionals. Beginners will learn the difference between this Snowy egret and the Great egret, but professionals will sort out the confusing details of the peeps and gulls. The bird specialty tour will spend extra time with nesting species such as the egrets, gulls, and cormorants. Check out the website to get dates and time for these classes and for regular tours.

Bird Count

Each year we donate the use of the Elkhorn Slough Safari boat to an important wildlife assessment: the annual Christmas bird count. Actually held on New Year's day for the Moss Landing area, this count tracks number of birds and lists all the bird species sighted and heard. Hundreds of volunteers take on each area count. Our Elkhorn Slough - Moss Landing area is often one of the top in the nation! Here is Captain Yohn and the Audubon Society counter volunteers while surveying for the bird count. The Moss Landing area reported at least 199 species.