Gray whales migrate through Southern California every year during the winter and early spring months to first make the journey to Mexico then to make their journey back to Alaska. Mexico provides very warm and calm waters in the cold winter months for Gray whale females to give birth to their young and raise them for a couple months. When the weather warms it will be time to head to Alaska together to feed during late spring through summer. Occasionally these Gray whales will pause on their 10,000 mile migration to sift through mud on the sea floor for small invertebrates to eat or to scrape barnacles off their bodies by rubbing against the sandy bottom. Gray whales often travel close to shore when they move from Mexico to Alaska making sightings for excited whale watchers much more accessible and likely during the months they swim through Southern California.