California Elephant Seals

Every winter, northern elephant seals haul out on the shores of Northern California to breed. The big males arrive first to stake their claims. January and February hold the greatest numbers of lumbering, blubbery seals on the Point Reyes National Seashore beaches. This year, the first male arrived in early December. By December 7th, when I saw them, at least fifty elephant seals were hauled out on the beach, with more rolling in with the surf.

Elephant seals are not adept – or effective, really – in locomotion on land. They ride the surf, patiently letting the waves carry them as far onto the beach as possible until each successive wave ceases to buoy them forward.

Then, the hard work begins. They shimmy—each effort sending a ripple through their blubber from head to toe. In the fifteen feet between the surf line and the seal pile, this one stopped to rest FIVE times!

At times, they are remarkably tolerant of another 2000 – 3000 pound animal joining the heap. Is it the price to pay for warmth on this chilly day? Other times, some small slight results in the ostracizing of one of the (relatively) smaller ones.

Their impressive roars rise above the blustering surf. A flotilla of harbor seals with their innocent puppy dog eyes lingers offshore, bobbing in the waves.I’m watching in the rain from the elephant seal overlook at Chimney Rock. I took an unexpected detour on my bobcat search (cats don’t like to be out in the rain) to see if the seals were here yet. I’d never seen one – or heard one – before. Their chatter is even more impressive than their size and comical facial features.

I am motivated to drive around and down to Drake’s Beach, the hot spot for elephant seal viewing in January and February, to see if there are any hauled out there yet. Although the beach will be closed to give the elephant seals the space they need and to protect people from themselves, I would still be much, much closer to these fascinating blubbery sea beasts.

Alas, the beach is open and empty. In the cold, windy December rain, I am alone. I have to come back this way one day to coincide with the peak viewing to get a closer look at the behavior and personality of these unique California Elephant seals.

If you’re interested in purchasing or licensing any images you see here, please email me at SNewenham at exploringnaturephotos.com, and I’ll make it happen.

Subscribe here to receive an email whenever a new blog posts.