I went out to Año Nuevo Saturday (on the California Coast between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz) with a bunch of fellow photographers. The weather was horrible for taking photos - driving rain all day long. But it was incredible for Elephant Seal action. On sunny, warm days, these 4000 lbs. big boys get pretty inactive. Yesterday they were all lusty and bravado, protecting their harems or trying to horn in on another bull's harem.
I have other photos of less violent activity, but I thought I'd start out with this battle that was fairly protracted and ended up involving a third bull.
All of these were taken with my new 500mm f/4L IS at ISO 400 and f/4. Shutter speeds varied and the EXIF data is intact. This lens looks super and I do not have the doubts that my first trip with my original lens left me with.
It took some fairly serious PP to get these to look even this good. The combination of the rain and mist which increased throughout the fight, and the drops of rain accumulating on my lens sort of knocked down a lot fo the contrast.
#1
These are the initial protagonists. The challenger on the right ahs tried to move in on the other bull's harem. While these guys probably come to the beach in January at closer to 5000 lbs, they have been losing weight during the mating season. They swing their proboscii out of the way so that they can sink their 5 inch teeth into each other's necks and backs.
You actually see a lot of this sort of posturing before the fight actually starts. In this case they had backed off a second.
They will try to gain a height advantage over their opponent as you can see below. Standard dominance behavior.
But here, a third bull comes in from the water and starts in on the challenger. Don't ask me what this is all about!
After driving off the challenger, the new bull starts to take chunks out of first bull, who is already pretty exhausted from the other encounter.
= Ed =
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