Humpback - California

by KJ Swan

Title

Humpback - California

Artist

KJ Swan

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

On what I expected to be a typical summer day along California’s Central Coast, I was stunned as a gleaming black mountain rose out of the sea. More followed. It’s was if I was watching a nature documentary.

Near the end of Avila Beach pier, humpback whales had gathered to feed. I was transfixed when massive jaws opened to engulf gallons of fish-filled water in a single, powerful sweep. With spread throat pleats stretched like accordion folds, they submerged sending white spray and frothy foam across the glassy blue-green sea.

Humpbacks, the ocean’s long-distance champions, migrate thousands of miles every year — summering off California and Oregon, then cruising down to warmer, tropical waters in winter to breed. These whales are the songwriters of the sea, famous for the most complex and ever-changing tunes of any whale species.

A Humpback whale emerges from the ocean, creating waves as it breaches the surface. Seagulls fly around it against the backdrop of a clear blue sea.

Uploaded

February 12th, 2026

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