In the morning Chunk went into the water; he returned a couple of hours later. “Watch” him climb over a log in the photo slideshow!
Conducted a census. Unfortunately the gale force winds started up just before I climbed the tower to do the largest portion of the census, so by the time I began, many animals had fled seeking shelter.
California Sea Lions: 44
Northern Sea Lions: 13 (1 branded with ?6Y)
Elephant Seals: 2
Seagulls: 106 (there were more before I did my count)
Pigeon Guillemots: 80 (these I counted before the gale)
Cormorants: 57 (there were more before I did my count)
Chunk and Chuckles are still on Great Race. I’m not even sure they are going off island at night these days.
There was a lone harbour seal hauled out on a rock near the derrick most of the day.
Saw some bald eagles gnawing away at the dead elephant seal pup.
Maintenance
Cleared logs off of the ramp.
Began making a list of things to do by the end of the month.
Boats
The Sir Wilfred Laurier patrol vessel was out in the straight this morning. Quite a fine looking ship!
One pleasure craft with a family on board stopped by to view the sea lions. They seemed to be too close.
Two eco-tours came by this afternoon. The first one was the largest boat that I have ever seen in the reserve. The second one appeared to be too close to the sea lions, and a few of them made haste for the water.
Chuckles had some fresh wounds on his back that were weeping fluids.
Saw a California sea lion branded with 8240.
Saw a Sea Slater (Ligia Pallasii) crawling in the muck near the jetty today.
Maintenance
Found all the “loaner” fire extinguishers and collected them up.
Loaded said fire extinguishers and a box of recycling into the maintenance boat when Jeff and his assistant came by.
Checked the water level in the cistern; things are good.
Boats
Jeff came by to pick up some items. He did not disembark.
Other
Heard six DND blasts today. They came in pairs, each pair progressively bigger, from loud, to house shaking. 10:03, 10:05, 10:55, 10:57, 11:41, and 11:43.
Saw a northern sea lion with a cooker cutter shark scar.
Noticed at least 50 harbour seals out on the south islands today.
Saw a common merganser wash itself on a rock close to shore. Apparently it is quite uncommon to see them at Race Rocks. Later some harlequin ducks swam nearby.
Saw a jellyfish floating around near the jetty. Not sure what variety it was.
Noticed some grape hyacinth for the first time today. By my estimate there are least 6 different species of flowers now in bloom out here.
Maintenance
Stacked firewood until there was no remaining space. Will have to restart stacking once some of the stores have been burnt up to create space.
Boats
Jeff and his two Belgian volunteers came by with food supplies this morning. Eggs, milk, and bread. Surprised the Belgians didn’t bring me any Jupiler.
Quite a bit of traffic today out in the straight. Documented the more interesting looking ones with photographs.
One fishing boat went through the middle channel of the reserve.
Other
Heard 5 DND blasts today from Bentinck Island. A small one at 12:47, and then 4 medium blasts at 12:50, 12:55, 15:04, and 15:06. The animals didn’t make too much of a fuss.
Spotted two northern sea lions with brands on them. The bigger one seemed to have 76Y branded on it, although the “7” was a bit undefined. The smaller one had three circles branded on its side. I assumed this was a brand, although in one of Anne Stewart’s log posts she mentions “cookie cutter shark scars” so perhaps this sea lion has three of those in a row?
Chunk and Chuckles spent the day in the same positions as yesterday.
Sadly, the weaner elephant seal on Middle Rock seems to be deceased. When I looked over there this morning I saw 8 bald eagles and blood stains all over the rock. I assume that one of the males killed it in the night. The body must have washed into the water.
With that death, we are now 0/4 at Race Rocks with elephant seal pups for 2016; 1 pup killed accidentally and 3 weaners killed on purpose. Killed for what purpose we do not know.
Maintenance
Stacked more firewood today.
Hauled some very large logs off the ramp. They seemed like small boats.
Had some troubles getting the YSI to turn on, so I took the sea water samples the old fashioned way first, before finally getting the YSI to work.
Chuckles had several fresh cuts and scrapes on his back. My guess is he has been fighting with Chunk at night, although all the females are gone now, so mating seems to be irrelevant to the fighting?
As far as I can tell, the weaner is still on Middle Rock. If the males leave it alone that will raise the odds of survival.
Maintenance
Hauled some massive logs off the ramp.
Removed half the old firewood in the west shed on the Energy Building and re-stacked closer to the main house. Replaced with newer firewood for curing.
Boats
One fishing boat floated out by the jetty for a good while as the occupants admired the lighthouse tower. They left at a good slow speed.
Chunk and Chuckles were both on Great Race today, but I saw no interactions.
The mother is gone on Middle Rock, making her pup a weaner.
Conducted a census.
California Sea Lions: 75
Northern Sea Lions: 32
Harbour Seals: 6
Elephant Seals: 3
Seagulls: 300
Cormorants: 299 (142 on Great Race, of which 87 were Double Crested, 28 Pelagic, 8 male Brandt’s, and 19 unidentifiable to me. 157 on North Rock, too far away to identify.)
The first thing I saw this morning was a bald eagle landing over by the Energy Building, right where the elephant seals had been last night, and a place where they normally don’t land.
I headed over there and my suspicions were affirmed; the newest weaner had been killed in the night and many birds were feasting on his corpse.
Unlike the previous weaner who had simply had his skull crushed by teeth, this one had been virtually torn to shreds, making it much easier for the birds to begin feasting.
Chunk was lying nearby, but this time I cannot be sure that he was the culprit, as he didn’t seem to have any blood on him, and Chuckles had been with the weaner last night.
The old river otter returned today. It must be blind or in some way sensory impaired, as it is easily approached without seeming to notice ones presence. I say this because I encountered it quite closely by accident, and yet it didn’t seem to take much notice of me until I was only a few feet away.
Encountered quite a few surfbirds on the beach.
Maintenance
Stacked more firewood.
Cleared logs off the ramp.
Boats
Two eco-tours came by this afternoon.
One fishing boat passed through the reserve.
One unidentified boat spent some time floating on the edge of the reserve, but I saw no indication of fishing.
48 knots falls into the “storm” category. Only “violent storm” and “hurricane” are higher on the scale. The house is shuddering.
Water: 2′ chop, later at least 5′
Sky: overcast and some rain
Ecological
The mother elephant seal on Great Race was gone this morning, making the fourth pup a weaner. He is much smaller than the previous weaner was, and over on Middle Rock the mother is still with her pup, who was born approximately 8 days before, and is quite larger. All this makes me think the mother has left prematurely?
In the morning Chunk spent some time chasing the weaner, but he was too slow to catch him and he gave up, later heading over to Middle Rock.
Chuckles showed up on Great Race afterwards and has been watching the weaner.
At one point I found the weaner chewing on a wire cord underneath the big old yellow diesel tank by the Energy Building.
Today was the first day that I saw a great blue heron at Race Rocks! Not a first in general though, or for Race Rocks.
Pam Birley also noticed the heron and she took some photos with the webcam.