Northern Elephant Seals prepare for Valentine's Day

A bull seal showing the wounds from a recent fight

A young male comes ashore to test the Alpha bull

No trip down the coast would be complete without a stop to check in on the Northern Elephant Seals (Mirounga angustirostris).  In early December the large males begin to arrive on the beaches, establishing their territory and sizing up the competition.  The battles are fierce and bloody but rarely deadly and to the victor go the spoils.  The 'Alpha' bull gets the privilege of mating with all of the females of his harem which can consist of anywhere from 30 to 100 females.

The intruder is chased off by the Alpha

Females arrive on the beaches mid to late December and give birth to the next generation.  These pups are jet black earning them the nickname "black coats".  Approximately 75 pounds at birth, the pups nurse on fat-rich milk for 25-28 days.  Incredibly they can reach between 250-350 pounds in this short time period!  Once they are weaned they lose their black coat, molting into a silver gray.

Females bear one pup but orphaned pups take advantage where ever they can

After weaning her pup, Mom mates with the alpha bull (Valentine's Day usually falls at the height of the mating season - fancy that!) and then abandons the pups to learn to fend for themselves.  They spend the next few weeks climbing through sand dunes, chewing on everything they find, playing in tide pools and eventually taking to the sea as they learn what it means to be a seal. 

Black coat preparing to nurse

Mother and black coat pup bask in the morning sun

Where to view North Elephant Seals:

Año Nuevo State Park: Reservations required

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=523

Piedras Blancas, San Simeon

Walkways open to the public year round and admission free

http://www.elephantseal.org

The Marine Mammal Center

Marin Headlands near Sausalito

Rescue and rehabilitation

Open to the public 10am - 5pm daily

Free admission

http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/

A bull issuing his trade-mark battle-call

My Backyard

It seems that I never have time to explore my 'backyard' - I'm always heading to some destination far away or if I AM home, I am buried in paperwork or paying bills. That's why I'm always thrilled when someone comes to town to visit. Even better when that someone is another photographer.

My friend Iain is in from Australia and so the past week I've received a proverbial kick in the butt to get out and photograph. We've been up to Point Reyes and down to Piedra Blancas... I've explored new locations to photograph the Golden Gate Bridge and I've discovered a fabulous area to photograph the migrating water fowl.

Tomorrow we pick up another photographer who is coming in from Canada, Isabelle, and we head down to Moss Landing for another session with the Sea Otters on Elkhorn Slough. In the afternoons we hope to get back down to shoot more elephant seals. I got some nice stuff with our crazy morning drive but I'm hoping for more now that I have an idea of what to expect of the shooting conditions.

One of the things I really like about hanging about with other photographers is being in the exact same spot and comparing images later. It never ceases to amaze me how two, three, even 5 people standing withing 20 feet of each other will obtain very different images. You can check out some of Iain's shots from the trip so far on his blog.

TURTLE!

I managed to make it back out to the Farallon Islands. More importantly, I managed to do it without getting sick. Out of 20 people on the boat, 7 people were down for the count due to sea sickness.

I headed out because I had heard there had been Blue Whale spotted. Unfortunately there was a storm at sea that stired up the currents - the whales had not yet returned to their feeding cycle. We did spot the Blue but at the end of the day and from afar.

The absolute highlight of the trip for me was an encounter with a Leatherback Turtle. If you know me, you know I ADORE turtles... if you don't know me... I ADORE turtles. When I first moved to San Francisco I took a tour to the Farallons and found a Leatherback - we got some photos which I am sure were nothing short of amazing... and the print lab lost the film.

It's pretty rare in life that you get a second chance. Even more rare to have a second chance with an endangered species. So I am counting my blessings on this encounter. The Turtle was so nice and mellow and didn't even care that we drifted along side of him for a time.

The Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish) was the icing on the cake for the day!

Falkland Trip: Carcass Island

Black-throated finch were abundant on Carcass

Carcass Island definitely spoiled me for the rest of the trip. We stayed at the home of Rob and Loraine McGill who own the entire island. I soon discovered that the island was not named for some sinister dead bodies but rather the HMS Carcass which surveyed the island in 1766. My room was anything but grim and came complete with a set of Hardy Boy books which made it so cozy and inviting. We had amazing breakfasts, they packed us excellent, albeit HUGE lunches, afternoon tea and cakes were always around and warm, filling dinners. It was hard to tear myself away from the charm of our hosts to go out and photograph. Luckily there was an amazing variety of birds to draw me out.

Female kelp goose on rocky beach

Before breakfast there was always time to catch the beautiful morning light on the beach. Kelp geese, speckled teal, Falkland steamer ducks, black oyster catchers, tussac birds, snipe and night heron wandered the each without a care in the world. After breakfast Rob piled us into the trusty Land Rover and drove us to the other side of the island where we were delighted to find a large king cormorant colony (also known as an imperial shag).

King cormorant coming in for a landing

Another day we explored the rocky shore near the landing strip. There I found a mad, dive bombing skua, a colony of kelp and dolphin gulls complete with adorable fluffy chicks, Magellanic Penguins and my favorites... Southern Elephant Seals. I watched the juveniles sparing in the water, practicing the skills they would need as they get older.

Southern elephant seals sparring

A short boat ride took us to West Point Island where we spent the day in the largest Black-browed Albatross colony in the Falklands. Interspersed with these huge birds were the tiny and comical rockhopper penguins. As I huddled in the tussac grass to get out of the wind that threatened to blow me off the cliff face, I was literally run over by more than one of these silly birds. They alternated between being curious and just down right indignant. As we crossed back to Carcass Island we watched the sea boil with Albatross, Petrels, Cormorants and dolphin as they all fed on the abundant fish. I could have stayed right there for two weeks and not seen everything or explored every nook.

Instead, after a few days we moved on to Saunders Island... we were not disappointed with what we found there!