Endangered Species Yin 'n Yang at El Cap State Beach

Southern California coastal areas are EXTREMELY diverse. Not only for the 'Left Coasters' who live here, but for the wide variety of animals and plants. I set out on a walk this morning from El Capitan State Beach, where El Capitan Creek enters the Pacific (above).

The beach is rocky at the outflow, and a popular 'surf break' - Refugio State Beach's point is evident in the center of the photo, about two and a half miles to the west.

As I said, it was an EARLY start, just at sunrise (6:15am) and with a 'minus tide', sun to my back, great for taking photos - like an old gunfighter, gaining any advantage. [I learned this from my birdin' buddy, Adam Lewis.] The beach is quite sandy for the next mile or so, and the ravages of winter storms' removal of sand has been nicely reversed this spring.

Nearing half-way to Refugio, exists outcroppings of rocks forming 'tidal pools' - habitat for small fish, crustaceans, insects and this Great Blue Heron. Most notable however, for the purposes of this post is the background of this photo. Notice the floating seaweed? It's kelp. We'll see it again in a few more photos.

While I saw many small-ish birds (Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Sanderling, Semi-palmated Sandpiper) and other shorebirds (Willet, Marbled Godwit, Whimbrel), it was the bird above that stood out to me - a Snowy Plover.

The Snowy Plover is quite well-known locally as it's presence - for breeding purposes - can shut down public beaches for months at a time.

Like the Snail Darter or the Spotted Owl, this tiny (one to two OUNCES!) bird is also protected by the Endangered Species Act - as Threatened. Perhaps less than 1,500 exist along the western coast and only 10 nesting sites.

Entire beaches are closed during the nesting season to protect these threatened birds from inadvertent trampling (the eggs are very hard to see) and human disturbances. Vandalism is not unknown.

Literally moments after taking photos of the plovers, THIS showed up! And very close to shore - at a very low tide. Remember the kelp in the heron photo? Yep. This Gray Whale is INSIDE the kelp zone! And at 50,000 pounds PLUS, this 40+' endangered mammal clearly out-weighs its feathered brethren on the beach.

Gray Whales are the winners of the 'Long-distance Mammalian Migrating Award' - making a round trip each year from the cold Pacific Ocean & Bering Sea of Alaska to the welcome waters of the northern Gulf of California - a total round trip of over 12,000 miles!

In the warm and shallow waters of the Gulf of California females breed one year, and calve in the next. Above there are two 'spouts' visible, a confirmation that this is a female Gray Whale with her calf, returning to Alaskan waters at the walking speed of 3mph.

This photo shows the blowhole of the calf, born tail-first at 12' long. Note that it is clear of any marks or parasites.

Mom, however, shows some of the wear of time. Typical, ain't it?

Again here is mom in the lead, and always to the ocean-side of her calf - running interference and protecting her precious contribution to a shrinking gene pool from the ever-present predators. Even now at 20' long, the calf is very susceptible to attack by Orcas. The Gray Whales' only other predator? Humans. You know, Homo sapiens - the WISE species of Homo...

Moments later, mom and calf headed around this point and steered up the coast. Next passage? Refugio Beach State Beach - only another mile ahead. And then another. And another.

More photos and information on my Flickr site with this slideshow.