Category Archives: Island Visitors

Seal Pups and traffic

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Harbour seals are frequenting the kelp beds regularly with their new pups. I have spotted a half dozen pups so far. Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) are most often found in estuaries and shallow bays but here in the reserve there are approximately 35 right now. They feed at hide tide and rest during low tide usually somewhere within the south-eastern part of the reserve.

Habour seal with pup

Marine traffic has increased significantly this week. Today, whale watching boats alone exceeded 40 in the reserve and there were around a dozen private boaters as well. In the last post I mentioned the whale tour boats are well mannered though unfortunately speeding between North Race Rocks and Great Race Rocks has become much more common in the past week.

There is a count of 9 elephant seals at the moment, which dropped from 11 earlier in the week. Some, like Misery (our largest male), seem to spend equal time in water and on shore now.

Also, 3 groups of student visitors came out on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for tours to learn about the reserve, its importance, and to get a peek at the elephant seals. The tours were kept brief as to not disturb the gulls who are still rather anxious to protect their young.

 

21 July Update

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Today I scrubbed the tank room door with TSP (grease cleaner/remover) in order to paint it. Because it needs time to dry I decided to go and sand down the jetty in preparation for its paint job. In the short span it took me to do so our elephant seal friend managed to worm its way halfway into the tank room from ~10 metres away… Again!

After some prodding it finally manoeuvred out of the doorway. Although it seems rather humorous, this incident raises more serious questions about measures we will have to take in the future if the elephant seal population continues to rise.

The jetty, for example, which is the most preferred spot for water entries and exits, is hardly large enough to accommodate the two adult males we have here as it is.

 

Also, an update on the progress of the 3 chicks shown left. Many chicks on the island are starting to show signs of trying to fly.

A different 3 have decided to block my doorway for the past week or so.

Yesterday Chris Blondeau came to clean camera 2 (the underwater camera) and there were six other visitors who toured the island.

 

Bull Misery has returned

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The big boss is back. Misery (Mystery as I like to call him) has returned to the island and has been snoozing and rolling his generous bulk around the grassy areas. He appears to have gained 100 kgs or more in his time away. Wherever they are going after their onshore fasting, and it can’t be too far, the seals appear to have no problem finding abundant food resources. Fortunate for them that their prey is at a depth most predators can’t reach, nor is that prey (squids, skates, rays and some crustaceans) commercially hunted. Elephant seals appear to love grass, which is unusual as most of the places they live don’t have any vegetation. But their pleasure is apparent to anyone who watches them. Yesterday there were 10 individuals here, a new record.

The younger bull Chunk (named for the hideous propeller scars on his back) stays out of the way but Misery seems less aggressive without any potentially fertile females around. A new juvenile with the tag 6355 showed up today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is hard to tell if the oystercatchers have laid their eggs yet because they are so secretive about their nests, and use very vocal and visual threat displays to distract would be predators and naturalists. Normally 2 to 3 eggs are laid in this nest, these are very hard and can even survive being submerged by a high tide or very high water levels. Incubation takes around 26–28 days. The chicks are capable of leaving the nest after one day. I once witness an acquaintance of mine accidentally step on an oystercatcher nest and crush an egg. He was devastated but not as much as the bird. She clearly knew we were responsible and proceeded to fly after us carrying shards of egg in her beak and screaming what I took to be obscenities at us. I don’t blame her at all. Remarkably she repeatedly flew ahead of us with the broken egg, landed on the beach and vocalized, until our guilt forced us to flee the island. That bird recognized cause and effect!

Aneri and Sahar are staying here for a few days and they have been great company. They are so much more consciously evolved than my generation was at that age and they give me hope that many of the antiquated paradigms of our culture will go extinct and we can progress to 21st century thinking to solve 21st century problems. I shall miss them when they leave tomorrow. They have helped me prop up some of the solar panels, washed windows, swept walks, and made some tasty brownies!

Getting Busy round here

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More and more tour boats are visiting the reserve this week. It is easy to loose track of the numbers because they come out of nowhere it seems and from every direction. I estimate we are seeing about 20 visits a day this week. This may be because the orca are out of range, and Race Rocks can always be counted on to provide a picturesque opportunity to see marine mammals in the wild. By and large the tour boat operators are respectful but some operators seem ignorant of the reserve boundaries and come in or leave a little too rapidly. I will be emailing the companies to clarify this issue when I have some photographic evidence.

Whale-watching vessel

This enormous vessel is new. I will be curious to see how marine mammals react to it. I suspect it will have less impact than the zodiacs because it will stay a bit further away and more people will see the animals on one trip than 6 or 8 zodiac trips. We will see!

 

This large California Sea Lion arrived yesterday. He has a brand that appears to be 909 (or 606). More pictures of him coming soon….

Elephant Seals at Docks

 

 

 

There are 6-7 elephant seals finishing up their moulting now. On occasion we get a little traffic jam on the ramp. Here Bertha reminds the others who is boss…

 

 

The military conducted several over-flights whilst on manoeuvres, but at a reasonable altitude. Yesterday Erik and I shipped 500 gallons of water over, as finding parts for the desalination unit is challenging. I hope that volume will last a month or so…

Busy Little Island – here come the humans…

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This weekend the island and reserve is teeming with humans. Seven Pearson students are experiencing a weekend here, we have 4 groups of Pearson students (60 in total) coming out for a biology exam. As well the “Friends of Ecological Reserves” group is coming for a tour in a few hours. But perhaps most obvious are the 25-30 sport halibut fish boats ringing the reserve to the East, South and West. Apparently there is a derby with about 450 fishing tickets sold. Either those boats are crowded or we can expect more before the day is over. Personally I am routing for the halibut!

We had 6 elephant seals here yesterday including numbers 6360, 5086 and 6375. Bertha is back for her moulting time of the year. She seems to go through the process much quicker than the juveniles. You can see the scar that makes her so easy to identify and is testament to her recuperative powers.

One of the juvenile elephant seals managed to wiggle under the chicken wire of one of the enclosures Alex made to measure the impact of Canada Geese on the grass. Turns out a 100 kg e-seal can have an impact on grass too.

photo courtesy of Pam Birley. Taken from the tower remote camera.

She has been liberated but seemed more annoyed than thankful!

Bald Eagle flyover…. a float plane just buzzed us and last night the military helicopter was doing exercises in the area. Chris cleaned the underwater webcam yesterday. You can watch the fish and if you are lucky spot a Sea Lion! https://racerocks.ca/racerock/uwcam/video2frame.htm

 

Animal Census Apr 18, 2012

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Stellar Sea Lion – 20

Elephant Seal – 12

Harbour Seal – 200

Glaucous-winged Gull – 200

Brandt’s Cormorant – 250

Pelagic Cormorant – 10

Black Turnstones – 30 w/ 2 juveniles

Surfbirds – 10

Raven – 4

Crow – 1

Dunlin – 2

Sparrows – 6

Pigeon Guillemots – 150

Harlequin Ducks – 100

Canada Goose – 20

Bald Eagle (adult) – 4 (juvenile) 8

Black Oyster-catcher – 40

34 people have visited in the least 2 weeks

Moulting Time

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There are about 8-10 young and mostly moulting elephant seals in the reserve at this time. Between four and six have been lounging on the pier creating obstacles for the group of 10  students that spent the weekend here. The grumpy infected girl at the end of the dock made all of us clamber around the outside of the rail to get to and from the boat. Today I thought she looked a bit better. There appears to be an object imbedded in her lower palate; perhaps a barb or spine from a fish she was hunting. I hope it works it’s way out in time. Presumably elephant seals are pretty durable creatures… we will keep a close eye on her recuperation.

The students did a great job of weeding the scotch thistles from around the tower.

There are plenty of Pigeon Guillemots and Black Oystercatcher pairs on the island, with a few Harlequin ducks and Rhinoceros Auklets just offshore. The Harbour Seals should start giving birth soon. There is a large pregnant female on the foreshore near the engine room.

3 rental boats entered the reserve and broke all the rules for respectable human decorum here. I called the marina and they quickly responded by phoning the renters to warn them of their infractions. I was happy to see them promptly exit the reserve and head off towards the military ballistics range.

Students at Race Rocks

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On Friday afternoon Erik brought out 7 students as well as Natasha and Julien to Race Rocks to stay for the weekend.
The students helped with several projects on Saturday afternoon including:

-cleaning solar panels;

-completing the building of compost containers;

-edging the edges of pathways;

-cleaning and sealing conduit boxes to camera 5;

-assessing electronic devices;

-moving a propane tank;

-topping up heating fuel, and

-moving the dugout canoe.

On Sunday Chris came out around noon with Jane and 3 kids to pickup the group and return them to campus.  Thanks to everyone for a great weekend and for all the help.

We have had clear skies, a brief 20 knot NE Sat morning but fairly calm for the rest.

Squall takes the plunge!

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This morning was the first time that I have seen Squall take to the sea.  While i didn’t actually seen her in the water I saw her coming up the boat ramp clearly wet after having been in the water.   It may be that she has gone in the ocean previously at night or when I wasn’t around but this is the first time I have even seen her near the boat ramp, which, with its gentle smooth slope, is the preferred haul out for elephant seals on the island.  Maybe it is just a coincidence but this morning we also reached the highest barometric pressure (115 hPa) that we have had in almost 2 weeks. She will be 10 weeks old tomorrow.

The female elephant seal tagged 5086/4665 left the boat ramp area on Tuesday.  6355 is still in the south bay.

On Monday Erik brought out 3 students to the island who stayed overnight and returned the following day.  Today a group of 9 will be coming out the island for the weekend.

Green tags 5086/4665

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For the past few days there have been 2 female elephant seals moulting around Great Race.  The first picture was taken on Thursday in the channel between the main island and South Seal Rocks.  At the time I was only able to see her one green tag # 5086.  I have also noticed one of them hauling out in the East Bay.

This morning when I went to launch the whaler she was on the boat ramp and was pretty stubborn about moving out of the way.

I was able to get a closer look at her tail and see a second green tag # 4665.

Visible in these last two photos, one of the tags has become a substrate for gooseneck barnacles.  I appreciate that someone is working to tag and track these animals but I have a hard time believing that these tags aren’t a nuisance to the animals and that over the long distances they travel and hunt these wouldn’t create a noticeable amount of drag and encumbrance.

On Friday afternoon Erik and Laura came out to Race Rocks in second nature with a group of student divers as well as 6 visitors who toured around the island.  Erik cleaned and moved the underwater camera, Pam got a good image capture. There was a dive boat in the reserve this morning.