California or Steller’s Sea Lion?
Hi people,
A long shot, but I just wonder… Is the big indivdual on the left a male California Sea Lion or a female Steller’s Sea Lion? And how can you tell the difference?
Monterey Bay, februari 2025.
Thanks in advance!
Pieter de Groot Boersma
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Pieter de Groot Boersma
2 Comments
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Pieter de Groot Boersma
Thank you for your extensive reply Brett! I’m back in the Netherlands already. I visited California for a week in the last week of February. Beforehand I found out on Inaturalist that quite regularly Steller’s Sea Lion was present on buoys in the waters off Santa Cruz in the north of Monterey Bay. Hence my question.
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BrettHartl
Those are California Sea Lions. Stellers males would have a more smushed in, bear-like face (even for subadult males). Females are a bit harder to differentiate, but all Stellers are much lighter colored and two-toned with the flippers and rump chestnut brown and a light tan pelage on the rest of the body. Stellers also a bit more scattered in their rookeries and rarely on buoys like that, especially in Monterey Bay. They can be seen at Ano Nuevo if you have a good scope and it is a fog-free day. There are also some still on the Farallones, but the majority of the population farther north