Dateline: Cambria, California

The Earth's Climate is Rapidly Changing.         The Animals Tell Us So!

I am a guide at the Piedras Blancas Light Station on the Central California coast. The largest section of our tour is not the lighthouse and supporting buildings, but is the wide variety and abundance of wildlife that habitat at Piedras Blancas. The marine mammals
and sea birds are, by far and away, the most enjoyed section of the tours.

Wildlife is abundant at Piedras Blancas because of the relatively unscathed environment along the Central California coast. As a guide and volunteer over several years there, I've had the great fortune to observe the numerous and varied marine mammals which populate the area; either as full time residents or as visitors passing through this stretch of the coast at the same times every year.

One thing that we've noticed are new animals that show up unexpectedly. This is particularly true of blue whales and sperm whales--it's hard to miss those guys! Both these magnificent animals rarely came this far north--their range usually ended several hundred miles south of Piedras Blancas. Over the past several years, however, we have observed more and more of these whales in the area.

Both these species of whale have diets of organisms and squid that are in abundance only at certain water temperatures. It is undeniable that the warming of the waters of the Pacific Ocean is pushing the Blue and Sperm whales further and further north along the California coast in search of a food supply that is directly effected by the Ocean's temperature.

Listen to the whales, they'll tell you that our climate is rapidly changing!

The Beauty of Piedras Blancas.....