California Sea Lion Trifecta - Moss Landing, California

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To round out my week of uploads, I decided to post this shot of the ever adorable yet stinky California Sea Lions.

Moss Landing built a visitor's boat dock right near the mouth of where Elkhorn Slough meets the Pacific Ocean. I think the sea lions took over seconds after the ribbon was cut, or whatever people do to christen a boat dock.

Now, the sea lions are a tourist attraction. And I am an super-tourist when I plunk down my tripod, 500mm lens with 2x teleconverter, and trusty D300.

I even had to play the warden role when some "real" tourists went down the closed off walkway to get within feet of the resting sea lions. You see, there is this thing called the Marine Mammal Protection Act that forbids you to approach any marine mammal within so many feet. I don't think 5 feet was the limit.

Anyway, the only real challenge to shooting these sea lions is the smell. Just kidding, well, kind of. Seriously though, I do find it challenging to find interesting compositions. There are hundreds of sea lions, and although most are resting, they constantly change position. It is a chaotic scene as they pile on top of each other and move into position. If a scene presents itself, you must be quick to shoot, especially when you are manually focusing like I am.

And this was taken on Earth Day as well. I could hear the sea lions barking on the offshore rocks during my kayak paddle before and after my dive, so I wanted some shots of my furry friends.

Nikon D300
Nikkor 500mm f4 P
Nikkor 2x teleconverter
1/160sec @ f8, ISO 400

Taken on: April 22, 2009

Tags:

California

sea lions

Moss Landing

Elkhorn Slough

pinniped

marine mammal

vertebrate

female

snuggle

snuggling

sleeping

cute

fur

furry

golden

brown

whiskers

noses

resting

dock

Nikon D300

Nikkor 500mm f4 P

Jim Patterson Photography

nature

animal

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Camera: Nikon D300, 1/160 sec, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D300
Lens:	0.0 mm f/0.0
Exposure Time:	0.006 sec (1/160)
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Manual
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Color Space:	Unknown (-1)
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Show full info

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