Author Archives: Riley Strother

Weaner deceased

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 12-17 knots E
  • Water: 1’ chop
  • Sky: clear
  • Beautiful day. Mt. Baker was clearly visible.

Ecological

  • When I got up in the morning, I discovered that the weaner elephant seal was dead. His head had been crushed in during the night by several bites. Chunk had blood stains around his mouth, while both the females had blood stains along their bodies. All 4 living elephant seals were across the path from the dead weaner.
  • Chuckles was with the mum and pup on Middle Rock, who still appear to be doing well.
  • In the afternoon Chunk went over to the dead weaner and rolled him over onto his back.
  • Saw a sea lion with the number “2” branded onto its back. The remainder of the sea lion was underneath a pile of the great beasts, so I could not see the full branding number.
  • There appeared to be half as many cormorants today as there were yesterday, but a similar amount of seagulls.

Maintenance

  • Cleared logs off the ramp once.
  • Cleaned bird droppings off the solar panels.
  • Reorganized the dry firewood and started storing the new firewood prepared by Alex.
  • Vacuumed up hundreds of fruit flies in the basement near the composting toilet.

Boats

  • One pleasure craft containing 4 people who were recreational fishing appeared to be just inside the boundary of the rock fish conservation area.
  • Two eco-tour boats came by this afternoon. The first one seemed to go too close to the islands, at one point a mere stones throw away from the dock. The second one also looked rather close at times.
  • Two navy ships were out and about near William Head. HMCS Whitehorse (705) and HMCS Ottawa (341).

First Official Day On The Job

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After training last weekend, and a general review yesterday, I, Riley Strother, have now taken over as Ecoguardian from Alex Fletcher.

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 knots NE
  • Water: 1’ chop
  • Sky: overcast

Ecological

  • The first female elephant seal to give birth left the island at 7:30 in the morning and did not return. As such the first pup has now become a weaner.
  • Chunk appeared to mate with the female who lost her pup.
  • The newest pup is quite vocal and seems to be doing well. Chunk and the other female went along the path after mating to inspect the new mother and pup.
  • Alex was able to identify the number on the yellow flipper tag attached to the newest mother: 5928
  • There was quite a disturbance of seagulls and cormorants today when a raven with a small fish in its beak was chased all around the island by two eagles. Eventually the raven managed to land and eat the fish.
  • Conducted a census.
  1. California Sea Lions: 88
  2. Northern/Stellar Sea Lions: 53 (many sea lions were swimming in the waves and thus impossible to count)
  3. Elephant Seals: 8 (Chunk, weaner, grieving mother, new mum and pup, Middle Rock: Chuckles, mum and pup.)
  4. River Otter: 1
  5. Cormorants: 615
  6. Seagulls: 512
  7. Bald Eagles: 9 (7 juvenile, 2 adults)
  8. Raven: 1
  9. Crow: 1
  10. Black Oystercatchers: 6
  11. Harlequin Ducks: 4
  12. Canada Geese: 6
  13. Black Turnstones: 29

Maintenance

  • Cleared logs off the ramp two times.
  • Lowered the boat trailer because the cable coil was quite criss crossed. Managed to recoil the cable in a more orderly fashion.
  • Vacuumed up hundreds of fruit flies in the basement near the composting toilet.

Boats

  • Alex and Virginie left in the morning.
  • Surprised to see no eco-tourism boats about on such a nice Sunday.