Wild Monterey: Wildlife of the Central Coast with Alyce Bender

Surrounded by world class golf courses and made famous by John Steinbeck’s writing, this once industrial sardine packing town of Monterey, CA, now hosts a bustling abundance of marine life due to concentrated conservation efforts. Often moody, the rugged coastline is chock full of stunning seascapes with plenty of locations to capture that California sunset. During this photo adventure, mornings will start on one of several beaches, getting sandy, and photographing the multitude of shorebirds that utilize this area of the Pacific Flyway. This photo adventure is timed with the seasonal migration of over 20,000 birds that use this area for stopover feeding and resting during their journey. Potential species include the endangered western snowy plover, killdeer, sanderlings, marbled godwits, long-billed curlews, black-bellied plovers, black oystercatchers, brown pelicans, willets, Brandt’s and double crested cormorants, various gulls and tern species too. On one of the days, we will take a cruise looking for whales, dolphins, common murres, and other marine life at sea. We will have about three to four hours out on the Bay. Most days the stars of the cruise are the humpbacks that are here year-round. Behaviors we hope to see include lunge feeding, breaching, tail or chin slaps. Afternoons will be geared towards sea otters, seals, and sea lions. As a group we will discuss what we want to focus on as sunset arrives, wildlife or landscapes, and we will end the day once the light has gone. During down time between wildlife action and locations, we will discuss topics such as wildlife and seascape shooting techniques, post processing, and any other similar topics you might have questions about.

Tour includes meals, airport transfers, all ground and sea transportation, accommodations, entrance fees, and guiding/photography instruction. Excludes flights to/from destination city, trip insurance, or anything else not specifically mentioned in the itinerary.