Weather: Overcast, but mostly sunny over the last few days. winds 15-20knots.
This feels like we got more sun in January 2021 all of 2020.
Visitors/Traffic: Pretty quiet week, a few fishing boats driving by.
Ecological Notes: Newest Elephant Seal pup was born today. This makes 3 pups total, with the oldest nearing the end of his nursing period. His mom is looking VERY depleted, with 3 more days estimated until the end of her nursing period. His mom has also had a large behavioural change: previously she would ‘fight’ with the Beachmaster when we attempted mating, but over the last 24 hours she’s now much more receptive to his advances. 13-14 times a day receptive.
Cheermeister at 19 days. Looking fat and healthy as his mom gets more and more depleted. In 2020 we saw the pups nurse for 23 days, so he’s getting close to the end of ‘free food’.
Census:
Gulls: 259
Cormorants: 719
Eagles: 6
Turnstones: 22
Elephant Seals: 8 [2 bulls, 3 females, 3 pups]
Steller Sea Lions: 160
California Sea Lions: 121
Harbour Seals: 10
Proof that I take photos of other animals than Elephant Seals. SE Steller Rookery going strong.
Mothers seem to have lots of aggression shortly after a pup is born. Every pup we’ve seen get born here coincides with a bought of mom-on-mom aggression. Although Courtney has pointed out that this is my interpretation of their behaviour, and this could just be a ‘welcome to the fraternity of motherhood’ moment.
Mating looks rough. In larger rookeries this often results in pups getting squished. Here, Cheermeister just needs to avoid getting pinned and he should be good. He’s repetitively gotten in the middle of that mating between his mom and the Beachmaster and hasn’t died…. yet.
Peace descends. As with all things Elephant Seal: the chaos doesn’t last long. After 30 min of excitement everyone rolls over and falls asleep until tomorrows moment of activity,