California, 9th November, look away if you don't like elephant seals

After lunch we went over to a 'Discovery Centre' by the car park in San Simeon and found that there were 2 places a little further north where you could see elephant seals. The first area was quiet and we stayed there for a while watching the animals. The adult males were still at sea so we were looking at the ladies and juveniles. The adolescent males were feisty and kept rising from their normal stupor and having brief skirmishes, after which they would settle back down to sleep. Sleeping was done in heaps, preferably one above the other. In the height of the winter season there are apparently around 16,000 of these giant seals breeding along this stretch of coast. Here is a picture of an overview of their rookery.










Seals were not the only animals on offer. Here is an egret and below a rock full of cormorants and then a pelican.




This seal had a penchant for seaweed.




There were lot of runny noses.








There were a few younger pups with their covering of paler fur. They did not seem to be doing too well and one of the ones we saw was dead when we revisited the next day.




Some sparring males



Friends again




The seal watching areas are in the vicinity of Point Piedras Blancas where there is a lighthouse, open to the public in season but shut when we were there. The second area we went to had many more people looking at the seals (the first was just us and a fisherman).




I decided to take some pictures of seals scratching, which they did a lot. There did seem to be many flies around which must have been irritating. Their front flippers are so hand like.













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