There have been two tagged elephant seals on the main island over the past days, green tags 6397 and 6375. Misery has been on the main island, younger male on west rock. There continue to be a total of around 15 elephant seals in the reserve.
The yearling in the two photos on the left looks like she could be the one that was born here in January (named Squall) but it is hard to tell for sure.
green tag 6375
Pam Birley from England took this first set of images of mallard ducks at Race Rocks with the remote camera today. Over on Vancouver Island it is a very common duck but has never been recorded out here before.
This is the first image taken of this species at Race Rocks. Pam said in her e-mail “Not too exciting but never seen them before at RR. A group of 6 Mallards in a rock pool along the NE shore. Seemed to be one breeding male and I believe the others were all female. Light very poor but have enhanced the pics as best I could.”.
Domain: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Anas
Species platyrhynchos
Common Name: Mallard Duck
Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
This file is provided as part of a collaborative effort by the students, faculty, staff and volunteers of Lester B. Pearson College and website viewers on our remote cameras on the internet. 15 Dec. 2012–Pam Birley
West Rock, 10 elephant seals Dec 8.
Male elephant seal younger than Misery with deep scars and a female elephant seal on main island Dec 8
On Dec 8 I counted 15 elephant seals in the reserve: 3 female and 2 male elephant seals hauled out on Great Race as well as 10 female elephant seals on West Rock. I think this is the most i have ever counter here.
mouth or throat injury
Unfortunately one of the females on Great Race is injured in her mouth or throat and has been bleeding quite a lot. We have notified the Department of Fisheries and Oceans about her. There was an elephant seal in the spring that had a mouth injury as well.
The second male elephant seal is brave to venture onto great race while Misery, Alpha male, is about. This same elephant seal was here earlier this year, Mike posted about “chunk” at the end of May: https://www.racerocks.ca/2012/05/31/end-of-may/
And i think that it is the same one that had been around earlier that we were calling “Zeke”. I reported him injured here by Misery in February: https://www.racerocks.ca/2012/02/09/zeke-is-wounded/
The scars look similar, including a scar to his right eyelid. Misery does not seem to be very bothered by the other male being on the main island. The younger male has kept his distance though.
There has been a Peregrine hunting in the reserve the past three days, this picture taken Dec 8.
One tagged Pelican Dec 8 but not able to make out the ID #.
Leaving the Docks at Lester B. Pearson College I noticed an unusually high number of western grebes. These birds (a species at risk) have an unusual migration pattern, in that they nest in wetlands on the Canadian prairies and then instead of migrating south as most other birds, they fly west, over the Rocky Mountains to winter in the small bays of southern Vancouver Island. We have few records of them at Race Rocks , but one that ended up at the docks dead made it into our taxonomy and gallery of species.
Western grebe — 11 in Pedder Bay today
On the approach to Race Rocks one of those ever-changing sky scenes unfolded.
We could see that the middle islands to the west are covered with Northern (Steller) sea lions today as well as a number of elephant seals . We only had time to check out Great Race Island as Erik was doing some underwater work, changing zincs on equipment and cleaning the underwater camera.
Red phalarope near docks
As I tended him diving, a red phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius ) swam in the waves near the dock, churning up plankton in a vortex . This is the usual location where we have sighting of the red-necked variety of these birds in the winter.
Grass enclosure, Dec. 8, 2012
A year ago Alex set out three 1 square metre enclosures to monitor the effects of grazing and marine mammal trampling on vegetation at Race Rocks. In this one by the centre path it was evident that there is beginning to be a build up of organic material which will contribute to the turf cover.
Below are some of the pictures of the elephant seals on Great Race Island when we were there today. One female by the docks is injured as has been reported previously. Normally when there are natural injuries to animals out here we have a policy of not intervening as nature takes its course . When there may be evidence of a human cause for the injury where it may be treated, then the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has jurisdiction and must decide what to do. In this case, i suspect there is some irritation in the mouth or jaw which is causing continual bleeding, probably a fishhook. In the past we have had one successful treatment of an elephant seal when DFO arranged for the Vancouver aquarium to capture it and rehabilitate it. It was returned to the reserve at the end of summer in perfect health. So we have to wait and see what the decision is on this animal.
Again this year there are two males on the main island which could lead to some sparring around breeding time in January. The size of the proboscis on the younger male indicates his lesser age, and he is probably several hundred kilos lighter. It is quite amazing to see the amount of weight that Misery has put on over the past year.
Garry Fletcher
December 8, 2012
Ecological Reserve Warden for Race Rocks Ecological Reserve #97
Since the last post there have been several visits of Pelicans to the reserve. My first sighting of 3 of them was on Saturday afternoon just before dark.
Dec 2-Pelicans on North East side
On Sunday evening a flock of around 20 pelicans landed on the West rock, joining the elephant seals that were there. The light was really poor so I couldn’t get a very good quality image. There has recently been a sighting of a similar size group close to Victoria, likely the same ones.
Dec 2-Pelicans on West Rock
Dec 3-Brown Pelican
On Dec 3 there were 4 Pelicans sighted in the reserve as well as a Peregrine Falcon.
Misery has been on the main island up near the South side of the tower for several days. I have seen up to 8 other elephant seals on West Rock including a male that looks nearly as big as Misery.
Peregrine Falcon at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve
On Tuesday morning and again in the evening the wind picked up to 40 knots from the West.
Dec 4-West Rock elephant seals (not Misery)
Wednesday morning we switched guardians, Mike has finished a 3 month shift and I will be here for the next 4 months. It has been 8 months since i was last out here, nice to see that Mike and Julie have done a great job out here and that the place is in good shape.
I have been on the lookout for the pelicans that Mike has observed out here and was thinking they were gone. But this morning, while photographing a sealion taking down a fish I noticed a large bird in the frame. The pelican must have been on the east face of the Eastern rocks which is out of sight from the main island.
On Wednesday the winds picked up to over 25 knots. Misery hauled out on the main island that night and stayed here until yesterday. After making his way down the ramp and through the debris he stayed at least an hour amongst the logs, floating and making bubbles.
This morning Misery was out on West rock with at least 3 female elephant seals.
Not a lot of traffic in the reserve the past days. On Wednesday two whale watching boats toured around the elephant seals on West rock and today there is a dive boat off the west side.
