Monthly Archives: February 2012

Project Week-part 1

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On Sunday, I brought 7 students to Race Rocks in two trips in the whaler.  This week is project week at the college so all students are off campus on adventures, being creative, and doing service projects.

 

 

At Race Rocks students are helping with daily tasks of measuring ocean temperature and salinity and monitoring wildlife as well as working on a few projects including erecting exclosures to monitor the grazing and erosion impact of geese and doing repairs to the siding of the tank room that was damaged in a storm in January.

On Monday I brought two students back to campus, the other 5 will stay for the duration of the week. Unfortunately, on the way back out to Race Rocks I hit a piece of drift wood and bent a blade on the propeller.

 

On Sunday there were 3 eco-tour vessels in the reserve.

On Monday Misery gave Squall a chase and caught her on the N side of the main house.  He held her down and was biting her, at one point he picked her up about 3 feet in the air and tossed her.  Eventually she made it in-between some rocks where he could not reach her.  Pam got some good shots of the escape from the web cam: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66339356@N00/6938289865/in/photostream

Yesterday afternoon a SE wind picked up in the afternoon increasing to over 50 knots before dark and pushing some big swells into the island.

Squall discovers water

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The wind picked up to around 50 knots W after midnight last night and has been blowing 30 to 40 knots all day.

On Thursday I got a break in the weather and went off island to get supplies for repairing the siding on the South wall of the Tank Room and for making a compost container.  Students are coming for project week tomorrow and will be doing some service projects during their stay.

Over the past week Squall has made her way around the S side of the light tower and back to the W side of the main house.  Yesterday, while crossing over the cistern, she came across a puddle and had, what I believe was, her first experience with standing water.  She was quite interested in the water and spent a while probing it with her flippers and snout, inhaling it a few time in the process.

Camera 5 working

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The remote camera on the N side of the Great Race is working now, you can access it here: www.racerocks.com/racerock/video5.htm

Note: there are 20 presets which cover all major points in a 300 degree view.

Squall has been staying around the SE side of the tower.  Misery comes and goes, the pup usually keeps out of his reach.

Yesterday there were 2 eco-tour vessels in the reserve.

Facility work: replaced toilet vent fan, replacing basement basin drain plumbing, planning composting containers.

Bird count today: 6 Harlequin ducks, 150 Cormorants, and 90 gulls.

Wind 20- 30 knots from the west all day, rainy.

 

Visitors to the Reserve

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Yesterday the Coast Guard helicopter crew stopped in on their way back from the Carmanah lighthouse station to complete some maintenance work that they were unable to do the day before.

During the night, Squall had climbed up to the base of the lighthouse to get away from Misery.  When the chopper landed it was only about 20 ft away but she didn’t seem too bothered.

Squall is elongating well and visibly moulting around her face.

 

This morning Chris came out in Second Nature with two architects who are working with the college, a member of the College’s Board of Trustees with his wife and 3 kids.

Also  Maxim ( IT) worked on installing the new camera 5.   We should have Cam 5 running sometime next week.

Coast Guard Visit

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Around noon today  a Coast Guard helicopter landed on the West side of the light tower. The pilot and two technicians stayed for about an hour to do a maintenance check on the fog signal and signal light.

 

 

 

 

 

Squall has been around the flagpole, she got more attention today than usual but didn’t seem bothered by the commotion.  Misery was on the island in the morning  and went into the water in the afternoon.

Sunny and warm this afternoon.

Female

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It has a been determined: Squall, the
elephant seal pup,  is a female.

This afternoon she was lying on her back sleeping (and snoring) near the flagpole.  She is now a month old and has been without her mother for 6 days. She had been staying around the North side of the main house and hiding from Misery under he North staircase. This morning she ventured out towards the flagpole. Misery went after her a couple times, at one point had her pinned down with his mouth and snout around her neck. Eventually he left her alone, left the island and was later hauled out on Middle Rock.

There were 2 eco tour vessels in the reserve today.

The DND let off three blasts this morning with about 30 mins intervals between them.

Switched to smaller images on the log to try to improve page loading time.

No wind today, warm and the sunny in the afternoon.

Zeke(Chunk) is Wounded

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This morning Zeke and Misery were both back on Great Race.  At some point in the night they must have come in contact and Zeke took a beating.

Ed Note : We now thinks Zeke and Chunk are the same male individuals. Scar patterns match.

There are multiple puncture wounds on his back and the one large open gash looks about 8″ long.  His right eyelid is also slightly to torn.

 

 

 

Misery chased Zeke again today over onto the rocks to the edge of the cliff.  This time Misery followed him onto the rocks but Zeke managed to make his way down the steep rocks on the West side and into the water.  He is currently hauled out on Middle Rock out of harms way for now.

A Standoff and a Fight

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As mentioned previously, Misery seems to be a bit more aggressive now that Bertha is gone.  Yesterday after chasing the pup around the house he took off after Chiunk, the younger male, who had been lying near the helicopter pad.

Misery chased him onto the rocks to the edge of a cliff.  Chunk was stuck but Misery didn’t seem to want to venture onto the rocks, a standoff ensued.

Eventually Misery gave up and made his way down to the boat ramp and into ocean. Later on Misery was in the water near Middle Rock sounding off his horn.  Chunk  took his time to get off the rocks and eventually made his way to the ramp and into the water.  Just before dark I could see Misery in the water by the jetty and throughout the night I could hear him sounding off.

Sometime during the night Zeke and Misery must have had an encounter and it did not go well for Zeke…

Bertha Departs

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The last 24 hrs have been pretty active on the elephant seal front. Yesterday morning I woke up to find Squall, the pup, right up against the door of the house, Misery laying about 12 ft away and no sign of Bertha, the mother.

Bertha had been looking increasingly skinny, tired and pale the past days and had likely given the pup all the milk, and Misery all the mating, that she could give.  She has been remarkably self-sacrificing and resilient, an impressive job of being a mother. I like to think that she is out there somewhere feasting on fish and getting some well deserved rest.

Now that Bertha is gone though, and can no longer distract Misery, he seems to be getting more aggressive.  Yesterday he chased the pup several times and had his jaws around it twice, if he had wanted to do the pup harm he easily could have, but he did not.  Apparently, in past years, Misery has tried to mate with a young pup.  The pup eventually made his away around the N side of the house and hid under the staircase. Misery again chased it later around the E side of the house where it seems to be out of his reach.

The pup stayed on the East side of the house shown in the photo last night and is still there today.  It has been making a lot of noise, presumably calling for its mother.