In the redwood forests, new ferns and mosses grow as epiphytes along the trunks of certain trees, multiplying with each day's new rain. Streams and rivers fill with water and waterfalls restart after their seasonal pause. Monarch butterflies are wintering along the coast. Thousands can be seen at their favorite roosting spots. Elephant seal females arrive to give birth to a single pup.
Huge bulls continue to battle for breeding dominance and the colonies increase in size everyday.
Further out to sea, gray whales start to appear on their annual migration from the Chukchi and Bering Seas to Baja, Mexico. Winter in California is a superb time to go birdwatching at areas like the wetlands of the San Francisco Bay, the Delta and the Central Valley. There is also stupendous birding along the North and Central Coasts, the Deserts and the Klamath Basin. All rights reserved.