Elephant seals return to Drakes Beach in Point Reyes for their periodic get-together

DRAKE'S BEACH, Marin County -- As is their custom, elephant seals are throwing their weight around at picturesque Drakes Beach at Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County and park officials are giving them wide berth.

The National Park Service said on the Point Reyes NPS Twitter account Friday the pack of pinnipeds was evidence of  "a healthy population of young elephant seals at Drakes Beach."

Visitors, however, have been relegated to the parking lot for the time being to take in the view.

Elephant seals often take over Drakes Beach by the hundreds, and appear usually from December through March for the birthing and mating season, and in the spring when adult females and juveniles haul out to molt, according to the National Park Service. 

Drakes Beach has become "bachelor beach," a kind of slackers' hangout for non-competitive bulls which are either too young or too old to fight for the right to mate. Park rangers say the animals will be around through April but most of them leave in February after the females finish nursing their pups.

Normally rangers want people at least 25 feet away from the seals, which can move faster on the beach than some people can run.