Laura Verhegge celebrating her 50th birthday at Race Rocks, sharing her love of nature with students near and far.

Weather: Stormy weekend! Steady 30knots with bursts of 50knots.

Visitors/Traffic: We were visited by the Marine Biology class and Biodiversity classes last week, so cool!

Courtney Edwards regailing the Marine Biology students with tales of Lighthouse keepers past.

Ecological Notes:

Sebastion hasn’t moved since his mom left, his little flippers can’t reach the ground with that big fat belly.

We had another mom wean her pup and leave Race Rocks on February 4th 2021 (Rhi-Rhi). We’ve been hoping for the 3 pups to ‘pod-up’ but no luck yet, the newest weaned pup is still too fat to move. The students have been studying the Steller Sea Lion carcass on the NE side of Race Rocks, with 25-30 eagles feeding on the carcass early in the mornings. Some of the students spotted a new dead California Sea Lion just S of the Lighthouse, it’s a branded seal with a tag on it, no obvious sign of death.

After Jafar’s last beating he’s been giving the Beachmaster a wide berth, but still relying on the boat ramp sneaker move.

Eagles feasting on the Steller carcass.

Jafar got his nose shredded fighting the Beachmaster, but it hasn’t scared him off the island.

Census:

Gulls: 79

Cormorants: 300

Eagles: 4

California Sea Lions: 149

Steller Sea Lions: 89

Elephant Seals: 9

Harbour Seals: 6

Turnstones: 0

Killdeer: 18

The dead California Sea Lion.

Tag matches the brand on this dead California Sea Lion.