California: Wildlife of the Central Coast

4 Days
  • 3 to 4 participants
  • San Jose, CA
  • San Jose, CA
  • Van
  • Standard hotels

Description of California: Wildlife of the Central Coast

Monterey, California, is a cute seaside town located about an hour and a half south of San Francisco. Surrounded by world class golf courses and made famous by John Steinbeck’s writing, this once industrial sardine packing town, 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 migrations 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.

Highlights of California: Wildlife of the Central Coast

  • Hands-on photo instruction for wildlife and landscape photography with Tamron Ambassador, Alyce Bender
  • Explore the rugged and wildlife filled central coast of California
  • Learn more about the ecology of the slough and get close-up images of southern sea otters, seals, and birdlife while on a private photography eco-cruise.
  • This is a new workshop being offered as a part of our Wildside Limited Series which are limited to 3 to 4 participants and one photography workshop instructor.

You can send your enquiry via the form below.

California: Wildlife of the Central Coast
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