Goodbye Elephant Seals

(January 4th) For my last morning in San Simeon, I caught the pre-dawn light at the coast again. This morning, it was all about the reflection in the water left behind by the waves. The hues were so soft and varied this morning.

Then it was on to the elephant seals. It was sad to have to say goodbye to these magnificent animals. The last several days I learned so much about them and the individual seals had become recognizable to me. Photographically I worked mostly on the pups again, by this time many more offspring had been borne - I'd estimate about 1/3 of the females had pups by now.

With such cute faces as that, how could a mother resist nuzzling?

The seals weren't the only ones at the beach. California Ground Squirrels also made the areas near the beach their home. This one enjoyed breakfast two feet away from me.

It was hard to say goodbye to me new friends the seals, but I headed up north to the Monterrey area. I spent a bit of time driving around before I ended up at the Carmel River and Lagoon area. This place was fantastic. It had a pond that was filled with birds. I spent a bit of time watching the dynamic, little Buffleheads.

The ponds was filled with gulls that were there as well as some majectic Brown Pelicans. With the late light creating some wonderful texture, the bright colors of the Brown Pelicans were remarkable.