Tag Archives: mammal

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Southern California

A Seal’s Life

Image Leave a comment
A Seal's Life
An elephant Seal naps on a Southern California beach.

A Seal’s Life. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An elephant Seal naps on a Southern California beach.

Before posting this photograph I considered a few other possible titles. Perhaps “Zzzzzzz.” Or, “Ah!” Anyone who has ever closed their eyes and fallen asleep on a warm beach can imagine the feeling. (Though, in truth, this beach was not particularly warm. But I digress.) This particular specimen lay among a group of at least hundreds of elephant seals at a well-known Southern California “elephant seal rookery.” The great majority of them were engaged in “activities” that were more or less the same as what you see here.

I think this is, however, a bit misleading. These creatures, who seem quite awkward and even a bit out of their element on land, are prodigious hunters. From what I hear they are also quite at home in the water and might even be described as graceful when they are swimming underwater. But like lions (or so it seems to me) their lives, at least at this stretch of beach, seem to consist of short intervals of activity separated by long periods of lounging around.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Elephant Seals, Stream

Leave a comment

Elephant Seals, Stream
Elephant seals cavort in a fresh water stream flowing across a beach

Elephant Seals, Stream. California Coast. January 5, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Elephant seals cavort in a fresh water stream flowing across a beach

During the first week of the new year we travelled to Southern California for a family event. These days we are more likely to take the plane or train for such things, but since our oldest son and his wife were visiting from New York and also were headed that direction we decided to drive and take the Pacific Coast Highway — not fast but certainly scenic. That plan also fell through. We didn’t check road conditions before departing and right around Carmel we saw a sign announcing that the route was closed some miles to the south. Normally that would mean turning around, but since one in our group had never seen the area at all we decided to at least go to Big Sur for lunch before turning around and using highway 101 instead. After lunch I happened to check my phone, and I discovered that the route had been cleared literally minutes earlier — and the Big Sur Coast drive was back on!

Below the most rugged section of the route (roughly south of Ragged Point) the terrain flattens out and becomes much more gentle. In this area there is a well-known elephant seal rookery, where these huge animals haul out and give birth each year. The elephant seal population was once endangered, but protections have brought them back and they are now becoming much more common along California’s coast. These animals had split off from the larger group to enter the fresh water of a coastal stream where it crossed the beach to join the ocean, with the water backlit by the late afternoon sun.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Bubble-Feeding Humpback Whales

Leave a comment

Bubble-Feeding Humpback Whales
Bubble-feeding humpback whales break the surface at Point Lobos State Reserve, California

Bubble-Feeding Humpback Whales. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. September 3, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Bubble-feeding humpback whales break the surface at Point Lobos State Reserve, California

I had the morning free, so I got up early and did the counter-commute drive down to Point Lobos, where I had heard that whales had been spotted very close to these shoreline during the past week or so. Arriving there I quickly surveyed the water and spotted huge groups of sea birds above slightly turbulent water, a reliable indicator of places where whales might appear. I headed out to a high bluff with a good panoramic view of the area and almost immediately spotted whale spots and soon the whales themselves. As the fish (which might have been anchovies or something similar?) move closer to the shore, the birds followed, and soon whales (and dolphins and seal lions) also appeared.

I’m far from being an expert on marine mammals, but I’m learning! This past year or so has provided some wonderful opportunities. I have long known about gray whale migrations in the area, but I learned that while the grays tend to move past on their way to places north or south, the humpback whales follow the food and will hang out in one place when it is present… as it currently is around here. I’ve also learned about their remarkable group “bubble-feeding” behavior, where they team up and use some remarkable strategies to corral fish. Some of them will apparently surround a school of fish. Then another whale goes beneath the school and emits a tremendously loud sound that sends them upwards. Meanwhile, another whale circles and blows bubbles into the water. The climax is the moment when the whole group may suddenly burst vertically through the surface of the water, full “throats” and mouths extended and full of water and fish.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Napping Elephant Seals

Leave a comment

Napping Elephant Seals
Napping Elephant Seals

Napping Elephant Seals. Point Piedras Blancas, California. July 24, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A crowd of elephant seals napping on the beach near Point Piedras Blancas

This is (yet another!) photograph of elephant seals lolling about on the beach near Point Piedras Blancas just south of the Big Sur coastline. This location is well-known for providing easy access to viewing of these remarkable animals. They are found in many other locations along the coast now that their numbers have recovered, but in most places access is much more difficult. Here there is an “elephant seal nursery” mere feet for the Pacific Coast Highway, with short observation trails that give good views of the action and which protect both the seals and the human visitors.

I visited a bit earlier in this season when the pups were still rather small. This visit was almost an afterthought — after a morning of photographing landscapes and seascapes along the Big Sur coast I found myself at the southern end of this area with a few hours to kill in midday light, so I decided to drive a bit further and visit the seals. There were not nearly as many there at this later point in the season, but there were still plenty for me to make photographs. Images of the animals lying almost motionless on the sand not only evoke our own pleasant thoughts of doing the same thing (!) but they can also create a false impression that the lives of these creatures are lives of ease. In fact, the reality seems quite a bit different. In contrast to what seems like a life as a big chunk of sleeping blubber, these animals become quite sleek and graceful once in the water — where I understand that they have to be on the lookout in order to avoid become a snack for a great white shark!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.