Deep sleep

 

Juvenile Northern Elephant Seal (Mirounga angustirostris), 31 March 2016

A first spotting

Did you hear about the Yellow-bellied Sea Snakes (Pelamus platura) that washed ashore in Southern California?

There were several articles written about them — see examples in National Geographic, Scientific American, and The Washington Post.

With the strong El Niño conditions this winter, and hearing about these sea snake sightings, you can imagine that I've been watching the wrack line closely.  

Not too long ago, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this on the beach:

 

I was a little hesitant, but eventually I was brave enough to flip the snake over:

 

Can you believe it?  Even rarer than a Yellow-bellied Sea Snake, this is the first sighting of a White-spotted Sea Snake (Pelamus albomaculata) in North America!

Okay, okay — April Fool!

Hope I didn't get you too excited.  (Perhaps you could tell that this snake didn't have a flattened tail, and that it was made out of rubber.  But it did make me do a double-take when I found it washed ashore!)

Enjoy the first day of April!  :)

 

Gathering

 

On 26 March 2016, we watched this female White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) approach a cavity on the underside of a large oak branch.  

 

At first we thought she might be interested in using it as a nest site.  But when she backed out with a mouthful of material, we realized that she was gathering nesting material from this cavity:

 

I don't know if there was a former nest in the cavity, or if softer materials had simply collected there and she was gathering them to use at a new site.  Before this, I hadn't considered what nuthatches use to make their nests, so it was intriguing behavior to watch.

 

The little bear with the beautiful nose

While Eric and I were doing a beach survey tonight, we looked up from searching for small invertebrates near our feet to see a mammal in the distance moving towards the surf:

 

For a while, it swam close to shore:

 

And then it re-emerged onto the beach.  [I should mention that all of these pictures are heavily cropped; we watched respectfully from a distance.]

 

We were both excited and worried to see a young fur seal.  Although The Marine Mammal Center has handled a record number of stranded fur seals this year, I've only seen them at sea, and Eric had never seen one before.  Fur seals are pelagic, spending most of their life offshore.  Seeing one on the beach could mean that the animal wasn't healthy (although this one appeared energetic).

This fur seal started to groom with its very long hind flippers:

 

The whole time we were there it groomed various parts of its body with its hind flippers — it was amazing to see how flexible it was!

 

I don't have experience identifying Northern Fur Seals and Guadalupe Fur Seals.  I've tried reading about them, and my best guess for this individual is a Northern Fur Seal (Callorhinus ursinus).

I'm basing the identification on the short snout and rounded forehead...long ears...extremely long hind flippers...and a lack of fur past the wrist on the upper side of the front flippers.  That said, if you have more experience and can help confirm or correct this identification, please let me know.

You might have noticed that this fur seal is tagged — look for the orange tag on the front right flipper in the last picture.  I'm not sure if this means it was tagged at a breeding colony, or if it's a rehabilitated animal that was released.  Perhaps someone familiar with fur seal tags could provide additional information.

P.S.  Callorhinus means "beautiful nose" and ursinus means "bear-like," hence the name of this post.

ADDENDUM (30 March 2016):  A quick update:  Several people have responded that they agree with the identification as a Northern Fur Seal.

And, TMMC has some information about tagging on their website.  They mention the sources of different tag colors:

Green -- Año Nuevo Island
Pink -- Farallon Islands
Red -- San Miguel Island
Orange -- rehabilitation centers

I also learned that a tag on the right flipper indicates a female (vs. on the left for a male).  So this female Northern Fur Seal was released from a rehabilitation center.  Thanks everyone for the useful information!

 

Gale warning

It's often windy in Bodega Bay, but today it was really windy.  I find it hard to capture such strong winds in a picture — it would be better if you could be here, trying to stand upright against 45 mph gusts.

 

Looking offshore from Bodega Head on 28 March 2016.  Northwest winds were blowing at 30 mph with 45 mph gusts.  West swell was ~10.5 feet.  Strong winds during the last week have dropped the water temperature down to ~10°C (50°F), but I wouldn't be surprised if it starts creeping up again once the winds let up later this week.

Easter seal

 

Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina), photographed off Bodega Head on Easter Sunday, 27 March 2016

 

Purplish pink

 

Blue Dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum) in Petaluma, CA, on 26 March 2016