Readers’ wildlife photos

Don’t forget to send in your wildlife photos if you have good ones! Thanks.

Reader Joe Dickinson sent some animal photos from California; his notes are indented:

Here are some photos from a recent trip down to Cambria on the California central  coast. Knowing your fondness for squirrels, I’ll start with a couple of California ground squirrels (Otospermophilus beecheyi), which are very common among the rocks along the shore around Morro Bay.

Next, some surf scoters (Melanitta perspicillata), certainly one of the oddest ducks.

This is a loon (Gavia) but I have not been able to identify the species. [JAC: readers?]

Several harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) hauled out on a rock.

The rest are northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris).  First, a male surrounded by pups. Born around the first of the year, the pups are already about the size of those adult harbor seals. They really pack on the pounds in a hurry.

And a male getting a bit amorous.  Who could resist such a charmer?

A portrait of a resting male.  This is still the season when males are contesting dominance, but most encounters we saw consisted of a smaller male hurrying away as soon as the local harem master noticed him.