This offering is more of a guide than a specific tour. We present the local marine life and when you are likely to see them (spring, summer, winter or fall) on your visit to the Santa Cruz coast. Since these animals migrate large distances, most all the information is relevant way beyond Santa Cruz. We highlight a few key concepts and animals below, many more mammals and birds can be found in the mobile app, and read in blog form at the bottom of this page.
Just like on land, the ocean has its seasons. Every year there’s an amazing animal migration within Monterey Bay. The vast scale of animal movement is hard to conceive of.
Whales, dolphins and porpoises all migrate through the Monterey Bay.
Kelp forests are home to the California sea otter who generally have their babies when you would least expect it.
Sooty shearwaters arrive by the thousands between April and October. They have an amazing migration story that is only recently being understood.
Read the stories below: blog-style!
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"When you talk about the seasons, most people think of spring wildflowers, autumn leaves, winter storms… But the ocean, too, has its seasons, which are at ...
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Seagulls are by far the most common bird along the coast near Santa Cruz, California. There are dozens of different seagull species, and you need a keen e ...
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California's Santa Cruz Wharf is a common resting place of the oft-noisy sea lion (Zalophus californianus). You may also see harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) ...
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Surf scoters are named for their propensity to forage in ocean surf and dive through the foam of breaking waves. A flock of surf scoters will often dive i ...
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We are lucky in Santa Cruz to be visited annually by sooty shearwaters (Puffinus griseus) as they make their spectacular circum-global migration of 40,000 ...
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If you have been to the beach along the west coast of the US lately, you will have seen a brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis). You might see them flyin ...
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Want to know how things change in the ocean throughout the year? Seasons in the Sea is a website all about whats going on in the ocean on the central coas ...
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Cover photo by Matt Walker, NRB Photography. Whales, dolphins and porpoises are divided into two groups: toothed and baleen. Baleen whales, such as gray a ...
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Storms and high winds along coastlines can produce large masses of sea foam. It can form foamy rafts on the water and pile up on beaches, rocky shores, an ...
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As land dwellers we think of springtime as the time of year when animals mate and have babies. In the sea, many mammals birth their young in the thick of ...
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In May marine mammals are reproducing and/or still migrating. Some have already given birth but are still heading north towards summer feeding grounds. Ma ...
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Winter is a great time to try and see pods of dolphins within the Monterey Bay in Coastal California. The bottlenose dolphins are year-round residents, bu ...
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The waters of California's Monterey Bay, particularly around the Santa Cruz Wharf, are home to the cute and quite fuzzy harbor seal (Phoca vitulina). The ...
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Brandt's cormorants (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) are back on the sea cliff just west of Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz. They started using this ...
