March 23, 2014 - West Coast Mammals

The fact that I still have photos to show you from our west coast trip last fall tells you how great that trip was. We came across this North American Porcupine at Seven Devils Wayside State Park in Charleston, Oregon. It was foraging right along the road and paid no attention to us as we stopped and took photos. Here’s an interesting fact about porcupines. They only have one baby per year and it is born with all of its quills. Fortunately, the quills are soft and the baby is born head first.

PorcupineSevenDevilsWaysideCharleston20131016

This rock outcropping is located along 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach, California. It’s covered with California Sea Lions and Cormorants. Click on the photo to see a larger version. California Sea Lions are found along the west coast of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. I couldn’t get the whole rock in one frame of my camera, so I took several overlapping shots and used Photoshop to combine them into this panorama photo.

SeaLionsCaliforniaPanaramaMileDrivePebbleBeach20131024

We also found Harbor Seals along 17 Mile Drive. These two were poking their heads out of the water to see what was happening.

SealHarborMileDrivePebbleBeach20131024

This Harbor Seal was resting on a rock along 3 Mile Drive in Pacific Grove, California. Its fur looks rather odd, almost looks like it’s molting. Actually, a Harbor Seal’s fur is gray and slicked down when it’s wet. But when it dries, it looks brown and fluffy. This seal had been resting here long enough that part of its fur was dry and part was still wet.

SealHarborMileDrivePacificGrove20131027

To us, resting like this on a rock looks very uncomfortable. But Harbor Seals are often found in this “banana position” (head and tail raised.)

SealHarborMileDrivePacificGrove20131027

This California Ground Squirrel was at Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, California. It’s about the same size as our Eastern Gray Squirrel.

SquirrelCaliforniaGroundSpermophilusbeecheyiGlassBeachFortBragg20131022