The final post in this series of photographs of southern sea otters taken at Moss Landing California.
Otter
31
Aug 15
Moss Landing Southern Sea Otters–10
27
Jul 15
Moss Landing Southern Sea Otters–09
Another post in this series of photographs of southern sea otters taken at Moss Landing, California.
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Jul 15
Moss Landing Southern Sea Otters–08
Another “portrait” of a southern sea otter at the harbor near Moss Landing State Beach.
15
Jun 15
Moss Landing Southern Sea Otters–06
Otters are one of the few animals that use tools. They often use rocks to break open prey such as crabs or clams. I watched this otter repeatedly break open shells on rocks in shallow water along Jetty Road.
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Jun 15
Moss Landing Southern Sea Otters–05
Otters eat clams, mussels, sea urchins, abalone, oysters, squid, crab and other small marine species. They need to eat 25 to 30% of their body weight in food each day! If you watch them for any length of time, you see they are always in motion if they aren’t sleeping.
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.
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Apr 15
Moss Landing Southern Sea Otters–02
All of these photographs of otters were taken with an old 500 mm f/8 mirror reflex lens. It is a manual focus lens and very hard to control. The depth of field is narrow and I can only hold it steady with a tripod. The otters are often rolling or diving so it is rare to get a shot in focus. Sometimes, though, when they are feeding, a successful shot happens.
13
Apr 15
Moss Landing Southern Sea Otters
I noticed several shots of southern sea otters as I reviewed my images from 2014. I thought they might make a short series. Otters are popular and seem to be the signature animal for the Monterey Bay area. Their photos are widely used in local advertising. The next few posts will feature shots of otters taken at the Moss Landing harbor.
2
Apr 10
A Sea Otter Enjoys the Sun
This is a shot of the same sea otter taken two weeks later. It has the same discoloration or raw place on its nose. It seemed to be enjoying the warmth of the sun. Although the otters are a common sight in the Moss Landing area, there are fewer than 3000 along the entire California coast. They remain an endangered species.
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Mar 10
What Sharp Teeth You Have!
Another shot of a sea otter eating. I watched this otter repeatedly dive and bring up clams. It ate 16 clams as I watched. The sea bed was littered with hundreds of shells in the same area, all, I think, from this same otter.