Tag Archives: rookery

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

Elephant Seal – Face and Flippers

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Elephant Seal - Face and Flippers
Elephant Seal – Face and Flippers

Elephant Seal – Face and Flippers. Piedras Blancas, California. January 31, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

In a pile of elephant seals, one animal rests its head on the back of another

Here is another elephant seal “portrait” from our end-of-January to an elephant seal “nursery” near the southern end of California’s Big Sur coastline. We had a day to photograph the Big Sur coast, so we made this spot the target for our turn-around point, photographing the coast on the way down and back.

This popular place to view the elephant seals when they come ashore for breeding is very close to the Pacific Coast Highway, and it attracts a lot of visitors. In contrast to many such places, where the seals are (lucky for them!) not very accessible to visitors, here a walkway has been constructed along a low bluff right above the beach where the seals give birth and raise pups each winter. In most ways, this is some of the least challenging wildlife photography you’ll ever encounter! Yet the opportunity to be so close to these huge beasts is hard to resist. The photography turns out to be just a bit more tricky than you might think when you show up to find hundreds of elephant seals laid out along a beach that is only a few yards away from your position. The seals are not exactly the most active critters around, and most of the time they lie prone in the sand, occasionally slapping a flipper or opening an eye. My approach is to watch for animals in positions that might make good photographs should they decide to become active, and then to watch attentively for signs of action and, especially, for interactions among the animals or the occasional animal watching me.

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

Elephant Seals – Mother and Pup

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Elephant Seals - Mother and Pup
Elephant Seals – Mother and Pup

Elephant Seals – Mother and Pup. Piedras Blancas, California. January 31, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dark elephant seal pup rests its head on its lighter-colored mother.

I first visited this popular elephant seal calving area a few years back when I took a detour on a trip back from Southern California. I was familiar with the elephant seals of northern California, but I had not realized that they were in the south as well, so I was surprised when I came upon this place which has been set up as an observation station where visitors can watch a beach full of these immense creatures close-up. As I understand the outlines of the story, their numbers had decreased to very low levels until they were protected a few decades ago. Since then the population has rebounded. Each year when I visit this location it seems like I see more of them, and they are now starting to show up on other nearby beaches.

These animals are wild and tough creatures. They spend large parts of their lives in the ocean where they are apparently graceful creatures. On land, where they are found here, they can appear to be lazy and awkward and almost humorous at times. At this location in the winter, they mostly seem to lie on the sand – where they are no doubt safe from large off-shore predators – as they raise their pups. From what I read, the females come ashore and then do not eat during the period when they nurse their pups to weights of a few hundred pounds! The herd produces a wild cacophony of sounds that I do not have the vocabulary to fully describe – cries, screams, roars, and the deep and mechanical sound of the large males. Occasional fights erupt, especially a bit later in the season as the males battle for dominance. But if you look around in this mass of seal flesh, you can spot some vignettes that seem somewhere between funny and cute. This small back pup had lifted its head up so that could rest it on the back of the larger and lighter colored elephant seal, which I presume to be its mother.

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.

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

Young Elephant Seal Among Gulls

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Young Elephant Seal Among Gulls

Young Elephant Seal Among Gulls. Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery, California. July 2, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell. – all rights reserved.

Seagulls take to the air around a young elephant seal at the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal rookery, California.

This young elephant seal had just begun to wriggle its way up the beach at the Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery when the flock of birds in front of it began to take to the air. A moment later there was a veritable cloud of birds surrounding this animal.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: elephant, seal, rookery, beach, shore, piedras, blancas, california, usa, wildlife, sea, mammals, seagulls, flock, flight, alight, wing, beak, orange, water, beach, wave, surf, nature, wildlife, gull, sand, young, stock, marine

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

Flock of Gulls

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Flock of Gulls

Flock of Gulls. Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery, California. July 2, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A huge flock of gulls takes to the air at the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery, California.

While photographing the elephant seals last weekend at the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery just south of the Big Sur coastline of central California, an absolutely flock of shore birds took flight above the beach. I quickly lifted the camera up from the elephant seals and photographed into the cloud of birds as it rose and turned above the beach. While other photographs in the series show an even greater density of birds, this one shows some of the individuals – at least in the larger versions on my computer screen.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: gull, sea, seagull, shore, bird, marine, fly, flight, flock, mass, beach, ocean, sea, pacific, coast, wave, foam, wing, dense, wildlife, animal, nature, california, usa, piedras blancas, elephant seal, rookery, highway, one, 1, wild, beak, feather, central, stock