The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
I had a very interesting day kayaking around Elkhorn Slough. It is a beautiful estuary south of Santa Cruz. There were all sorts of interesting birds to see, but in addition, they have a rebounding population of Sea Otters. There is never a dull moment watching these critters, but I have since learned that there is a dark side to these cuddly creatures. But, first the fun stuff.
The Harbor Seals are always a joy to watch:
Then Pelagic cormorants:
And, as you may have guessed from my earlier posts, the Forster's Terns are always fun to watch:
Now, the Sea Otters: very cute, especially when with their young:
But something I started noticing was that just about every female had severe damage to her nose.
I had to research this when I got home, and I was not at all amused with the answer: Here is an excerpt from an article called "The Dark Side of California Sea Otters" in a blog called Out of the Fog:
Sea otter males pursue the females relentlessly during mating season. Even after they are caught, female sea otters vigorously resist mating. So vigorously, that the males hold the female’s head underwater to subdue her. Sometimes females drown during mating.
Because the male bites the female on the head to subdue her, females suffer serious wounds during mating – often biting the nose off of her face. In one survey, 4% of female sea otter deaths came from these wounds. And males will continue attempting to mate with dead females.
As if this was not depressing enough, I observed another upsetting thing in the slough as well. At first I noticed Honey Bees landing on my boat. No big deal. Then I noticed them landing in the water (salt water).
Pretty soon there were 100's if not 1000's of bees landing and drowning in the water. I am going to have to research this to find out what was happening.
So, the good, the bad and the ugly. It was an interesting day, but sometimes nature can be harsh.
To see more pictures from the day, click here: Elkhorn Slough Pictures
