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
Holiday Christmas Lights on Scripps Pier, Blacks Beach and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, sunset, aerial.
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 39879
Broken Hill in soft pre-dawn light, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Torrey Pines State Reserve. La Jolla and Mount Soledad in the distance.
Location: Torrey Pines State Reserve, San Diego, California
Image ID: 36564
Clark's Grebes Dip Shaking, a courtship behavior in which the grebes face each other and alternate dipping their beaks in the water and shaking their head, tossing water into the air. Coupled with ratchet-pointing, several rounds of dip-shaking are often an immediate precursor to rushing.
Species: Clark's Grebe, Aechmophorus clarkii
Location: Lake Wohlford, Escondido, California
Image ID: 40888
California Brown pelican in flight, soaring along sea cliffs above the ocean in La Jolla, California. The wingspan of the brown pelican is over 7 feet wide. The California race of the brown pelican holds endangered species status.
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Image ID: 37410
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
Newborn harbor seal pup watches a Western seagull approach. The gull is trying to pick at placenta on the sandy beach as the seal pup, born just moments before, watches and tries to understand what is going on. Within an hour of being born, this pup had learned to nurse and had entered the ocean for its first swim.
Species: Pacific harbor seal, Phoca vitulina richardsi
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 39076
San Diego and Tijuana City Skyline, panoramic photo, viewed from Mount Soledad.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 36657
Panorama dimensions: 5513 x 19828
Yellow morph of the California 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.
Species: Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus
Location: La Jolla, California
Image ID: 15371
San Diego City Skyline at Sunset, viewed from Point Loma, Shelter Island Yacht Club in the foreground, San Diego Bay, Mount San Miguel (right) and Lyons Peak (left) in distance.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 36748