Tag Archives: america

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Elephant Seal Nursery

July 16, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The elephant seal nursery at Piedras Blancas, California

A virtual blanket of elephant seals spreads across the beach just above the waterline at the Piedras Blancas elephant seal “nursery.” During the winter months these large and impressive animals come ashore to give birth and to breed, and after a strong recover during recent decades their numbers have increased greatly, to the point that it is not possible to find them in a number of locations along the Pacific Ocean coast, and not just in those set aside specifically for them.

A still photograph like this one lies at least a little bit, or perhaps just tells a bit less than the full truth. The scene looks very static, with almost no sign of animals doing anything other than lying prone in the sand. In fact, there does seem to be a lot of “sunbathing” going on here! But there is activity. The babies and juveniles are sometimes found huddled together in groups, occasionally cuddled up next to one of the adult females, and quite often nursing. Occasional territorial disputes arise, and they often seem to be settled by some noisy bluffing and baring of teeth. (The battles between large males are a different story, and they can be quite violent and even bloody.) Occasionally one of the seals move up onto the beach or leaves it for the water — if you look closely you can probably spot a few on the move in the photograph.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Elephant Seal Vocalizing

July 15, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Elephant seal vocalizing, Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery

The Piedras Blancas elephant seal “nursery” is a well-known place to observe these great animals, especially during the time of year when they come ashore here to give birth. This is most certainly not the only place where the elephant seals come ashore now that their numbers have recovered, but it is one of the most accessible, being literally only feet away from the Pacific Coast highway. A short trail along the edge of the low bluff above the beach allows you to safely watch the action from a very short distance.

At times portions of the beach are virtually filled with elephant seals, often packed tightly together — large adult males who may be lounging around or fighting to establish dominance, females who are often nursing their young, and the juveniles who are born on this beach. The sound (and the smell, but I’ll leave that to your imagination!) of all these animals is quite something, including sounds that might be described as screams, howls, barks, and the almost mechanical sounding guttural calls of the largest males.

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Ocean View Trail

July 14, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Ocean View Trail traverses a grove of young trees, Muir Woods National Monument

First let me get a few preliminaries out of the way. Despite the title of this photograph, there I no “ocean view” here, and despite hiking a good distance up this trail I never saw one — perhaps due to the fog but also to never getting high enough above the valley or out of the trees. Second, and perhaps of more interest to some who use Canon equipment, I had a chance to work with the new Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 L IS lens for the first time on this shoot. I’ll have more to say about that in a separate post, since I know that quite a few folks are interested in this lens. All I’ll say on that technical subject here is that I was not disappointed! (Link goes to site sponsor B&H Photography.)

The conditions on this morning were those of a typical San Francisco summer day — in other words, it was foggy! There are, at least from my point of view, significant advantages to this. It can be quite warm in Northern California this time of year, especially if you get away from the coast, so the cool coastal fog is almost always a welcome relief. The fog also softens the light, and when shooting in a forest like this one that is often quite important — brighter sunlight can send light beams to the forest floor that make for very wide dynamic range and a harsh effect. And, not insignificantly, the fog means that this photographer doesn’t have to get up quite so early to have this wonderful, soft light. This trail branches off from the very popular (absurdly popular at the wrong times on the wrong days) main trail up the valley of Redwood Creek, with its easy access to the redwood trees. The Ocean View trail climbs, steeply at times, at first through redwoods and then at times through more open vegetation. In this section all of the trees appear to be very young and packed together closely. I liked the patterns of their dense trunks and also the slight glow of light on the trail.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Elephant Seal Family

July 13, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Baby elephant seal and its mother, Piedras Blancas

I spent some time photographing at the elephant seal rookery at Piedras Blancas, California at the end of January, but I let the image files sit for a few months before going back and looking at them with fresh eyes. The rookery at Piedras Blancas is special for several reasons. Not that long ago the elephant seal popular was terribly depleted on the west coast, but they have made a tremendous come-back in recent years, and now the Piedras Blancas rookery is one of the places where these huge animals are easy to see. During the breeding/birthing season they haul out on this beach (and many others that are less accessible) that is right off of the Pacific Coast Highway, making it very easy to observe them.

At times the beach is literally covered with these creatures — the huge males, the smaller breeding females, and the newborn babies. The sound is amazing, and I doubt that I can offer any real description in words. You have to hear it. The big males make guttural sounds that seem almost mechanical. The babies howl and whine. Most of the time they lie almost still on the sand, but every so often something sets them off and pairs will engage in mutually threatening behavior, especially some of the males who are apparently trying to establish dominance. The little scene in the photograph belies all of that action, as an elephant seal pup rests next to its mother’s curving body.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: america

Elephant Seal Nursery

Elephant Seal Vocalizing

Ocean View Trail

Elephant Seal Family

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.