Elephant Seals takeover Drake's Beach
Life is good.
Point Reyes Winter Wildlife Docent, Allison Culver captured the happy takeover of Drakes Beach in winter 2019 by Northern Elephant Seals.
On February 18, 2019, a sunny Presidents’ Day holiday, my son Aiden and I headed out to see the takeover of Drake’s Beach by Northern Elephant Seals. A combination of very high winter tides and the government shutdown allowed the seals to claim the ice-plant-covered highlands of Drake’s Beach as far as the parking lot. Without park service staff and volunteers to keep the massive seals at bay, they wisely headed for high ground.
As a result, the park service shut down Drakes Beach at the end of January to allow the seals to have their pups in their newly colonized area of the beach. On weekends, the parking lot is open and a roped off viewing area is set up for visitors to enjoy the lounge fest.
We spoke with several Point Reyes Winter Wildlife Docents who told us the seals had been drawing huge crowds. On Sunday, February 17, 2019 about 1300 people visited! Docents and rangers were stationed along the perimeter talking to visitors about the seals. We saw bulls fighting in the surf and adorable chubby pups (“weaners”) snoozing in the ice plant. Life was good for these massive pinnipeds. Docent Allison Culver reported about 110 seals on the beach including 33 females, 8-10 males and 50 pups.
The park service has counted 2,444 seals in Point Reyes this season which is an increase from last year. The females nurse the pups for about a month, mate and then head back out to sea to feed. The weaned pups (“weaners”) stay on the beach for another month or two before hunger drives them out to sea to feed.
More about Northern Elephant Seals:
photo credit: Allison Culver, February 3, 2019, Drakes Beach