The weather is delightful, so I’m out taking advantage as often as I can. Today’s destination was Whale Rock Reservoir in Cayucos. I’d heard there were some ducks out there, and I went to take a look. I’d never been there before, though I’ve been to Cayucos loads of times, so I was eager to see what it had to offer. As it happens, it’s one of the better birding spots around, as long as you have a scope and/or telephoto lens. The road is fairly far up the slope from the shoreline, which means that the birds are pretty far away. There is access to get closer, at least at the south end of the reservoir, but the birds shy away from walkers and photographers, so it’s a bit of a mixed bag as far as getting good photos goes.
Like most of the lakes around here, it’s actually a reservoir. This one was formed by the construction of the Whale Rock Creek dam back in 1961. It provides the drinking water for the nearby town of Cayucos, as well as San Luis Obispo, which is over 15 miles away. The water gets to SLO via a giant pipe, the 30-inch diameter Whale Rock Conduit. Since I’m terrible at landscape photography, here’s a picture of the reservoir from the city of SLO’s website:
It’s a birdy place; I saw Bald Eagles, American Kestrels, Turkey Vultures, California Scrub-Jays, the aforementioned ducks (4 species), and even a fair number of Clark’s Grebes. Here is a little photo gallery.
