Category Archives: Mammal Notes

June 26th Update

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Elephant seal in workshop

Hi, I’m Julie and I’m going to be taking over for Mike starting in July. Over the past week and a half he’s kindly been showing me the ropes of the place. More elephant seals have been visiting and currently we have about ten in the reserve. A couple of days ago, one crept into one of the buildings where we take the salinity measurements. He stayed for a number of hours and seemed very pleased to have found himself a cool, shaded, and sheltered area.  Fortunately, he left on his own accord and no damage was done. Mike and I will be sure to keep a closer eye on the doors in the future!

Basking Chunk

Our largest male, Misery, has alas begun to moult and has lost a significant amount of pelage in the past day and a half. Chunk, our second largest, has been losing weight and we predict he will take off and return to the sea in the next few days.

 

 

On another note, the red flags were put up on Bentinck Island yesterday morning and there have been 4 blastings today by the military. Although the elephant seals don’t seem to be bothered terribly, the hundreds of glaucous-winged gulls go haywire each time this happens before settling back down again.

Yesterday, Mike spotted humpbacks passing south of the reserve in the rain.

Bird Notes

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Bald Eagle on Gosling Carcass

The nesting gulls continue their vigil over their eggs. Oystercatcher couples furtively watch over their scrapes located just above the high-tide line, while Pigeon Guillemots incubate their eggs within the cracks and fissures of the rocks. Ironically the blasted rock, remnant of Coast Guard efforts to create more level terrain has provided habitat for them! Caspian Terns remain in the area but have not been noticed to land on the island. Cormorant are seen in the local waters but none appear to be nesting on the island this year.

Canada Geese

This season 4 pairs of Canada Geese hatched 20 goslings; a concern for us as this species that is not native to the West Coast can be quite destructive to some habitats. So far though they have had little effect on the grass (most of which is also introduced), and to date 10 of the goslings have been predated by eagles and ravens.
The West wind has stopped for a couple of days; a big relief and an opportunity to do some work that requires still air. Climbing ladders and cleaning the tower camera for example. I think we managed to solve the problem of intermittent outages of Camera 5 as well.

A New Mammal on the Island!

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Julie has arrived! She will be taking over Eco-Guardian for the summer, keeping a close eye on our animal neighbours, monitoring human activity in the reserve, and doing the maintenance and upkeep required to keep the station running. I will be training her over the next few weeks.

Hungry Red-tailed Hawk

In other news, we had a visit from a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo Jamaicensis) a few days ago.

 

 

 

 

The Chase

I was lucky enough to capture this action-shot as it swept overhead.

 

 

Red-tailed Hawk in Flight

 

 

 

 

June continues to be rather dismal and cold. Temperature has averaged about 12 degrees Celsius here with a high of 15.2…. pout.

 

 

 

 

The Boys are Moulting

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SIx Pack Abs 6397 male

Juvenile Male and lighthouse

There has been a bit of a gender shuffle in the local elephant seal population. Only one female remains, finishing up her moult but several young males have appeared in their stead.

Chunk Beginning to Moult

This corresponds to what is reported in the literature. Misery has just the slightest pelage loss while Chunk is much further advanced…

  • April to May – Females and juveniles
  • May to June – Sub-adult males
  • July to August – Adult males

Metallic Coast Guard debris

 

I have been removing copper and lead debris from the foreshore and intertidal zone where the Coast Guard dumped them many years ago. Ignorance led to many unsound practices in the years proceeding the new environmental ethos. Both lead and copper are biocides and should not be left to leach into the beach and water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animal Census First Sea Otter at Race Rocks

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Sea Otter in race ROcks Kelp Beds, photo by Adam Bird

Sea Otter in Race Rocks Kelp Beds, photo by Adam Bird on June 10/2012

Things have been fairly quite lately regarding birds and mammals here, though one of the eco-tour boats reported seeing a Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) in a kelp bed on Monday! The percussive blasts from Rocky Point military testing range scared off most of the Sea Lions last Thursday and only a few have returned in the last couple days. A large pod of orca passed through and near the reserve on Tuesday. Thanks to Suna, Doris and Ishmael for the census.

Elephant Seals: about 10
Steller Sea Lions: 2
California Sea Lions: 2
Harbour Seals: 204
Glaucous-winged Gull: 246
Surfbirds: 18
Pigeon Guillemots: 108
Canada Goose: 13
Bald Eagle: 3
Black Oystercatcher: 12
Northwestern Crow: 1
Raven: 1
Sparrow: 4
Sea Otter: 1
Caspian Terns: 6
Herring Gulls: 20

Sea Otter, Enhydra lutris— Race Rocks Taxonomy

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abjune102012rrseaotter

Adam Bird, aboard a whale watching charter took this photo of a sea otter on June 10, 2012 at Race Rocks .

This is the first image taken of this species at Race Rocks .

This sea otter was observed over several days in the kelp bed off the Middle Rocks in Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. Sea otters were introduced to the Bunsby Islands, Checlesset Bay north of Kyuquot village on the West Coast of Vancouver Island in 1969, 1970 and 1972. Considerable research on them has been done over the years especially by Dr. Jane Watson, and it is archived on the Friends of Ecological Reserves website in the Checlesset Bay Ecological Reserve #109 archives:

Since then Ecoguardians have taken pictures of sea otters out in the lkelp and along the shore of Great Race Rocks almost every year, here are a few samples:

This tag will bring up other examples of observations of this species at Race Rocks

 

I also observed a sea otter and was able to get some pictures in 2014

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Class Mammalia
Order Carnivora
Family Mustelidae
Subfamily Lutrinae
Genus Enhydra
Species lutris ( Linnaeus,(1758)
Common Name: Sea Otter

Other Members of the Class Mammalia at Race Rock

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. Garry Fletcher, 2012

 

Elephant Seals: up close and personal video

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Mike Robinson took this video of Misery today:

 

Get up close and personal with a Northern Elephant Seal at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. Lots of facts and personal observations of these magnificent marine mammals, the second largest carnivore on the planet after their Southern cousins.

 

 

David Attenborough did this in depth video of Elephant Seals  from Elephant Seals /Life in the Freezer/ BBC earth

 

Also this video  Elephant sealls of Piedras Blacas , California by Brian Caserio iis very informative.

 

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!

End of May

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Hold the presses! I just got back from the top of the tower where I was washing the windows. My eyes were drawn to a huge lump on Middle Rocks. With the binoculars I could see what appears to be 3 bull elephant seals, a few cows and a juvenile. That makes at least 14 elephant seals in the reserve! I wonder if it is Misery?

It is hard to tell that June begins tomorrow, due to the fog and damp. But there are certainly signs of summer beginning to show up in spite of the weather. The first Glaucous-winged Gull eggs are being laid, the Oystercatchers are getting more secretive

 

But the really BIG news is that a new-to-me bull elephant seals arrived yesterday. He isn’t as big as Misery but he is bigger than Zeke. I would guess he is a few years away from becoming a Beachmaster. He caused quite a commotion rampaging around and roughing up a few females before he found a nice spot to sleep for the next few days. I have named him Chunk, for both his size and the large scars down his back, which appear to be caused by a boat propellor a few years ago. (Ed note: These were actually caused by a fight with Misery last year. ) The scars look fairly well healed but some pretty big chunks were carved out by the prop.

 

Sea Lions are arriving

Aside

More and more California Sea Lions are showing up. There are about 10 on the rocks beneath the winch house as I write this. This photo however is of two Stellar’s enjoying the sunset after they cleared the rock of Californians.

I noticed three more Red Knots on the foreshore, and a corvus caurinus (crow) made it out for a visit. North-western crows are rare visitors here and I have only observed solitary excursions.

Work this week has comprised of painting the railings around the main house and walkway. We got the water desalinator working again, and some of the old computer equipment was removed from the student house.

Several dive groups have made underwater excursions just off the dock in the last week. We continue to see a lot of tour boats in the reserve.

This afternoon I noticed the first Glaucous-winged Gull egg in a shallow grass nest a few feet from my doorstep. I will have to stick to the sidewalk for a few months while the nesting and hatching play out.