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Fairy Tern (sternula nereis)

Taken in Honolulu, Hawaii

status: vulnerable

A post for the bird nerds. These birds are also known as Manu-o-kū and White Terns. They are a beautiful all white feathered sea bird with black eyes and a black beak with a blue-ish base.

This one here is a chick. It hasn’t wandered away from its nest like it might appear because these birds lay their egg on a bare branch where the chick will spend its time until it fledges.

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Short Beaked Common Dolphin (delphinus delphis)

Taken in the Pacific Ocean

Status: least concern

One member of a descent sized pod of the ever energetic Short Beaked Common Dolphins.

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Milky Way

Taken in Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu, California

My first attempt at stitching multiple shots together. A bit of an imperfection in one area but not bad for a first try.

Anyway, here is part of the core of the Milky Way! For a few months of the year the core is visible over California. In areas with low light pollution (like where this was taken) you can easily make it out with the naked eye!

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Bioluminescence

Taken at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura, California

It’s that time of year again where red tide blooms off the coast begin to produce bioluminescent waves at night. The intensity changes from beach to beach depending on the amount of red tide, the wind, current and wave action. This beach seemed to have most of its red tide a bit further into the water but luckily waves were breaking far enough out to light it up still.

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Fin Whale (balaenoptera physalus)

taken off the coast of California

status: endangered

These stealthy whales barely show any of their enormous body at the surface despite being the second largest whale behind only the Blue whale. When full grown they range from 70 to to 85 feet in length and can live up to 80 - 90 years (per NOAA)!

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Santa Cruz Island

Taken in the Channel Islands National Park

There are five islands off the coast of California accessible only by boat that make up the Channel Islands National Park. This is the larger of the islands known as Santa Cruz Island!

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California Brown Pelican (Pelicanus occidentalis californicus)

Taken at Leo Carrillo State Beach in California

Status: not extinct

While these birds number in the thousands today it wasn’t always this way. This species was nearly lost for the same reasons the Catalina Bald Eagle population plummeted: DDT which caused severely weakened egg shells meaning when the birds would try to incubate their eggs they would end up crushing them. The adult birds were also prone to dying thanks to ingestion of the pesticide Endrin. The combination of these threats made them nearly disappear from North America entirely between the 1950s and 1970s until the use of DDT was banned in the United States in 1972 allowing the population that remained to recover.

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California Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus)

Taken at Leo Carrillo State Beach

Status: not extinct

These beautiful pelicans are going into their stunning breeding plumage for the season! You can see the difference in how bright/contrasty the more mature bird’s (left one) feather colors are compared to the immature individual on the right.

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Pigeon (columbidae)

taken on the Balboa Pier in Newport Beach, California

status: --

A little pigeon appreciate post! Look at that elegant landing.

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Bottlenose Dolphin (tursiops)

taken off the coast of Newport Beach, California

status: least concern

Another round of these dolphins playing! This time they seem to have jumped in a way that resulted in a bit of a mid air collision. All in normal dolphin fun though it was cool to see!

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Bottlenose Dolphin (tursiops)

taken off the coast of Newport Beach, California

status: least concern

A bottlenose doing a fun little half leap after its friend resulting in this cute set of pictures!

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Humpback Whale (megaptera novaeangliae)

taken in the Santa Barbara Channel of the coast of Santa Cruz Island

status: least concern

A juvenile Humpback whale surfacing briefly between what we assume were dives to feed on fish further below. There were hundreds of dolphins and 50 or so sea lions in the same area also feeding.

Santa Barbara Channel is a destination point for many Humpbacks due to the abundance of fish for them to feed on. For the winter (and some of fall) however these whales travel to Mexico (most anyway) along with Humpbacks from locations like Monterey and Alaska where they will give birth and breed!

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Double-Crest Cormorant (phalacrocorax auritus)

taken in the Santa Barbara Harbor in Santa Barbara, California

status: protected under US migratory bird act

A double-crest cormorant guiding the boat back into dock! More likely the bird was following maybe hoping the boat would disturb some fish into revealing their location for an easy meal.

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Pomarine Jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus)

taken off the coast of California

status: --

An extremely cool bird to see! Pomarine Jaegers are bird bullies in that they harass other birds into dropping their catch though they are capable of catching food on their own. They're an uncommon sight (and only possible to see during winter) along the southern California coast. It was no surprise this was the day we saw them around however as there were fish everywhere and feeding frenzies to be taken advantage of.

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Long-Beaked Common Dolphin (delphinus capensis)

taken off the coast of California

status: protected

A small Common dolphin with a very cute dorsal fin! This pod was particularly active chasing around some fish somewhere in the depths. Despite the speed the adults move at, many of these young pod members seem to have an easy enough time keeping up!

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Common Raven (Corvus corax)

taken at Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu, California

status: least concern

Two members of a flock of Raven scavenging for seeds among the bushes and trees! Many sat on branches I thought would surely break under their weight.

It is the most widely distributed Corvid in the world.

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California Gull (Larus californicus)

Taken at Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu, California

status: least concern

One of the more common birds to see on almost any beach along the California coast.