Weather: Lighter winds with some sun. 50knots winds on January 26th. Frosty mornings on the 22-26th.
Visitors/Traffic: Some tanker traffic and 2 whale watching boats.
Ecological Notes:
We had a new female Elephant Seal show up on January 21st, bringing our total moms to 5 for 2021. We have four pups with only one weaned so far, but the other two fattest pups are expected to be weaned next week. The new female looks pregnant and is exhibiting the same behavior the other moms did before giving birth: lots of ‘chirping’ and wandering around trying out all the comfy spots. The new female also shuffled the other mothers: before the two oldest mothers would aggregate and keep the third mother away. Now the newest female has assumed the ‘shunned’ position while the three mothers are aggregating with their pups and little conflict.
We finally clued in that there have been 3 males hanging out around the island: the dominant male (Bernard), a male who became submissive after battle, and a third male who’s quite a bit smaller and clearly submissive. This third male has a bit of damage around his left eye, kinda like a classic Disney villian with a scar on it’s eye. He’s been coming up the ramp trying to sneak around Bernard, but would retreat after an impressive bout of drumming.
Census:
Gulls: 118
Cormorants: 281
Eagles: 9
California Sea Lions: 160
Steller Sea Lions: 119
Elephant Seals: 9
Harbour Seals: 14
Turnstones: 7