USA 2023 - Elephant Seals (and more) at Aňo Nuevo CA

Monday 3 April 2023

Chilled out Elephant Seal - Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

North of Santa Cruz, the Pacific coast becomes surprisingly wild and undeveloped, - unexpected, given how close you are to San Francisco and the cities of the Bay area. Inland, the hills were blanketed by the remains of Redwood forests that had been hit by massive fires the previous year. Luckily, the coastal heathlands had been largely spared, but the charred skeletons of trees on the nearby hills (below), were a sobering reminder of the effects of climate change on these fragile habitats. Most of the state park lies inland from the coast road, but our interest lay in its coastal section – and, especially, the Elephant Seals. I'll get to them shortly.  

Last year's fire damage on the hills behind Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

We checked in at the visitor centre, housed within old barns dating from the area’s use as a dairy farm up until the Second World War, before heading off on the trail to the headland. The northerly wind was  strong and cold. Most birds were keeping their heads down. An Anna’s Hummingbird balanced precariously on a bush and about 20 Surf Scoters bobbed around offshore. The small pond produced Goldeneye, Ruddy Duck, Eared Grebe and Mallard, with a few Tree Swallows zooming and diving over the water and a Northern Harrier flying by. My first Calfornia Thrasher, a brown bird with a downcurved bill, perched on a bush before diving into a sea of scrub with a flash of rufous underwings. Too fast for a photo.

Coast at Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

Views opened up towards the sea. A few Brown Pelicans were perched on a rock, with a Western Gull, and a lone Pigeon Guillemot sat on the water. On the Pacific coast, this marks the northern end of the year-round range of Brown Pelicans, although they travel further north in the breeding season. As if to pre-empt the day’s main mammal event, there was a single Sea Otter floating in the bay doing very little, in true Sea Otter fashion. (See my previous blog post here about California Sea Otters).

A few Mule Deer, called Black-tailed Deer here (a race of Mule Deer found in California's Coastal Ranges), had found a sunny and sheltered spot near the trail. 

Mule (Black-tailed) Deer - Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

At this point on the trail, there is a small ranger post with a volunteer warden (or docent - not a word that I'd heard before). We offered to show our permits (obtained from the visitor centre) but he waved us aside saying "If you've made it this far, that's good enough for me". We had a quick look at his impressive collection of seal skulls: fully grown Elephant Seals are massive.

We were now approaching the Elephant Seal beaches ...

Elephant Seal signage at Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

This sign looks suitably dramatic, but we knew that we wouldn’t be seeing any of the big male Elephant Seals here; they arrive on the beaches in December and are usually gone by mid-March at the end of the breeding season. The good news is that there are other Elephant Seals at Aňo Nuevo all year round, so our visit wouldn’t be wasted. Near to South Point the trail climbed a big sand dune; we took a branch off to the left, which ended by a beach that was littered with around 100 recumbent cylinders of blubber - some of which are shown below. 

First sight of the Elephant Seals at Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

Strictly, these are Northern Elephant Seals Mirounga angustirostris, one of the 'true seals'. (There is a short discussion about true seals and eared seals/sea lions in my previous post about California Sea Lions here - opens in new window.) At their largest, the males can reach 5 metres in length, which is big enough but shorter than the other Mirounga species, the Southern Elephant Seal. In conservation terms, Northern Elephant Seals are doing well. Numbers are increasing; from as low as 100 individuals in the 1890s the latest IUCN population estimate is now around 110,000.

Juvenile Elephant Seal - Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

Most of the Elephant Seals on this beach were juveniles, or ‘weaners’, as the warden called them. Females give birth in early December; this part of the park is closed for a fortnight then. The pups grow rapidly from their mothers’ milk (one pup per female); weaning starts brutally in February when the females leave the beaches in search of food for themselves (the males have already gone). The pups then learn to swim and feed from the beaches when the adults have departed.  

Elephant Seal coming into the beach - Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

Elephant Seal in search of a place to snooze - Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

But there were a few older seals on the beaches as well. Jumping slightly ahead, when we got round to Bight Beach, a larger subadult seal swam close in. Signs of moulting fur were clearly visible on its head (below).

Elephant Seal in moult - Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

Even better, from Bight Beach we got a distant view of two young males squaring up to each other at North Point (below), practicing for future adult conflicts.

Elephant Seal (practice?) aggression -  Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

Marvellous encounters, despite the absence of the big adult males. And it’s good to know that these seals are still protected (by state law and the Marine Mammal Protection Act 1972), and obviously valued by wardens and visitors alike. 

From South Point to Bight Beach we were walking straight into the biting wind. A Northern Harrier drifted over the dunes (below). I’ve come across a few of these in the USA, and they are certainly a lot more common than Hen Harriers are back in the UK. The two species were only split relatively recently. This image shows the distinctive white rump, as well as the famous V-shaped wing profile, although harriers can display a range of shapes in different types of flight.

Northern Harrier - Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

Bight Bay was as memorable for its reptiles as its seals. With hindsight, this was an ideal day to see them, as they were seeking out suitable basking spots to combat the chilly wind. Two enthusiastic wardens (docents) showed us a beautifully marked snake lying next to the boardwalk in the cover of a bush - a Western Terrestrial Garter Snake Thamnopis elegans (below), specifically the Coast Garter Snake T.e.terrestris subspecies.  

Western Terrestrial Garter Snake Thamnopis elegans - Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

At the time, the docents said that it was a San Francisco Garter Snake Thamnopis sirtalis tetrataenia, one of 12 identified subspecies of the Common Garter Snake, and I duly noted it down as such. But checking my field guide later on, and looking at the excellent California Herps website (link here - opens in new window) it is clear that this couldn't be the case. San Francisco Garter Snakes have red, not green, heads. The moral of the tale: don't believe everything you're told. But, in fairness, Garter Snakes are very variable.

Thankfully, there was no doubt about the next reptile - a Western Fence Lizard Sceloporus occidentalis (below) sitting on the side of the boardwalk.

Western Fence Lizard Sceloporus occidentalis - Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

The lizard was the second of the morning - one had scuttled off the boardwalk as we approached Bight Beach and I had been frustrated not to get a good view. This one was more obliging, although I later found that all of my images were out of focus - poor! The Western Fence Lizard is California's most common lizard; the California Herps website says: "Chances are good if you see a small lizard sitting on a rock or fence or other object and you are anywhere in California (except the very high mountains or in the deserts) this is the lizard you are looking at." I guess that the clue's in the name! Like the garter snakes, Western Fence Lizards have been subdivided into a number of subspecies; there are useful range maps on the California Herps website. This one was a Coast Range Fence Lizard S.o.bocourtii, which is a Californian endemic.  

With that, we retraced our route to the visitor centre. Two Whimbrels (below) had landed on a beach just south of the pond.

Whimbrels (record photo) - Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

A bit of botanising revealed this lovely Blue-eyed Grass Sisyrincium bellum in flower (below), one of a number of Sisyrinciums found in California. A member of the Iris family, it is mainly found along the coast, but also in some upland locations. Beautiful.

Blue-eyed Grass Sisyrincium bellum - Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

Back at the car park, a Western Scrub-Jay had appeared on a picnic table, a sign that it was getting near to lunch time.

Western Scrub-Jay - Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

And a close Turkey Vulture fly-by was the final bird encounter of our visit to Aňo Nuevo. You don't get birds like this at picnic areas in the UK.

Turkey Vulture - Aňo Nuevo State Park CA

Reference

Behler, J.L. and King, F.W. (1979) National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. New York: Alfred A Knopf.