A bounty of colorful meteors is returning as the Geminids sparkle across the sky between Dec. 7 and 17, peaking on the night of Dec. 13. Up to 120 multicolored meteors may be seen in the north-northeast sky, radiating from the constellation Gemini. We will also see extra high tides of 6 to 7 feet this week, mostly in the mornings.
Harems of Northern elephant seals—that’s the species’ collective noun—have gathered at the Chimney Rock boathouse and at Drakes Beach, and most are juvenile males. They are resting and practicing their moves: chasing each other in and out of the surf, making noises, neck wrestling and engaging in other instinctive behaviors that may lead them to someday rule the harem as the alpha male.
Other crowds gathering around the park, especially at Bear Valley, consist of acorn woodpeckers preparing for winter. The oak woodlands have dropped a plentiful supply of acorns, and deer are feasting on them in the late-afternoon hours. The woodpeckers stuff the seeds under shingles, into tree bark and on fence posts and wait for them to rot, returning to eat insects that lie within.