Scripps Pier Sunset Perfect Solar Alignment, La Jolla, San Diego, California
SIO Pier Sunset with Sun Framed Within the Pier Pilings
Occasionally the setting sun will be perfectly framed within the pilings the Scripps Institution of Oceanography research pier. This is what the perfect solar alignment through the SIO Pier pilings looks like — it is a spectacular sight! Contact me to inquire about a print for your home or office of this iconic San Diego icon, captured at the peak moment of a rare celestial event. This image is available up to 54″ high x 36″ wide, presented on canvas, metal and traditional photographic substrates. Cheers, and thanks for looking!
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| Scripps Pier Sunset Solar Alignment, the setting sun is framed perfectly within the pilings of Scripps Institution of Oceanography research pier, a rare event |
Nature’s Best Windland Smith Rice: Pacific Harbor Seal, La Jolla, California
Cute Harbor Seal Photo, La Jolla, California.
This is the third of three images I had that were Highly Commended in this year’s Windland Smith Rice photography competition.*
This is one of the famous or, depending on your political position, notorious Pacific harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi) the reside at the Children’s Pool in La Jolla, California. Some people really hate these seals and feel their presence on the beach has robbed people of the use of small cove and want to see the seals gone, forcefully or otherwise. Others love the seals and don’t want to see them bothered at all. I don’t really care either way, I just like to shoot photos of them. I’ve been photographing (and diving with) these seals since their colony first began forming in the ’90s. There are certain times of day when the light angles and water movement really work well here for photography. On this day, one of the more charismatic seals was moving about at the water’s edge and paused for a moment with its flippers raised, looking at me. I got off a series of photos and this was the most appealing of the group.
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| Pacific harbor seal, an sand at the edge of the sea. Image ID: 26315 Species: Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardsi Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
* I was fortunate to have three of my photographs receive Highly Honored recognition in this years Windland Smith Rice photography competition sponsored by Nature’s Best Photography. The first was a photo of photographer Garry McCarthy working in the Virgin River Narrows in Zion National Park. The second was a composition of the Giants Marbles in Joshua Tree National Park. 21,000 images were entered in the competition, 500 made it to the final round of judging and 131 were winners or highly honored and appeared in the most recent issue of Nature’s Best Photography magazine. I am crossing my fingers that one of mine will also be featured as part of the competition’s six-month exhibition next year at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.
Torrey Pines State Reserve Running Photos
It is for views like this that I run. I’ve been running for 35 years and will keep running until my body can’t do it anymore. I estimate that I have run at least 32,000 miles (1.25 times around the Earth!) and it is views like this that keep me fired up for more. I have probably run the trails in Torrey Pines State Reserve (north of La Jolla, California) 1500 times or more during my life. The other night during my run I enjoyed one of the finest sunsets I have ever seen there. Clearing storm, golden light, clouds, wet sand. I had my iPhone strapped to my arm but I had no “real camera”. There was no one else on the beach and it appeared I had two miles of spectacular low tide beach all to myself which in San Diego is a virtual impossibility. I spent the last 30 minutes of the day composing panoramas of the golden waning light shining on the cliffs and breaking storm clouds with my iPhone. That night I fed a stack of 45 individual iPhone images to Photoshop. Photoshop cranked away all night making a panorama and the following morning the first image below is the result. I’ve checked it at full resolution and the quality is really impressive. Thanks for looking and keep on running!
Click any of the images to see them larger. In their full resolution form, all of these panoramas are quite large, made from 20-45 individual iPhone photos that are stitched together in Photoshop. Sizes range up to 10,000 pixels in length and 3800 pixels in height. In the images that include waves, there are stitching errors in the waves which are largely unavoidable. However, in the images that face away from the ocean there are few if any stitching errors and in my estimation the images are clean enough to print up to 30″ or more in length .
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| Torrey Pines seacliffs viewed at sunset from Flat Rock, Torrey Pines State Reserve, La Jolla, California |
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| Torrey Pines seacliffs viewed at sunset from Flat Rock, Black’s Beach and La Jolla at far right, Torrey Pines State Reserve, La Jolla, California |
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| Torrey Pines seacliffs viewed at sunset from Flat Rock, Del Mar and Solana Beach at far left, Torrey Pines State Reserve, La Jolla, California |
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Mount Soledad Cross, La Jolla, California
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 50' 23.35" N, Longitude: 117° 14' 40.77" W, Coord: 32.83982°, -117.24466°
Filed under: California, La Jolla on 5/10/2011
La Jolla’s Mount Soledad Cross is a 29-foot Latin cross made of concrete standing atop Mt. Soledad, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The current Mt. Soledad Cross was built in 1954, but a previous cross stood on the spot since 1913. The Mount Soledad Cross has been the subject of much litigation. Supporters of the cross consider it an important war memorial, while opponents feel it violates the separation of church and state. Currently, the cross and the land on which it stands are owned by the nonprofit Mount Soledad Memorial Association. My hunch is that the cross will remain standing for years to come.
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| The Mount Soledad Cross, a landmark in La Jolla, California. The Mount Soledad Cross is a 29-foot-tall cross erected in 1954. Image ID: 26547 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| The Mount Soledad Cross, a landmark in La Jolla, California. The Mount Soledad Cross is a 29-foot-tall cross erected in 1954. Image ID: 26553 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
See more Mount Soledad Cross photos.
Photos of Scripps Pier, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 51' 56.8" N, Longitude: 117° 15' 38.48" W, Coord: 32.86578°, -117.26069°
Filed under: California, La Jolla, San Diego on 2/7/2011
Photos of Scripps Pier, La Jolla
Below is the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Research Pier, the pier that supports the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. The original wooden Scripps Pier was built in 1915 and was replaced by the modern cement pier in 1988. On the hill behind the pier can be seen many of the buildings that make up Scripps Institute of Oceanography. To the left (north) is the southern edge of Black’s Beach, while if one walked along the beach to the right (south) one would come to La Jolla Shores Beach in a few minutes. When I was in grad school I worked in the Norpax building on the far left above the sandstone bluff. Some of the greatest minds in all of science work on this hill, wearing flip-flops as their laser brains study climate change and deep ocean phenomena, and go surfing at the pier at lunch. It’s brutal living in Southern California.
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| SIO Pier. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography research pier is 1090 feet long and was built of reinforced concrete in 1988, replacing the original wooden pier built in 1915. The Scripps Pier is home to a variety of sensing equipment above and below water that collects various oceanographic data. The Scripps research diving facility is located at the foot of the pier. Fresh seawater is pumped from the pier to the many tanks and facilities of SIO, including the Birch Aquarium. The Scripps Pier is named in honor of Ellen Browning Scripps, the most significant donor and benefactor of the Institution. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 22293 Location: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Scripps Pier, predawn abstract study of pier pilings and moving water. Image ID: 26340 Location: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Scripps Pier, sunrise. Image ID: 26456 Location: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Research pier at Scripps Institution of Oceanography SIO, sunset. Image ID: 26531 Location: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Scripps Pier, sunrise. Image ID: 26458 Location: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA |
See more San Diego photos and photos of Scripps Pier.
Earth Shadow Photographs
Earth Shadow is an atmospheric phenomenon most easily seen on a cloudless morning with a relatively clear horizon. But you have to get up early to see it, since it occurs before sunrise! Have you ever seen those layers of blue, purple and pink along the horizon just before sunrise or just after sunset? The darker sky, lowest on the horizon, is actually the shadow of the Earth cast upon the atmosphere, while the lighter sky above is the atmosphere as it is lit by the sun. As dawn nears, the shadowed portion of the sky is squeezed down on the horizon and disappears. The pink in the upper “layer” is the result of the sun passing at a highly oblique angle through the dust-filled atmosphere to the east (or west at sunset), colored by the particulate suspended in the air. I made a couple of photographs illustrating earth shadow recently while doing some early morning photography in La Jolla along with an older one from some years ago in Morro Bay:
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| La Jolla Cove and earth shadow at dawn. Just before sunrise the shadow of the Earth can seen as the darker sky below the pink sunrise. Image ID: 26523 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Earth Shadow lies over Point La Jolla at dawn. Image ID: 26444 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Earth shadow over Morro Rock and Morro Bay. Just before sunrise the shadow of the Earth can seen as the darker sky below the pink sunrise. Image ID: 22213 Location: Morro Bay, California, USA |
Earth Shadow, or Belt of Venus, over Pacific Ocean
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By the way, earth shadow occurs after sunset as well. But I’m usually slaving away at the grill or watching my daughters’ volleyball practices so I rarely photograph end-of-day earth shadow…
See more photos of La Jolla and Morro Bay photographs.
Torrey Pines Sunset
Torrey Pines State Park Sunset
Tracy and I were treated to a spectacular sunset cloud show at the Torrey Pines Gliderport in La Jolla recently. These two photographs were made just a few minutes apart. The first looks south along Black’s Beach towards La Jolla, with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Pier just visible. The second is looking north along seacliffs of Torrey Pines State Park towards Del Mar. The colors in the sky were changing rapidly as the sun dropped below the horizon which is why the clouds look so different.
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| Sunset falls upon Torrey Pines State Reserve, viewed from the Torrey Pines glider port. La Jolla, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Scripps Pier are seen in the distance. Image ID: 26436 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Sunset falls upon Torrey Pines State Reserve, viewed from the Torrey Pines glider port. Image ID: 26440 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
More La Jolla Photos and San Diego Photos.
La Jolla Photos
I have been having fun recently making new photographs of one of my favorite cities in California: La Jolla. I spent about 10 years living in La Jolla, first in undergrad and graduate school at UCSD then a while longer before moving to North County (Del Mar, Carlsbad). Tracy and I love La Jolla since many of our favorite restaurants are there, and Tracy works in La Jolla. La Jolla’s rocky coastline really is the jewel of San Diego. Included in these images are some from Coast Boulevard, Children’s Pool, Goldfish Point, Scripps Pier and Torrey Pines, plus a few aerial and UCSD photos shot in 2010:
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| Pacific harbor seal, an sand at the edge of the sea. Image ID: 26315 Species: Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardsi Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Sunset falls upon Torrey Pines State Reserve, viewed from the Torrey Pines glider port. La Jolla, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Scripps Pier are seen in the distance. Image ID: 26436 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| California brown pelican, showing characteristic winter plumage including red/olive throat, brown hindneck, yellow and white head colors. Image ID: 26462 Species: Brown pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Western gull. Image ID: 26465 Species: Western gull, Larus occidentalis Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Earth Shadow lies over Point La Jolla at dawn. Image ID: 26444 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Sea Caves, the famous La Jolla sea caves lie below tall cliffs at Goldfish Point. Sunrise. Image ID: 26442 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Waves wash over sandstone reef, clouds and sky. Image ID: 26453 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Scripps Pier, predawn abstract study of pier pilings and moving water. Image ID: 26457 Location: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA |
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| La Jolla Coast Boulevard at sunset, ocean and sea bluffs. Image ID: 26424 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Scripps Pier, sunrise. Image ID: 26427 Location: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Scripps Pier, sunrise. Image ID: 26430 Location: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Fisherman at dawn along the La Jolla coastline, waves blur as they crash upon the Boomer Beach boulders. Image ID: 26447 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Waves and beach boulders, abstract study of water movement. Image ID: 26449 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Torrey Pines seacliffs, rising up to 300 feet above the ocean, stretch from Del Mar to La Jolla. On the mesa atop the bluffs are found Torrey pine trees, one of the rare species of pines in the world. Image ID: 22285 Location: Torrey Pines State Reserve, San Diego, California, USA |
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| SIO Pier. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography research pier is 1090 feet long and was built of reinforced concrete in 1988, replacing the original wooden pier built in 1915. The Scripps Pier is home to a variety of sensing equipment above and below water that collects various oceanographic data. The Scripps research diving facility is located at the foot of the pier. Fresh seawater is pumped from the pier to the many tanks and facilities of SIO, including the Birch Aquarium. The Scripps Pier is named in honor of Ellen Browning Scripps, the most significant donor and benefactor of the Institution. Image ID: 22286 Location: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA |
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| The Children’s Pool in La Jolla, also known as Casa Cove, is a small pocket cove protected by a curving seawall, with the rocky coastline and cottages and homes of La Jolla seen behind it. Image ID: 22302 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| UCSD Library glows at sunset (Geisel Library, UCSD Central Library). Image ID: 14780 Location: University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, USA |
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| UCSD Library glows at sunset (Geisel Library, UCSD Central Library). Image ID: 14777 Location: University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, USA |
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| Bear is another of the odd outdoor “art” pieces of the UCSD Stuart Collection. Created by Tim Hawkinson in 2001 of eight large stones, it sits in the courtyard of the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering. Image ID: 20851 Location: University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, USA |
See also: San Diego photos, La Jolla photos.
Thanks for Garry McCarthy who showed me a nice spot to shoot rocky coastline photos in La Jolla.
La Jolla Pelicans
I was recently contacted by a fellow from outside the country who would like to visit La Jolla to photograph, among other things, California brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus), but was concerned about access to the bluff where these birds are best photographed. Since I had not been down to La Jolla for a while I decided to get out between storms and take a look. (We had a week-long rain end just 2 days ago, and another rain is due to arrive tomorrow.) I got up early this morning, looked out the window, saw the sky conditions were ideal, threw my gear in my car and got down there. There is no problem (as far as I can tell) about accessing the bluff area and photographing the pelicans as usual. There is a fence and a deck of course (both of which were built a few years ago) but no signage indicating that going beyond the fence is a problem. The signs simply warn about the dangers of falling off the bluff which, frankly, are self-evident. Special thanks to the city’s lawyers who insist on clarifying the obvious.
The pelicans have a ways to go until they reach peak plumage. I was able to find a few that had it all together — red and olive throat, yellow head and dark chestnut hind neck — but most birds were still in transition in some way. Here are some photos from this morning, all shot with a Canon 1Ds III and 300 f/2.8 with 1.4x converter.
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For more info see a Guide to Photographing Pelicans in La Jolla.
Paragliding, Torrey Pines Gliderport
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 53' 23.31" N, Longitude: 117° 15' 4.8" W, Coord: 32.88981°, -117.25134°
Filed under: La Jolla on 3/1/2010
A photo of a paraglider at sunset, viewed over the Pacific ocean from the Torrey Pines Gliderport in La Jolla, California. I shot this yesterday at sunset, wearing shorts, flip flops (my lucky pair!), and a t-shirt. Sorry Rest-Of-The-Country, you can have your Big Apple and Windy City and Rockies and Florida Keys and blizzards and all that — San Diego is the place to live. OK, perhaps our earthquakes are a problem. But scenes like this are why we choose to live here:
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| Paraglider soaring at Torrey Pines Gliderport, sunset, flying over the Pacific Ocean. Image ID: 24286 Location: La Jolla, California, USA  View this Image in Google Earth! |
When I was a freshman at UCSD, during my first week, I had a Literature section in the highest room in Tioga Hall. It had a million-dollar view out over the Pacific. I was not paying attention to the TA since he was, well, a guy and Lit was not why I was at UCSD. (I was there for the beach and the girls.) To my surprise a hang-glider cruised by at eye level, then another, and another, some ways off but still close enough to catch my attention. What an introduction to La Jolla! The Torrey Pines Gliderport, established in 1930, is a true La Jolla institution. Set on the edge of the bluffs above Black’s Beach (yup, the nudie beach), Torrey Pines Gliderport is the literal jumping-off spot for hang gliders and paragliders who ride the updrafts created by onshore winds meeting tall seacliffs. The flyers can easily hang aloft for hours, soaring back and forth. Just a few hundred yards from the gliderport is the Indian Trail which drops from the bluffs alongside the Torrey Pines Gliderport down to Black’s Beach and is one of my favorite runs, taking one from La Jolla to Del Mar below the spectacular Torrey Pines State Park seacliffs. The gliderport and surrounding cliffs are one of San Diego’s best spots to catch the sunset. I am still scheming how to take up paragliding as a business expense, shooting aerials and having fun. Perhaps this year is the year to do it…
In case you are still unclear on why California is the only place to live, here are some more reasons: California Stock Photos, Black’s Beach Photos
Sunrise Pelican
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 51' 0.75" N, Longitude: 117° 16' 13" W, Coord: 32.85021°, -117.27028°
Filed under: La Jolla, Pelican on 2/15/2010
On a recent winter morning I found this adult California brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) displaying the species’ characteristic winter breeding plumage (note the chestnut hindneck) posing nicely as the distant sky took on the pre-sunrise purple glow. This is basically straight out of the camera. I did not adjust the white balance nor did I bump up the saturation. The pink in the distance is the sky, the blue below it is the ocean. La Jolla, California.
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| California brown pelican, portrait in pink-purple predawn light, rests on sandstone seabluff. The characteristic mating plumage of the California race of brown pelican is shown, with red gular throat pouch and dark brown hindneck colors. Image ID: 23646 Species: Brown pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
Here are a few more, just a few minutes after sunrise (about 7am):
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| Portrait of California brown pelican, with the characteristic winter mating plumage shown: red throat, yellow head and dark brown hindneck. Image ID: 23647 Species: Brown pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| California pelican in flight. The wingspan of this large ocean-going seabird can reach 7′ from wing tip to wing tip. Image ID: 23657 Species: Brown pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
I never get tired of photographing these beautiful birds. See a Guide to Photographing Pelicans in La Jolla.
Brown Pelicans
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 51' 0.75" N, Longitude: 117° 16' 13" W, Coord: 32.85021°, -117.27028°
Filed under: La Jolla, Pelican on 2/13/2010
This morning I photographed brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) in La Jolla. I really don’t need any more photos of pelicans but the setting is so beautiful that I keep returning. I’ve enjoyed these cliffs for 30 years. (We used to cliff dive off of them in college but now the wussy lawyers have made it illegal.) At this time of year the pelican’s winter plumage is in force, with deep red throat colors and dark brown hind neck on most of the adults. We moved in December, and I was gone most of the month of January, so this was my first trip down to La Jolla this winter even though it is just a few minutes down the coast. All of these were shot with Canon 1Ds Mark III, 300 f/2.8 lens, handheld or with a monopod, some with flash fill.
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| Brown pelican, winter adult breeding plumage, showing bright red gular pouch and dark brown hindneck plumage of breeding adults. This large seabird has a wingspan over 7 feet wide. The California race of the brown pelican holds endangered species status, due largely to predation in the early 1900s and to decades of poor reproduction caused by DDT poisoning. Image ID: 23622 Species: Brown pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Brown pelican in flight. The wingspan of the brown pelican is over 7 feet wide. The California race of the brown pelican holds endangered species status. In winter months, breeding adults assume a dramatic plumage. Image ID: 23623 Species: Brown pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Brown pelican, winter adult breeding plumage, showing bright red gular pouch and dark brown hindneck plumage of breeding adults. This large seabird has a wingspan over 7 feet wide. The California race of the brown pelican holds endangered species status, due largely to predation in the early 1900s and to decades of poor reproduction caused by DDT poisoning. Image ID: 23624 Species: Brown pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Brown pelican in flight. The wingspan of the brown pelican is over 7 feet wide. The California race of the brown pelican holds endangered species status. In winter months, breeding adults assume a dramatic plumage. Image ID: 23625 Species: Brown pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
See more brown pelican photos as well as our Guide to Photographing Pelicans in La Jolla.
Layers, Abstract Photo
Another abstract cloud photo. I like using a medium telephoto lens to isolate landscape elements, and patterns in clouds are no exception. This was probably shot with a 70-200 on Velvia film, vintage. Moments after the green flash, orange skies over La Jolla. Today’s abstract photo, #12 of 15.
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| Clouds and sunlight. La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 04818 Location: La Jolla, California, USA |
Pelican Entangled in Plastic Bag
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 50' 59.96" N, Longitude: 117° 16' 12.25" W, Coord: 32.84999°, -117.27007°
Filed under: California, La Jolla, Pelican, Wildlife on 3/6/2009
Discarded plastics and styrofoam are destroying our environment. They wreak havoc especially hard on marine wildlife. I recently came across a textbook example of how such trash can injure and kill in the form of this unfortunate brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) which is entangled in what appears to be a plastic bag. I am reasonably certain it is the lightweight sort normally used at grocery stores. I have a good idea of how this predicament came to pass. Plastic bags blow in the wind until they reach the ocean, at which point they float. As these translucent bags drift along on ocean currents, they look like food to many marine animals. Pelicans typically dive from high in the air onto the prey, piercing the water like a spear. I think this pelican saw the plastic bag as it was foraging over the ocean, thought that the bag was some form of food, made a dive into the water and speared the bag with its beak. The pressure of the pelican driving into the water pushed the bag over the head and down the neck of the pelican, were it now sits like a deadly necklace. It appears that the pelican has, during its preening, bitten away quite a bit of the bag, and hopefully will make enough further progress on the bag that it eventually breaks free and the pelican is liberated. (I have a few other photos of marine animal entanglement, including a sea lion with monofiliment fishing line wrapped around its neck.)
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| A California brown pelican entangled in a plastic bag which is wrapped around its neck. This unfortunate pelican probably became entangled in the bag by mistaking the floating plastic for food and diving on it, spearing it in such a way that the bag has lodged around the pelican’s neck. Plastic bags kill and injure untold numbers of marine animals each year. La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 22562 Species: Pelecanus occidentalis Location: La Jolla, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
See more brown pelican photos as well as our Guide to Photographing Pelicans in La Jolla.
Pelicans in La Jolla
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 50' 59.96" N, Longitude: 117° 16' 12.25" W, Coord: 32.84999°, -117.27007°
Filed under: California, La Jolla, Pelican, Wildlife on 2/28/2009
I went down to La Jolla this morning to see how many brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) are there. (The California race of brown pelicans has been experiencing a mysterious malady this year, with many pelicans being found weak and disoriented far away from their usual habitat.) I had not been down there since December. The plumage colors on the birds were much more vivid than I saw on my last visit in December, but there were very few pelicans flying about. Given that flight photo opportunities were hard to come by, I concentrated on portraits.
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| Brown pelican preening, cleaning its feathers after foraging on the ocean, with distinctive winter breeding plumage with distinctive dark brown nape, yellow head feathers and red gular throat pouch. La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 22527 Species: Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
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| Brown pelican portrait, displaying winter breeding plumage with distinctive dark brown nape, yellow head feathers and red gular throat pouch. La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 22529 Species: Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
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| Brown pelican portrait, displaying winter breeding plumage with distinctive dark brown nape, yellow head feathers and red gular throat pouch. La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 22532 Species: Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
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| La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 22542 Species: Larus occidentalis Location: La Jolla, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
See our Guide to Photographing Pelicans in La Jolla.
See more brown pelican photos.
San Clemente Island and Mount Soledad, La Jolla
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 48' 18.36" N, Longitude: 117° 9' 13.75" W, Coord: 32.8051°, -117.15382°
Filed under: California, La Jolla on 2/11/2009
The sun had set and we were en route back to land the helicopter. Rather than spacing out as I am wont to do, for some reason I was paying attention and just happened to notice this juxtaposition of La Jolla’s Mount Soledad and distant San Clemente Island. I rattled off a bunch of frames, but since the light level was very low I had a tough time getting enough shutter speed to freeze the image in the copter. I ended up with one keeper:
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| Mount Soledad juxtaposed against a distant San Clemente Island at sunset. San Diego, California, USA. Image: 22316 Location: San Diego, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
See more of our San Diego Photos.
Children’s Pool, La Jolla
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 50' 52.11" N, Longitude: 117° 16' 49.58" W, Coord: 32.84781°, -117.28044°
Filed under: California, La Jolla, San Diego on 1/30/2009
Children’s Pool, also known as Casa Cove, is a pretty contentious place these days. The Children’s Pool is a simple pocket cove protected by a manmade seawall. It has a fine sand beach, calm waters and fairly good snorkeling. And harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) are often found on the beach, which has a lot of people up in arms. Seal lovers want the beach managed for the welfare of the seals. Divers and swimmers are unwilling to give up access to the beach, and some even go so far as to support physical alteration of the beach and seawall in such a way that the seals will have no choice but to depart. Children’s Pool is often in the news these days, and there are a number of websites created by interests on both sides of the issue. We’ll see how it all gets resolved, if ever. I have a lot of nice photos of harbor seals taken at the Children’s Pool, and often receive questions from people about them and the seals. Four years ago I posted my personal feelings about the harbor seals at Children’s Pool and my feelings really have not changed since then.
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| The Children’s Pool in La Jolla, also known as Casa Cove, is a small pocket cove protected by a curving seawall, with the rocky coastline and cottages and homes of La Jolla seen behind it. La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 22302 Location: La Jolla, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
See more photos of San Diego
Bear, Stuart Collection, UCSD
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 52' 55.05" N, Longitude: 117° 14' 1.82" W, Coord: 32.88196°, -117.23384°
Filed under: California, La Jolla, Photo of the Day on 7/8/2008
Bear is one of the newer pieces in the Stuart Collection of Art at University of California, San Diego (alma mater).
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| Bear is another of the odd outdoor “art” pieces of the UCSD Stuart Collection. Created by Tim Hawkinson in 2001 of eight large stones, it sits in the courtyard of the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering. University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 20851 Location: University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
See Mobius Arch photos.
Speeding Cormorant
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 51' 0.46" N, Longitude: 117° 16' 12.96" W, Coord: 32.850128°, -117.27027°
Filed under: California, La Jolla, Photo of the Day on 3/2/2008
This is a photograph of a cormorant speeding over the ocean, viewed from above. Taken in pre-dawn light, the slow shutter speed of the camera allowed the details of the bird and water to smear across the image.
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| Double-crested cormorants in flight at sunrise, long exposure produces a blurred motion. La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 20460 Species: Phalacrocorax auritus Location: La Jolla, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
Photo of a Brown Pelican Preening
View this blog entry in Google EarthLatitude: 32° 51' 0.75" N, Longitude: 117° 16' 13.01" W, Coord: 32.850211°, -117.27028°
Filed under: California, La Jolla, Pelican, Photo of the Day, Wildlife on 2/8/2008
Here is a California brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) preening. Using it’s long bill, the pelican spreads preen oil from its uropygial gland (near its tail) and spreads it over its wings and head. The preen oil helps to keep the feathers clean and dry. Check out the bird’s coloration, it is at the height of it’s breeding plumage with a bright red throat and chestnut brown hind neck.
See our Guide to Photographing Pelicans in La Jolla.
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| A brown pelican preening, reaching with its beak to the uropygial gland (preen gland) near the base of its tail. Preen oil from the uropygial gland is spread by the pelican’s beak and back of its head to all other feathers on the pelican, helping to keep them water resistant and dry. Note adult winter breeding plumage in display, with brown neck, red gular throat pouch and yellow and white head. La Jolla, California, USA. Image: 20295 Species: Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Location: La Jolla, California, USA View this Image in Google Earth! |
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Updated: May 25, 2013
