Thank you for this magical post and for the NOAA love. I never tire of watching seals transform their blocky-looking little flippers into astoundingly flexy fingers for scritching themselves. This reminds me that we still have an elephant-seal-watching trip in our future! Sadly, sea lions, sea birds, and dolphins are stranding on our So Cal beaches daily right now due to an unusually early and intense harmful algal bloom. Our local NOAA Fisheries stranding response team, who determine cause of death for stranded dolphins and whales, has been working nonstop (it's all hands on deck at this point, so I participated in my first necropsy today!). On a gee-whizzier note, researchers recently documented coyotes preying on harbor seal pups in northern California, and published some pretty cool action shots: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.70031 (beware, there are also some photos that are not for the squeamish)
All the spring babies out there and all the hungry coyotes, such a tough balance. I met someone from the east coast of Ireland who said he's been out in the waves when the pups arrive and float like little blobs. I'm sad hearing about the algae -- we see it in the river here and it's hard to fathom its effect in the depths of the ocean. Thanks for being out there watching and studying, please send pics of the elephant seals - !
Oh, you’ve made me long for a visit to Block Island! I didn’t know the seals had come to stay. Little Rocks, shuffling into the water, bobbing their sweet heads.
Thank you for this magical post and for the NOAA love. I never tire of watching seals transform their blocky-looking little flippers into astoundingly flexy fingers for scritching themselves. This reminds me that we still have an elephant-seal-watching trip in our future! Sadly, sea lions, sea birds, and dolphins are stranding on our So Cal beaches daily right now due to an unusually early and intense harmful algal bloom. Our local NOAA Fisheries stranding response team, who determine cause of death for stranded dolphins and whales, has been working nonstop (it's all hands on deck at this point, so I participated in my first necropsy today!). On a gee-whizzier note, researchers recently documented coyotes preying on harbor seal pups in northern California, and published some pretty cool action shots: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.70031 (beware, there are also some photos that are not for the squeamish)
All the spring babies out there and all the hungry coyotes, such a tough balance. I met someone from the east coast of Ireland who said he's been out in the waves when the pups arrive and float like little blobs. I'm sad hearing about the algae -- we see it in the river here and it's hard to fathom its effect in the depths of the ocean. Thanks for being out there watching and studying, please send pics of the elephant seals - !
Oh, you’ve made me long for a visit to Block Island! I didn’t know the seals had come to stay. Little Rocks, shuffling into the water, bobbing their sweet heads.
I loved Block Island in this blustery season, so wild and quiet and a bit eerie. Very different from its summer self!