Monday, March 22, 2010

Elephant Seals of Ano Nuevo


Sometimes the most amazing sights are right in your backyard. A little over an hour's drive south from San Francisco is Ano Nuevo State Park which is the largest breeding colony of the northern elephant seal.A little over 100 years ago the elephant seal was almost hunted to extinction with only around 100 seals remaining before they were protected. Today there are over 150,000 elephant seals alive today and many of the return yearly to Ano Nuevo to breed.

My trip to Ano Nuevo was late in the breeding season. Most of the female seals actually had already given birth and returned to the ocean. Left behind were their offspring, a few months old and weighing a few hundred pounds each. During the warm sunny day they try and conserve their energy sleeping on the beach and they also learn how to practice to swim in the ocean and be prepared to take care of themselves once they are off the safety of the land.Not all the seals make it to the ocean unfortunately. Along with the living are the young ones who are unable to survive...

But it is an amazing place to see nature up close and a beautiful place as well. If you want to find out more about visiting Ano Nuevo check out the California States Park Website for Ano Nuevo and some background information about the elephant seals.

Monday, March 1, 2010

High School Basketball Playoffs

I was lucky to photograph the pulse-pounding Northern California Sectional playoff game between Redwood High School and Mount Eden.
It was an amazing game that went down to the wire...
For awhile in the second half it looked like Redwood would pull away with the game...
...but Mount Eden fought back and the two teams traded baskets both taking the lead in the final minutes...

...until Max Jackson drove into the lane and delivered a basket to pull Redwood ahead for good.
and the players celebrated the close victory. There is nothing better than a hard fought, well played game.
You can read the Marin IJ article on the game here.