Category Archives: Mammal Notes

wood stove parts

Posted on by

Ecological 

  • wind NE 10-15 knots becoming E 30-40 knots in the evening
  • Two female elephant seals visible on Middle Rock, total 4 females in reserve

Vessels

  • I went off island in the morning and returned early afternoon
  • 1 ecotour

Maintenance

  • picked up woodstove parts on campus and pvc cement in Langford
  • made a breather tube for diesel tank intake
  • pumped 1 drum of diesel to tidy tank and filled day tank

 

diesel delivery

Posted on by

Ecological

  • Wind N 10-15 knots.
  • the second female elephant seal made her way towards the mother and pup and settled across the path from them.
  • Geese are starting to be more regular in the area, a flock of 20 visited the island today.
  • Falcon on the East side of the island, looked larger than a peregrine but couldn’t get a good look.falcon

Vessels

  • Second Nature, diesel delivery
  • 2 eco tour boats

Maintenance

  • Chris brought 4 diesel drums filled at Victoria harbour to island after noon.  Offloaded with derrick and transported across island to engine building.
  • Sent shorefront pressure washer and used engine oil from derrick off island.

bald eagles

Posted on by

Ecological

  • N 10-15 N becoming E 25, partly clear sky
  • Pigeon Guillemots made a return to the waters around the island, this is the first time i have seen/heard them since starting my shift
  • 21 bald eagles counted in the reserve.  the broke-beak eagle was perched on a solar panel on the engine building in the morning.
  • Second large female e-seal was by boat house throughout day.  Chuckles down by compost bin.  Mother and pup doing fine.  Chunk has been going off island at night and returning in the morning, staying close to females and keeping Chuckles away.
  • One neck-ringed California sealion seen on west side of main island

Vessels

  • 1 ecotour

Maintenance

  • Contacted tidy tanks re dip chart
  • Contacted re wood stove parts delivery
  • Cut and chopped fire wood
  • Cleared ramp

Second large female e-seal

Posted on by

Ecological:

  • Wind SE 25-30 knots becoming light in the evening.
  • 16 Green Winged Teals were in the mud flats NE of main house.
  • An unusual bald eagle with a damaged beak was on and around the island throughout the day, quite close to the main house at first.
  • Before dusk a second large, pregnant looking female elephant seal was near the jetty and had hauled out up beside boat house just after dark.

Vessels

  • 3 ecotour

Maintenance

  • Cleared ramp
  • Sharpened chainsaw, cut and chopped firewood.

e-seal pup a male

Posted on by

Ecological

  • Wind NE 5-10 knots increasing to 15-20 in the morning then becoming light in the afternoon.
  • The e-seal pup was figuring out how to roll on it’s back today which gave a view of its underside where the penis hole was visible behind his umbilical cord. A few seagulls were quite interested in the umbilical cord. They would sneak up while mother and pup were asleep to grab it and try to pull a piece away.  By the end of the day there was only a stub left, the birds have done a good job of post-birth cleanup in the area. The mother is very protective of the pup and growls and chases off anything that gets too close.

Maintenance: 

  • Had let derrick engine oil drain out overnight.  Put new 15 W 40 oil in.
  • Cleared ramp and ran the derrick to clear larger logs

Nursing successfully

Posted on by

Ecological 

  • Wind 15 knots NE increasing to over 30 knots overnight
  • Just before noon, within 24hrs after birth, I saw the pup take what I believe was its first taste of milk.   There seems to be three key ingredients to successful nursing: motivation, location and suction.  All three have to combine for success, there was a lot of trial and error, and what seems to be frustration, on the way.  Once the pup latched on to the right spot the suction and slurping sounds were clearly audible.  Since nursing has begun, both mother and pup seem less agitated, the pup is taking longer sleeps and the mother is getting more rest.

View from kitchen window with elephant seal family in foreground. In the background a US aircraft carrier identified as a “Unspecified US Govt Vessel” travels at a remarkable 24.5 knots according to the Marine Traffic website.

Vessels

  • 1 ecotour

Maintenance

  • Ran the derrick and lifted out 2 logs.  With engine warm, I drained the engine oil out of the derrick’s old Lister engine and changed the oil filter.
  • Cleared debris from ramp.

Elephant Seal Birth Videos 2–Mother and Pup Interactions

Posted on by

Pup and mother vocalizations, Chunk is heard vocalizing out of the frame.  A seagull feasts on the nutrient dense placenta.

Mother and pup close up, vocalizations.

The pup is looking to nurse but seems like it hasn’t figured out the mechanics of it yet.

Continue on to the next post for complete birth sequence.

See Elephant Seal Birth part 1- start and end of birth
See Elephant Seal Birth part 2

Mother and pup vocalizations
See Elephant Seal Birth part 3
See Elephant Seal Birth part 4

Elephant Seal Birth Videos –The delivery

Posted on by

Above, the mother elephant seal is having contractions. The pups nose and head start to become visible at the end of the clip.

The pup is born, steaming in the sun and the mother starts calling to it.

See Elephant Seal Birth part 1- start and end of birth
See Elephant Seal Birth part 2
See Elephant Seal Birth part 3 wide angle
See Elephant Seal Birth part 4

 

e-seal pup born

Posted on by

Ecological 

  • Wind 10-15 knots East picking up to 20 and returning to NE. Atmospheric pressure peaked in the morning at 1015 hPa
  • Elephant seals: Last night around 20:00 hrs there was some commotion right outside the main house. I shone the torch out and could see that Chunk was on top of Chuckles and had him cornered right up against the basement door of my house.  Eventually they got disentangled. In the morning, Chuckles was at base of tower, bloodied with a few new gashes.  Also in the morning, the female elephant seal was hauled out at centre of island between flag and desalinator room.  She wasn’t moving around much and Chunk was not bothering her. Around noon she started having waves of contractions.  The pups nose then head became visible and after a few minutes the pup was out, around 13:30 hrs, steaming and wide eyed.  She started vocalizing to the pup right away so Chunk woke up from his slumber to see what was going on.  He climbed over the centre path and came over to the pup, the mother seemed to protest but Chunk was persistent. He was fairly careful not to harm the pup though he put his mouth over its head and was close to steam rolling the pup a few times while chasing after her.  By nightfall the pup had not started nursing though had been trying to find something to latch on to. Chunk left after dark, presumably down the ramp. Mother and pup were sleeping soundly around 21:30hrs when I went up the tower to reboot UPS to restore phone and internet connection.

Maintenance

  • Installed replacement plumbing parts for overflow pipe of rainwater tank
  • cleared ramp
  • got together materials needed to repair NW gutter on main house
  • Rebooted UPS in tower