Newborn Elephant Seal pup! After a night of squawking we were met in the morning by this adorable squishy new baby. It makes the cutest sounds!

Weather: 2 days of over 30 knots. Sleet on the afternoon of December 21st after a morning of NW bringing lots of logs into the jetty.

Visitors: 4 tourism boats coming out to view wildlife. Coast Guard doing maneuvers in the crazy currents. Navy ship and submarine out for a jaunt.

Maintenance: Greg got the desalinator going. We got Ocean Network Canada’s equipment up and running, I’m told it measures the tides and currents using radar?! Pretty cool. Maybe the subject of a blog post already?

Wildlife: The Elephant Seals showed up in the first week of December, so we were expecting a few months of them hanging out on Race Rocks before anything significant happened. Just kidding! The lone female on the island (pink tag #2) gave birth at around 10pm on December 21st after a chilly afternoon with a bit of snow.

Baby Elephant Seal #1. Could be last years pup? They are thought to return to their same birthing/moulting grounds.

The big male that has been posted up with the female since the beginning of December seems to be pretty protective of the new baby, making sure the rowdy teen male seal knows he is not welcome around the female and pup. There is another large male hanging out next to the generator building, and a small male (possibly last years pup) was hanging out here for a few weeks before heading back into the ocean.

The big male chased the female around the island for a few days before she found her favourite spot and posted up. Turns out those rocks right in from of her is the best nursery.

Momma Seal: Pink tag #2

Having a well deserved rest with her newborn the the giant male stands guard for other males.

We’ve still got lots of California and Steller Sea Lions hanging out on the island/jetty, with lots of bait balls and kelp rafts drifting by. There’s been at least 2 humpbacks feeding between Race Rocks and Edye Point for a few days.

Only 1 gull has died in the last week, and was pretty quickly eaten by a couple of eagles.

Because every Race Rocks blog should feature a lighthouse photo.