Pop! Goes the Harbor Seal!

If you’ve ever been 9 months pregnant, I’m sure you can relate to this mama seal.  She just cooled off in the Alsea Bay and now she’s warming up in the sun.

Pregnant Harbor Seal

I saw lots of new seal pups last Friday.  A lot of them were out of good range for my zoom lens.  An eagle came and sat on the beach for quite a while too.

From the Alsea Bay Bridge, looking east

There were 3 or 4 pups close to the bridge.  They usually stick close to their moms.  Although I saw one swimming alone and wanted to warn him of the dangers.  When they swim with their moms, they nuzzle up to their moms often.  It reminds me of seeing young children in a grocery store with their moms; hanging onto her clothes or her leg.   When the seals are floating on the surface, the moms often tilt their head back.  I’ve seen them do it even when they are alone.  But when they have a pup, her baby kisses her nose.

Seal mom and pup touch noses

Seals are much more comfortable moving in the water than on land.  Sea Lions can use their hind flippers to help move them on land but seals cannot.  This pup looked like he felt so free being in the water.  Click on the photo to enlarge it and you can see its umbilical cord!  One source says this indicates the pup is less than 10 days old.

Pups just wanna have fun!