Information About The Central Coast
Wildlife attractions and Endangered Species
California Condor
Monarch Grove
The California Condor is a New World vulture, the largest North American land bird. This condor became extinct in the wild in 1987 but has been reintroduced to northern Arizona and southern Utah (including the Grand Canyon area and Zion National Park), coastal mountains of central and southern California, and northern Baja California.
Pismo State Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove
The “Butterfly Trees” of Pismo Beach are one of our most beloved attractions From late October through February, thousands of colorful Monarch butterflies cluster in the limbs.
The Monarch Butterfly Grove is located in the extreme southern end of the City of Pismo Beach just off Hwy 1.
Western Snowy Plover
The Snowy Plover is a small wader in the plover bird family. It breeds in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, the southern and western USA and the Caribbean.
Santa Cruz Island Fox
Brown Pelican
The island fox is a small fox that is native to six of the eight Channel Islands of California. There are six subspecies of the fox, each unique to the island it lives on, reflecting its evolutionary history. Other names for the island fox include coast fox, short-tailed fox, island gray fox, Channel Islands fox, Channel Islands gray fox, California Channel Island fox and insular gray fox.
The brown pelican population was devastated by the effects of decades of widespread use of the pesticide DDT. DDT entered into the food chain and pelicans died because the fish that they eat were poisoned by DDT. The brown pelican has made a remarkable comeback in the years since DDT use was banned in the United States, and the population size is now healthy enough to sustain itself.
