Spending Sunday morning at Point Dume turned into a wildlife bonanza with ocean views and sunny skies. In less than one hour I had the chance to see: A gray whale milling about right near shore! California sea lions porpoising and hanging out on the rocks. California brown pelicans watching the waves. Western gulls relaxing… [read more]
Synchronized swimming sea lions
Here is another shout out to the 2012 Olympics in London, this time to synchronized swimming! There is actually more synchronized swimming in the ocean than you might think. For starters, many species of small schooling fish look the same and swim the same way traveling en mass for protection such as the Pacific sardine.… [read more]
Lazy summer days
This photo pretty much sums up how I’ve been feeling lately. What is it about summer that makes you just want to lay in the grass, close your eyes and soak in the sun? My blog calls me, dust collects on my bookshelves, my social media posts are outdated, the mail pile grows, but I… [read more]
List of sea lions
Visit any beach or pier in California and there is a good chance you will see a California sea lion. In fact, California sea lions seem to be everywhere enjoying one of the following activities: lounging on buoys, sinking small boats, stealing fish from fishermen, swimming with dolphins, resting on prime pier real estate, and… [read more]
Fun anecdote about California sea lions
Recently, I was cleaning my desk and going through stacks of papers and discovered the interview notes from my very first article on California sea lions. Wow, time flies, I wrote the first column for Easy Reader almost two years ago! For that first story, I interviewed Fullerton College professor and California sea lion researcher… [read more]
TOPP is another cool website
TOPP is another great website I recently discovered that I wanted to share. TOPP actually stands for Tagging of Pacific Predators. On the home page you can see where tagged animals have traveled including a white shark, a tuna, a male elephant seal and a leatherback turtle to name a few. There is so much… [read more]
Great time to see elephant seals
Now is the perfect time to go see the elephant seals! December through March is breeding and birthing time for Northern elephant seals and according to the Friends of the Elephant Seal website the peak birthing time is the middle of January. So that means this coming weekend is the best time to visit Piedras… [read more]
Elephant seals are lucky to be alive
I just learned about some fascinating elephant seal history that is a must share. It turns out that the two male elephant seals going head to head in the photo are truly lucky to be alive. In fact all northern elephant seals are lucky to be alive for reasons that are both predictable and shocking.… [read more]
Northern elephant seals heading home
What better way to start the week than by watching a heart warming video of two northern elephant seals heading back to the ocean. The two stars of this video were rescued as pups by the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, rehabilitated and just released on the beach. One of the seals is… [read more]
Sea lions, weasels and bears oh my!
Classifying animals is a messy business. Back in the day before genetic analysis, seals, sea lions and walruses were classified as members of the order Pinnipedia. They were considered to be “separate from but closely related to the terrestrial carnivores of the order Carnivora” as told by the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. And of course… [read more]