I haven’t seen this too often in Monterey — a nursing sea lion pup. This afternoon while checking on the Brandt’s cormorants nesting on the breakwater, I heard a wailing plea. On the ocean side of the rocks near the cormorants’ nests was a crying sea lion pup. I caught pictures of it nursing while its mom was snoozing. This is unusual because we see mostly male sea lions in Monterey Bay. Females give birth and raise pups this time of year normally on offshore islands. But this has been an unusual year for sea lions, especially last year’s pups that are now yearlings struggling to survive. This sighting was definitely an unexpected one for me. I hope it doesn’t mean that we’ll be seeing more pups here this year.