Moss Landing with the Moss Landing Marine Lab on the right and the power plant on the left. ©mlhradio – flickr
Recently, I visited family in sunny and beautiful Monterey Bay, California. While I was there I discovered Moss Landing State Beach, and soon realized that it is a Shangri-La of wildlife viewing. The beach itself is great, but the access road that circles the rim of the tidal lagoon behind the dunes of the beach, fed by the outflow of the Elkhorn Slough (a beautiful estuary reserve), is where the magic happens. And I really do think there is something magical about it because, in only two trips there, I saw multiple once in a lifetime wildlife phenomena.
Moss Landing is a beautiful and unique place on it’s own. Situated in the middle of Monterey Bay next to where the water leaves the Elkhorn Slough, it harbors not only boats and abundant wildlife, but also a high level of marine research. Two world-class marine research institutes are housed there, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML). Just down the road in Monterey and Pacific Grove you will find the actual Monterey Bay Aquarium and it’s neighbor, Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station. It is an appropriate research playground where many marine biologists and oceanographers frolic. Lets get back to the State Beach.
First off, the diversity of wildlife is fantastic, especially considering that it is located adjacent to a boat harbor, a highway, and a humongous power plant. The cavalcade of life usually is displayed across the entire lagoon, from the highway turn off down to the end of the jetty and beach at the end of the road. First, are the mudflats, at least during low tide, where there are hundreds of wading birds, egrets, gulls and ducks. There is also a lone tree on the marsh across the road from the flats that serves as a perch for magnificent predatory birds such as a Red-shouldered Hawk or a White-tailed Kite.
Sandhill Crane. ©webbcat – flickr
Sea Lions on the dock
Next, there is a sand bar partially covered by the napping sea sausages commonly known as Harbor Seals. On the dune above the sand bar I managed to catch a glimpse of the elusive Sandhill Crane, the first that I have ever seen. The last section of the road over-looks a beach in the lagoon next to the Elkhorn Slough water outflow and jetties. Across from the beach is a small dock that is covered by many loud and restless California Sea Lions, all jostling for a place out of the water and in the sun. Both times that I was there, a large raft of around 30 Sea Otters was floating in the water just in front of the beach. Never have I seen so many sea otters together in one place and so close to shore. These otters also displayed some unusual behaviors.
On my first visit, I observed a sea otter attack and chase a Common Merganser. The bird was first pulled down and rolled in the paws of the otter before fleeing towards the beach with the otter in pursuit. The otter was persistent, even bounding out of the shallow water near the beach on its own four paws, but eventually the otter gave up and went back to deeper waters. On another visit I observed multiple sea otters come out of the water with an adorably awkward walk to lounge on the beach. I was amazed and after scouring the literature I found that I was not the only one to have seen these things happen.
Sea Otter feeding in the water
Sea Otter out of water at Moss Landing State Beach. ©matt knoth – flickr
A study from 1988 reported 20 cases of sea otters eating seabirds, all from the Monterey Bay area and in some cases multiple times for one individual. The authors believe this behavior shows the innovative ability of sea otters to develop new feeding techniques and how unique individual otter diets can be. There does not seem to be much more information on this behavior, but it is clearly still happening, even though the otter I observed was unsuccessful. Another study states that sea otters come out of the water fairly frequently in this area and they do so under certain conditions to conserve energy. The authors believe that the otters leave the water when air temperature and water temperatures are decreasing and to escape the wind. The beach behind the jetty at Moss Landing State beach happens to be the perfect resting place out of the cold wind.
I feel very lucky to have seen two extraordinary behaviors happen in one place and I was pleased to find scientific confirmation of these observations. If you ever happen to be in the Monterey Bay Area, I highly recommend that you check out Moss Landing State Beach and who knows maybe you will see something out of the ordinary, like a deer swimming in from the ocean.
References:
Maldini, D., Scoles, R., Eby, R., Cotter, M., & Rankin, R. W. (2012). Patterns of Sea Otter Haul-Out Behavior in a California Tidal Estuary in Relation to Environmental Variables. Northwestern Naturalist, 93(1), 67–78.
Riedman, M., & Estes, J. (1988). Predation on seabirds by sea otters. Canadian journal of zoology, 66.
Sea Otter Raft
A Graduate Student in the Marsh 