Relaxing on the beach

A quick post for this shot of another smaller male elephant seal taking a break on the much quieter Cove Beach of Ano Nuevo State Reserve. This beach is outside of the official wildlife protection area, meaning that for the seals its much quieter since there are only a few of them, and for the humans, it means that you can go to this beach without a guide. On the times we've gone in the past two years, there have been a handful of males, most of them smaller than the beachmasters ruling the harems in the official area, that appear to be happy to have a quiet beach to themselves.

Protecting the Harem

An elephant seal beachmaster defends his harem at Ano Nuevo State Reserve.



This was probably the largest alpha male that we saw on this trip, and he was a real brute. You can see how the chest shield of scar tissue that forms during their brutal battles extends nearly around the back of his neck, which means that he has done some serious fighting throughout his life. His reward for this is to be the chief protector and only mate of a harem of ladies.

In the above shot, he is moving at full tilt to fend off another male intruder. One of the females in the harem was calling loudly for a few minutes to alert the alpha male that she was uncomfortable with this newcomer, and once he decided to respond he moved quite quickly through the harem. The challenger was behind the dune from where we were standing, but apparently backed down since we didn't get to see a fight, and the alpha male then settled down for a nap where he stopped. Watching him move his huge mass so quickly was really awesome, he is surely a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, he was moving too fast for my shutter speed in the overcast light, and this was the only sharp frame I got of his burst.



This is a more traditional shot of the beachmaster, and why they call them elephant seals. It really shows off his long proboscis which is covered in scars from his battles and his serious chest shield. It is truly an awesome experience to be in their presence, and especially on the beach with them. A trip to Ano Nuevo State Reserve is a must for any wildlife lover in the area!

Elephant seal after dusk

I'll begin my series of elephant seals from our weekend trip to Ano Nuevo State Reserve with a few shots that were taken right at the end of our terrific trip. After our late afternoon tour we went back down to "Losers Beach" to spend the final minutes of light with some big brutes that usually camp out there. We had a chance to watch a younger guy displaying his toughness for a while, and as the last bit of light slipped out from behind the clouds and below the horizon I took a few final shots of this beast who was right near the stairs from the beach.



My wife had a lens with a wider zoom range, and she took some wonderful shots of the seals as part of their environment. Here's one of my favorites, with the last sliver of sunset included.

'Tis the Season

Its an exciting time of year along the central California coast -- the elephant seals are returning to the rookery beaches for their winter antics of fighting, mating, and having babies.



My trip last weekend was still too early to see any of the big blokes, but there were a few rambunctious youngsters who did a little play fighting while we were there.

Noses

A Thanksgiving weekend road trip brought me down through Big Sur on CA-1 to Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo. Although we got to the Piedras Blancas Rookery in the middle of the day and the light was harsh, it was still fun to snap off a few shots of the young seals that are starting to gather there. No really big males yet, so mostly tiny noses around the beach.