Moss Landing is my closet access to the Pacific Ocean. I am drawn back time and again by the power of the waves, the beauty of the sea and the abundant wildlife. On this particular day, hundreds of pelicans were gathered on the rocks of the breakwater at the approach to the harbor. December1, 2005.
Posts Tagged: Moss Landing
4
May 15
Moss Landing Southern Sea Otters–04
The sea otters were hunted nearly to extinction by the 1900s. By the time the International Fur Seal Treaty banned hunting of fur seals and sea otters in 1911, there were less than 2000 otters left. The Endangered Species Act listed southern sea otters as “threatened” in 1977. The Moss Landing harbor area and the adjacent Elkhorn Slough host about 5% of California’s population of southern sea otters.
27
Apr 15
Moss Landing Southern Sea Otters–03
One or two “rafts” of otters can be seen nearly every day near a cove at the end of Jetty Road at the sand dunes of Moss landing State Beach. A “raft” is a group of otters floating side-by-side. They often sleep wrapped in stands of kelp so they won’t drift too far from one another. These photographs, however, were taken at the harbor close to the intersection of Jetty Road and Highway 1.