Harbor Seals, Children’s Pool, La Jolla, California [/caption}

Yesterday, I made my annual pilgrimage to La Jolla Cove and the Children’s Pool to see the Harbor Seals on their pupping grounds (among the many delights of that wonderful stretch of coast). I was surprised and slightly disappointed as I walked down from the north end of Scripps Park to see so few seals on the beach. Children’s Pool Beach is closed from December to May as it is taken over by the local Harbor Seals to give birth and to raise their pups to an age when they are safe on their own. Generally the beach is thick with seals and nursing pups when I visit in late February, but this year there were only a few seals at either end of the beach. There were, however, a lot more people than usual on high arch of sea-wall that protects the beach on the sea side, so I suspected there might be seals on that side, and I was right. The wall overlooks some semi-sheltered rocks, and submerged ledges honey combed with deep pockets, which is, evidently, ideal water for the seals to give birth, and they were busy doing just that…or laying out on their sides waiting to do that. The mother’s on the rocks were huge! They looked ready to pop at any moment, and at least 4 of them had popped that morning. The new pups were frisking around them, with the umbilical cords still hanging. One pup was born just as I got to the wall. I spent the better part of an hour there, watching the new pups play, and waiting for another birth, but birthing time was evidently over by then. The pups and mothers were in the “getting acquainted” stage, with much face-time…nose to nose…sniffing each other’s breath (which is how they identify each other at least for the nursing time). With that many new pups at once, there was, as always, some confusion when a pup would approach the wrong mother, only to get rebuffed after a nose to nose. The pup in the photo is certainly less than an hour old. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/250th @ ISO 100 @ f4. -.3EV. Processed in Polarr and TouchRetouch (to remove a bright hotspot where the sun reflected off the wet fur off the mother).