Docent Resources
The Docent Resource page is intended to assist docents in the interpretation of their respective State Parks. It includes some of the training material used to prepare docents and volunteers working on the coast; extensive information about animal and plant life, geology, and archaeology; as well as other tools that can be useful to docents.
Please contact the Webmaster if you have comments or suggestions regarding this page. We hope to provide as much useful information as possible to the docents/volunteers who interpret natural history for visitors to our beautiful coast.
Marine Mammal, Geological, Archaeological Articles
In addition to the articles posted here, Año Nuevo docents should check the binder available at the “Roost.” That binder contains a large collection of copyrighted research articles, which we cannot legally reproduce on this website.
Elephant seals sleep while diving
Sea lion brain mapped to study toxins' effect
Great white shark study (SF Gate)
Spring 2007 CA sea otter survey results
Real seals wear helmets, Robert Evans
How and when does an e-seal urinate
E-seal migrations and feeding strategies, Jan 2000
Research program at Quiroste Valley
Marine Protected Areas (MPA): Docent Reference Material
These articles and images are provided to assist docents in interpreting the MPAs of the central California coast for the visitors to our parks.
Wildlife Sightings
Click on a park name below to learn what wildlife is seen there.
On a regular basis, you can see elephant seals, gulls, coyotes, brown pelicans, cormorants, various hawks, ducks on the pond, rodents (mice, voles). To discover what elephant seal activity can be expected at any time of the year, click this link: Annual Cycle of Elephant Seal Activity at Año Nuevo
See an interesting summary of data on numbers of elephant seal pups at Año Nuevo vs Piedras Blancas between 1997 and 2010.
For a summary and comparison of weaner counts from 2000 to 2009, click here.
This is the only beach along the San Mateo coast where western snowy plovers nest. The small shorebirds, listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act, can be seen in the largest numbers during the winter months. Between 40 and 50 have been spotted at the beach most days in January and February.
Other regular sightings include great egrets, northern harriers, kestrels hunting in the fields east of the beach, long-tailed weasels, voles, mice, and other small rodents.
Marsh wrens, great blue herons, Brewer's blackbird, western gull, Heerman's gull, western grebe, mallard, gadwall, cormorant, Caspian tern, barn swallow, violet-green swallow, song sparrow, American goldfinch, turkey vulture, raven, northern harrier, and common yellowthroat. We heard chickadees, house finch, hummingbird, and wrentit.
The Pescadero Marsh Natural Preserve, a part of Pescadero State Beach, shelters a diversity of wildlife in a complex of several habitats—a tidal estuary, freshwater marsh, brackish water marsh, dense riparian woods, and northern coastal scrub. It is an important wintering ground for waterfowl on the Pacific flyway.
In winter, visitors on the twice-monthly, docent-led nature walks have seen as many as 35 different species of birds, including great blue herons, great egrets, and snowy egrets, and many varieties of ducks, including gadwalls, American widgeons, northern shovelers, green-winged and blue-winged teals, pintails, ruddy ducks, common goldeneyes, and buffleheads.
Fewer ducks are seen as spring approaches, as migratory ducks begin to fly to their northern breeding grounds. In March, however, great blue herons put on an impressive display as they begin their nesting season in the tall eucalyptus trees that line one shore of the marsh.
You never know what you will see when you walk through the marsh. A Western pond turtle was spotted basking in the sun on February 1, and the wildflowers in spring are delightful.
Harbor seals, California sea lions, brown pelicans, black oystercatchers, different species of gulls and cormorants, and rabbits can be seen on an almost daily basis. Other sightings at various seasons include gray whales, humpback whales, orca whales, dolphins, elephant seals, loons, grebes, rhinocerous auklet, kestrels, and numerous other sea birds and song birds.
Be sure to check the Links Page for additional resources.
