Australian Fur Seals at Narooma
Australian Fur Seal floating near a boat ramp
Canon EOS R5 Mk II with a Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Zoom [ISO 1000, 223mm, f/8.0 and 1/2500])
There is a large colony of Australian Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus) on Montague Island, about seven kilometres off Narooma. Over the past decades, some of those seals have also taken up residence on the southern breakwater at the entrance to Wagonga Inlet. The southern breakwater gets a lot sun during the day, so the rocks probably give the seals a warm place to rest. Some of those seals have started moving further up the inlet, even to boat ramps where they know they can get the cast-offs from returning anglers.
The photos below show several different seals around Narooma. The top left image is of a seal, possibly a female that was resting on the rocks of the breakwater. The top right and bottom left images show a seal that was resting in the water near a boat ramp. It was not hurt, just resting, comfortably submerging its head and then bringing it up regularly to breathe. It is the same seal in the main photo of this post. It only lifted its eyes above the water when it heard boats around. When there were three boats at the ramp, trying to launch and recover, the seal decided it was too busy. It slowly rolled over onto its front and propelled itself forward in an un-rushed, undulating style, gracefully swimming away while barely disturbing the water. The bottom right photo is of a seal that was resting on the grass near the same boat ramp. It had a different reaction to the noise. The boats woke it up and it pulled itself in the ungainly way that seals do on the land, across the small walkway to the pontoon it is on in the photo, before gracefully diving into the water with a small splash. It then swam to the front of the cleaning station to wait for the fisherman to toss parts of a dismembered fish to it.
Montague Island, seen from Narooma, with the southern breakwater running through the middle of the image where the fur seals have also taken up residence
Canon EOS R5 Mk II with a Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Zoom [ISO 800, 100mm, f/16 and 1/500])
