Tuesday, Apr. 16, 2013, Jenner, CA.

A seal was born today

It was windy again today, but not quite as strong as the last few days. I headed out, but first I had to go to the local Napa parts store to pick up a mower belt I had ordered. I retrieved the belt and headed down to Jenner.

Yes, the wind was blowing around twenty miles an hour when I got there, but otherwise it was a sunny day. It was also low tide, so the water was down and most of the shoreline was on the muddy side. Most of my hangouts in the brushy shoreline where above the water level, so I had to go a ways up river to find a place that was out of the wind and in the sun shine. I crossed the river over to the island and headed up river. I had to go about a mile before I was able to find a place out of the wind to stop and take it easy for awhile. I hung out there for about and hour as the wind would drop a bit and then pick back up again. I thought it might die down, but it didn’t.

A good day to do a little hike.

After awhile, I headed down stream to Poison Oak Alley, where I put ashore and hiked up the hill a bit.

Just before I put ashore, I noticed a lone seal on the shore across from me, which I thought was just sunning itself, as they use this place for that purpose on occasion.

Below is where I put ashore at Poison Oak Alley. The seal was across the river from here.

As I climbed the hill, I noticed there were a lot of wild flowers out and in their prime, as you can see in the picture below.

Below is a picture of the river looking up to the highway one bridge.

What’s going on with that seal across the river?

I hiked around up there for about an hour, then returned to the river. Now, what’s going on? Why is that seagull nosing around by the seal. Shortly after that some Turkey Vultures also landed. Was the seal in distress and dying?

Below you can see the seal and the seagull across the river from me.

I went about my business exploring around on the shore line. The next time I looked over there I discovered the answer to why the gull and turkey vultures where there.

A seal pup was just born.

Below you can see that the seal has just had a pup, but was it ok?

Below is a little closer shot of this action.

After about forty five minutes, she passed her afterbirth and the vultures took quick care of that.

As soon as she passed her afterbirth, she headed for the water taking her new pup with her, as you can see below.

She took her pup to the water on the edge and waited there for about ten minutes, likely introducing her pup to the water and then they were gone.

I messed around for a bit longer.

I messed around on the shore for a bit longer, then headed back down the river to the visitor’s center and took my boat out and went home for the day.

Below you can see the view I had headed back to Jenner. It’s fairly windy and the waves where up a bit. Jenner is looking real nice with all the green grass above it.

I went home and had a little nap. Then I put the new belt on the mower. It fit, but I wasn’t in the mood to mow, but at least I got that done.

Had a nice day at Jenner.