I've made no secret of the fact that I feel most at home near water. I don't even think it matters what type of water it is! But one thing is for certain - put me within a block of the ocean and I am relaxed and at peace instantly.
And so, after my fabulous time at Mission San Juan Bautista which had already started me on a very happy path, I knew my next destination had to be the ocean next for some sun, exercise, and photography.
I parked my car about 6 blocks away, up the hill, so I could get some exercise and headed towards the shore.
I walked along the recreation trail looking at beautiful Mother Nature.
I saw a little colony of sleepy seagulls enjoying the afternoon sun.
I saw a little colony of sleepy seagulls enjoying the afternoon sun.
Yaaawwwwnnnnn!
They have pink feet! Cute, pink feet.
I was also unreasonably excited to see a gulp of Brandt's Cormorants on a rock. And even more excited to see what a cute photo I got of one of them leaping from the rock into the sea.
Yep, believe it or not, a grouping of cormorants is called a gulp.
They have some other names too, but I like using gulp.
They have some other names too, but I like using gulp.
Here's how you tell a Brandt's Cormorant from a Double-crested Cormorant. That's a Brandt's Cormorant on the left (hint: It's predominately black). That is NOT a Double-Crested Cormorant on the right.
It's a seagull silly!
It's a seagull silly!
No, but seriously though, a Brandt's cormorant has wispy white "hairs" on the sides of its head and on its shoulders. It also has a shorter tail.
And there is very little yellow on it's face and throat. Instead, their throats are bright blue to match their eyes. Unfortunately, they were a little too far out and not facing in the right direction for me to capture these beautiful features.
You can see their blue throats a little though.
If you look really hard.
And maybe squint a little.
For comparison purposes, here is a photo I took a couple weeks ago of a Double-crested Cormorant floating on the Sacramento River. Note the yellow face, green eye, longer tail feathers, and more of the grayish scalloping on the back feathers.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled program from Monterey Bay. This is a long view of Lover's Point. I had parked my car pretty much directly up from Lover's Point and walked about 10-15 blocks or so at this point.
I just love the Cypress trees!
I stopped to take another shot of the gulp of cormorants with their jagged perch. When I looked at my picture, I realized that what I thought was another cormorant in the water was actually two otters! So adorable! They photobombed the birds!
They were such a cute couple, rolling and playing as they swam away from me.
I had a good time watching the photographer in the next photo for a while. He was trying to get a shot of a seagull sitting on a rock with a wave breaking over it. But the seagull, who was not stupid, flew up in the air just before each wave hit. Right before I took this photo, he flew away for good. lol!
And then, I saw my next otter couple. These guys were a lot closer to shore but it was still hard to get really good photos (even with my 300mm!).
BUT! I had to include them here because these two were freaking funny!
They were floating along with food on their bellies.
They were floating along with food on their bellies.
You can see the guy on the left has a big conch? shell and the guy on the right has a nice abalone.
Nom, nom, nom!
OMG, the dude on the right is drinking every last bit of abalone!
Just like a kid with a bowl of cereal!
And then he was like, "I don't have any more. Do you?"
"Nom, no...No...I don't have any more either." "I don't believe you...let me see!"
"Give me some!" And then he pounced on his friend and they both disappeared under the gentle waves. It was so hilarious!
At this point, I realized that my time was running out and I had just a very short window to visit the Monarch Sanctuary before I had to head for home.
So I hotfooted it up the hill, back into the residential streets and headed for my car. I had to snap a few shots on the way even though I was trying to hurry as fast as my fat ass would go.
Then I hopped in my car and headed to see some butterflies!
TBC...
xoxo
