Bombay Beach Run, Feb. 12, 2012

What an exciting day Jaz and I had. We'd heard there were elephant seals just up the road from where we were staying. During the winter months there is a population of about 17,000 seals here. So off we went to see them. It turns out that these funny-looking creatures are incredibly interesting.

We pulled into the first viewing area and looked over the dirt cliff to the sand below, and there they were. We saw so many up and down the beach, all laying in the sand catching a tan. They appeared to be all males.

One male who posed for me.

Male elephant seals can grow to 5,000 pounds and up to 16 feet long and get their name from their long dangling noses. In the December through February mating season, the males battle for breeding rights for up to 100 days, without food or water. During their eight months at sea, they dive continuously wihout touching land, with dives averaging 20 to 30 minutes although record dives approach two hours. They are bottom feeders, and feed on skates, rays, small sharks and other high-protein sources.

These faces are just kind of sweet looking.  But don't be fooled.

The ones at this beach weren't moving much although some seemed to be stretching like they might be getting ready to wake up. Some stretched front flippers, others their back flippers. Some rolled over, stretching their back muscles. It was fun to watch them. There wasn't a lot of action, though.

This is just a sweet face taking a nap.

A couple passed us and said there was lots going on at the next vista up, so we headed that way.

The next vista had a whole different look and sound. Here there were the males, females and pups. Hundreds and hundreds. The noises alone could drive you crazy, moans, barks, growls. It was fascinating. Some of the youngsters would cry and cry in high pitched voices until they finally got their mothers to roll over on their backs so they could nurse. The males would bellow and defy other males to come near their females, and run off others who dared to come too close.

Hundres of them lines the beach and even extended upon to the side of the hill near the road and parking lots.

This time of year is the birthing and breeding season for the elephant seals. The females of the species grow to about 12 feet in length, and weigh about 1,800 pounds. They lose up to 40 percent of their body weight during an average of 34 days while birthing, nursing, weaning the pups and breeding again before returning to the sea. She feeds primarily on squid and dives an average of more than 2,000 feet with recorded dives of more than 5,400 feet. Between dives she needs less than three minutes to re-oxygenate. That's an amazing fact.

A couple of the girls were having words with each other.  One had bitten the other a few minutes earlier.

The difference in size is quite apparent when you see a male and female together. The mating action was going strong, youngsters were nursing and others were tossing sand onto their bodies apparently to help cool themselves. They would toss sand with their flippers, and lay there covered in dirt.

Sand tossing.

We saw many of the elephant seals mating. While sometimes the male would leave, others would lay alongside their mate, protectively laying a flipper over the female and taking a nap. It was a very sweet thing to see, and seemed so unusual.

Love in the afternoon.

He seems protective of his mate, who could be one of many in his harem.

The birthing process takes about a half hour. Pups are 60-80 pounds at birth and 3-4 feet long. They can gain up to 10-12 pounds a day. They are weaned at 28 days of age, weighing 250 to 350 pounds.

Nursing youngster.

After the weaning process is when the males mate with the females again. The male may have up to 40 females in his harem.

Males chest bumping, fighting for territory or females.

These animals are the same that trek back and forth to Alaska, but most of us never have the opportunity to view them, much less watch them up close as we did today. It was an incredible experience.

This male had just come in from the water and was moving along.  They see to move quickly a few feet, then stop to rest, then do it all over again.  For such large animals they can move very fast, just like our moose.

Brown pelicans.

From the vista we wandered further up Highway 1 and stopped near a lighthouse. This was another great experience as there were birders there watching a rare bird, the crested caracara. They don't usually come to California, mostly staying in the southwestern U.S. and Florida, Central America and South America. The caracara is a raptor, black with white near the head and under the tail, yellow legs and a beak wIth an orange band. He was a beautiful and noble looking bird. It was a privilege to be able to see it and just something we lucked into.

I pulled this photo from a website as none of mine were nearly good enough. 

We stopped to take a few bridge photos, and at our final stop at the Bixby Bridge we were taking photos when suddenly a person with a hanglider type of thing jumped off the bridge. I happened to get the bridge and the person in the same shot, just started snapping. It's not legal to make this type of jump, and turns out it was a female.

This is the Big Creek Bridge.

Bixby Bridge and the jumper.  She just appeared in my frame as I started to take my photo so I just snapped it.

California coastline.

What can I say?  I like birds, and he was posing.

It's so nice to see flowers.

Then it was time to make a blast to Redwood City to Jaz's mom's house. We got in about 7 p.m. It was dark and just started to rain as we got their. Perfect timing on our part.

It was a day of surprises, a day of wonderful photographing and sharing with friends.