4 Nov 2025
The downside to going to bed so early is the equally early wake-up the next day, and I didn’t make it quite that long- I woke up around 11p, but managed to toss and turn until finally giving up around 5am.
The sun wasn’t even awake yet, and nothing here is open so I ate the second donut I picked up yesterday, had some leftover coffee and started sorting through pictures until it was late enough to start exploring again.
I grabbed the big camera and headed north, toward La Jolla cove, where I’m hoping to find sea lions. But just a few minutes into my walk, I spotted HUMMINGBIRDS!!!
There were several of them flitting around!
I had no idea hummers were local to this area!! Awesome start to the morning!
Waves were particularly splashy today:
and it wasn’t long before I smelled, then spotted, my first sea lions!
I had forgotten just how stinky these guys are! We were here almost 10 years ago for my cousin’s wedding and went exploring for sea lions then too.
There were several of these Black turnstones walking along the cliffs:
Young cormorant:
Making a nest:
Look at his blue under-chin and eye!!!
Little sea lion!
This group was lounging right by the fence!
So close!!!
This poor guy had an injured flipper 🙁
ouch 🙁
Mid-sneeze:
Apparently sneezes are contagious:
Lazy naps:
the under-mouth:
Farewell, friends!
Continuing my trek, I followed the trail north, around the cove:
I found a few more birds including 2 types of pelicans:
Look at that brilliant red neck!
A Red-shoulder hawk:
A couple Black phoebes:
ANOTHER HUMMINGBIRD!!!
House finch:
Song sparrow:
Orange-crowned warbler:
(who is actually yellow…)
A compact pelican:
I was starting to get hungry, so I headed back and found so many more sea lions warming themselves now that the sun is starting to break through the clouds:
This poor guy had something wrapped around his neck:
I have no idea who to report him to, or if they can even help him, but I hope whatever that is isn’t causing him too much pain:
The group of close sea lions was still sleeping nearby:
Couldn’t resist taking a few more pictures:
I mean, look at that face!
Found a few more cormorants with their bright blue throats:
and yes, they struck some funny poses
Another nester:
One last clump of sea lions:
I grabbed a muffin and a smoothie on my way home- I figured that might be a fun way to stay hydrated, but something in the smoothie did not agree with me, so I’m extra glad I picked up some Gatorade on my grocery run yesterday.
Once my guts were settled enough, I prepped the camera and wandered over to the beach to begin tidepooling!
I spotted several of these little sculpins:
They are skittish, but a few sat still long enough for me to snap a picture:
A very flat crab, hiding from my camera:
These tidepool crabs are also easily frightened- this one ran off a split second after I shot this:
Wee brittle star:
At this point, I had been hunting for about an hour and a half and was losing hope of spotting any nudibranchs when finally! I found one!
He was less than 1cm long- WAY smaller than I was expecting! The next couple I spotted were also tiny:
They were doing that weird floating thing I had seen them do in Oregon as well:
A new-to-me nudi, the Spanish shawl/Flabellinopsis iodinea:
Figures that the sharpest picture I got was poorly lit 🙁
This little guy is a Rustenga pulchra, another species I had seen up in Oregon:
but whereas those guys were about the size of a TicTac, this one was more like half a grain of rice- those are grains of sand:
and I forgot to grab my close-up lens, which is most unfortunate because with the exception of that Spanish shawl, all of the nudis I’ve found have been less than 3/4″ long 🙁
Another swimmer:
The blurry part along the top of this picture is the waterline:
A leaf photobomb:
Unfortunate as this was one of the larger nudis I found (he’s about an inch long)
Two opalescens:
and another!
Another new-to-me guy, Hopkin’s rose/Ceratodoris rosacea:
I met several other tidepoolers who were also hunting nudibranchs so we all shared our finds. It made hunting a little less daunting since nudis here seem to be MUCH smaller than the guys up north (which is totally not what I expected- I figured warmer water would equal bigger nudis).
But, I spent a little over 3 hours hunting and the tide is coming back in, so I headed home, showered and went in search of food (a fish taco, because you have to when you’re on the ocean and a quesadilla, because I know I’ll be hungry again later and don’t want to have to go back out).
And since the sun had once again set shortly after dinner, I spent a little time sorting through pictures then called it an early night again.
Eventually though, I will catch a sunset. Maybe tomorrow 🙂