California sea lions

We visited the Carpinteria Bluffs on our first "away" field trip and enjoyed seeing the harbor seals at the rookery beneath the bluffs.  According to the docents there have been about 100 born this year which is slightly below last year's count.  I don't recall ever seeing this on previous trips, but this time we observed a couple seal lion pups on the beach as well.  The difference between these two species of pinnipeds was readily apparent.  Here's a brief reminder:
             seals: no external ear flaps, short front and rear flippers, mostly silent
             sea lions: external ear flaps, longer and opposable flippers, bark!

                                from: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/seal-sealion.html

While the harbor seals are successfully rearing and weaning their pups, the California sea lions have been having a rough year.  There has been high mortality of sea lion pups, possibly because the warmer waters this year have meant few fish nearshore for new moms, who must go farther and leave their young pups alone and hungry.  Read this article from the LA Times about the strandings (reports are that over 2,000 pups have been stranded this year) and this one from the Smithsonian, which asks whether we should focus on rehab or on the underlying causes of the problem.

Check out previous posts about the Carpinteria Bluffs here.