Author Archives: Joan Rosenberg

census

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visibility greater then 15 kms.

sky clear

wind 6 knots from the northeast

sea calm

 

Sea Lions 1072 (including the islets)

Gulls 1660

Cormorants 180

Canada Geese 21

Seals 36

Eagles 2

black turnstones difficult to count because they are so camouflaged (see picture below) but more then 50

Many humpback whales

?dolphin

4 distinct groups of whales this morning. Because they were so entertaining I watched them both from the lighthouse and the back porch for several hours. I also saw what I believe was a dolphin, it just broke the surface and it’s spout was much smaller then the whales. It’s spout was straight. I saw it blow several times about 5 minutes apart but I didn’t see it’s body.  it was only about 100 mtres from the lighthouse nowhere near the whales.

harlequin ducks were seen yesterday 2 males and one female

Sandpipers

one group of about 200 sandpipers flying south today

I saw 5 groups on October 25 during gale force winds but none were as large as this group.Those were  between 10 and 100 individuals.

 

 

 

 

 

CAS week

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  • 8 students and Laura, their instructor were here for the week.
  • They carried out several interesting studies, including counting the sea lions 5 times/day, watching animal groupings according to the wind direction and intensity, keeping track of the tagged and branded sea lions to watch their movement.
  • I was grateful for their help when I drove Laas to Pearson College in the whaler. The winch is much easier to use with several hands!

 

sick California sea lion

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Yesterday I spotted this sea lion when I was clearing the jetty

Today he looks worse. He is lethargic and thin. He does not ambulate normally. I did contact the marine mammal vet but I am not hopeful there is anything to be done. I am wondering about the diagnosis. Is there such a thing as a fractured baculum? I noticed online that genital cancer is a diagnosis in marine mammals.

There are over 1000 sea lions here and most look amazingly robust. it is expected that there will be disease and I noticed on this blog that many pictures of ill animals are posted. As this is my first time coming to stay here I was overwhelmed by the many many posts of sick, injured and neck banded sea lions. It is heart breaking but now that I am here and wrestling daily with the feisty beasts I am relieved that the posts, although necessary, certainly do not represent the majority! That is why I have added a sunset picture!