Male Brandt's Cormorant Skypointing, Courtship Display, Breeding Plumage with blue throat and white pin-feathers, La Jolla. Skypointing is an interesting courtship behavior that many birds practice. Among Brandt's Cormorants the male performs this, likely as a way of attracting a mate to the nest he has built by showing off his striking blue throat. He tips his head backward showing off his striking blue throat, and partially raises his wings. Seen here on seacliffs above the ocean.
Species: Brandt's cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus
Image ID: 36801
Blue Moon, Full Moon at Sunset over San Diego City Skyline, approaching jet with headlights appearing in front of the moon.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 28753
Blue whale. The sleek hydrodynamic shape of the enormous blue whale allows it to swim swiftly through the ocean, at times over one hundred miles in a single day.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 21250
The Wave in the North Coyote Buttes, an area of fantastic eroded sandstone featuring beautiful swirls, wild colors, countless striations, and bizarre shapes set amidst the dramatic surrounding North Coyote Buttes of Arizona and Utah. The sandstone formations of the North Coyote Buttes, including the Wave, date from the Jurassic period. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Wave is located in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness and is accessible on foot by permit only.
Location: North Coyote Buttes, Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona
Image ID: 28601
Guadalupe Island at sunrise, panorama. Volcanic coastline south of Pilot Rock and Spanish Cove, near El Faro lighthouse.
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 28758
Panorama dimensions: 4224 x 25926
Punta Norte, the northern point of Guadalupe Island, viewed from the north. Punta Desfiladero (Blunt Point) and Roca Elefante are just visible at far right, and Roca Piloto (Pilot Rock) is see to the left of the island against the distant sweep of the cliffs that comprise the northeastern bight of the island, actually the rim of an enormous caldera.
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 28760
Panorama dimensions: 4595 x 13560
Aerial photo of blue whale near San Diego. This enormous blue whale glides at the surface of the ocean, resting and breathing before it dives to feed on subsurface krill.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 39422
Los Islotes and Isla Partida, the northern part of Archipelago Espiritu Santo, Sea of Cortez, Aerial Photo. Islotes is famous for its friendly colony of California sea lions.
Location: Los Islotes, Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 32402
Pelican yoga, Utthita Tadasana, extended mountain pose with backbend. A California brown pelican preening, rubbing the back of its head and neck on 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. Adult winter breeding plumage showing brown hindneck and red gular throat pouch.
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 38710
The Wave, an area of fantastic eroded sandstone featuring beautiful swirls, wild colors, countless striations, and bizarre shapes set amidst the dramatic surrounding North Coyote Buttes of Arizona and Utah. The sandstone formations of the North Coyote Buttes, including the Wave, date from the Jurassic period. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Wave is located in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness and is accessible on foot by permit only.
Location: North Coyote Buttes, Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona
Image ID: 20608
A huge blue whale swims through the open ocean in this aerial photograph. The blue whale is the largest animal ever to live on Earth.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Image ID: 02169
Blue whale aerial photo, with the shadow of the survey plane providing scale as to how huge the whale really is.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Image ID: 02168
Blue whale fluking up (raising its tail) before a dive to forage for krill, Baja California (Mexico).
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Image ID: 03332