elephant seal ~ 01/08/12 ~ Hopkins

northern elephant seal
Mirounga angustirostris

It looks like a sandy sausage, eh? I almost didn't post this, because I have much better pictures of elephant seals down at Piedras Blancas near San Simeon. However, I wanted to note the unusually large size of these beached elephant seals near home. In the past week or so, I've heard their distinctive grunts at night, even over the roar of the winter waves. While we've had some elephant seals at Hopkin's West Beach (I like to affectionately call it seal beach) in the years past 9 years, these are the largest males I've ever seen here. I'm fairly sure we have harbor seals all year round on this beach (those rock-looking slugs in the lower-left of the last photo above), but the appearance of a couple elephant seals seems to be seasonal and new.

Here are a couple decent local elephant seal links with original information:
http://elsealnotes.blogspot.com/
http://www.elephantseal.org/

elephant seal and harbor seals

We've noticed in the past couple of months that one or two elephant seals have been beaching where the local harbor seals usually hang on the north side of Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station. We don't know if this is a recently new occurrence or if we're simply more aware of our local nature.

ps 02/11/10 - Two nights ago when I couldn't sleep, I stepped out on our balcony and heard the familiar deep, Harley-Davidson type grunt, grunt from the elephant seal. I'll be curious to see if our local beaches end up being a popular spot for the massive Miroungas.

elephant seals ~ 06/27/09 ~ Piedras Blancas

elephant seal
Mirounga angustirostris

We stopped by Piedras Blancas on our way north and took pics of the males as they were beached to molt. They looked so blissful napping in the sun.

ps 09/04/11 - I just found a new blog dedicated to the elephant seals at Piedras Blancas, ElSeals4me.

northern elephant seal
Mirounga angustirostris

Initially, we believed this was an unusually, big-headed harbor seal, who was despondent over its lost pup - the same cute little one we witnessed at almost the same spot 2 days before during our regular walk. We fabricated a fantastic story of how the 1-800-marine-animal rescue team had whisked away the pup to human care, not realizing the poor momma was soon to return to her child... now missing!

This ID was provided by a very pleasant Marine Mammal Center volunteer. She told us it was a juvenile elephant seal that she believed was looking for a place to molt. The volunteer was waiting for a cohort to provide a "board" to transport the elephant seal to a less conspicuous and heavy-traffic location. I don't know if they took it to Santa Cruz or further south near San Simeon to be with its kind.

northern elephant seal
Mirounga angustirostris

This was the first time in all my years of living in CA that I went to actually see the elephant seals in action. I was surprised to hear how deep and loud they were; it reminded me kinda like hearing a Harley-Davidson motorcycle roaring through the redwoods. Molting, birthing, and mating all in one place at the same time, thanks to a wacky delayed fertilization process. Nature continues to amaze me!

Btw, the official BLM lands is just north of here around the lighthouse. The BLM is starting to attract my attention and appreciation since it also takes care of most (not all) of the Fort Ord Public Lands.