Rhi=Rhi came back and is ready to birth!

Ecological Notes:

We have a new female Elephant Seal on Race Rocks! While she looks suspiciously like one of the returning mothers, without a tag it is hard to tell. She was thoroughly investigated by our local Beachmaster, and sassed Mikey for getting too close. Mikey seems to have learned his lesson to stay out the Beachmasters way, after a few small bites Mikey is now quite mobile and has learned the paths on the island to avoid further conflict.

Lil Blasty in one of the few moments not blasting squawks.

As for the other Elephant Seal Pup: named Nereo by it’s mothers namesake, but I have been referring to it as ‘Lil Blasty’ due to his extreme volume while ‘chirping’. The current theory is that Elephant Seal moms and pups learn each others vocalizations to identify each other, and regardless of the background noise present, they seem to always vocalize at the same volume.

Jocelyn’s vocalizations come in around 50-70db, where Lil Blasty is clocking in at 100-110db with his vocalizations. For reference: WCB recommends not being exposed to over 85db for prolonged times due to hearing damage. It definitely hurts to be outside when he’s shrieking.

The Beachmaster being grumpy that no one wants to mate with him.

Facility Work:

We bucked up the logs that were snagged over the last week, and got them off the boat/seal ramp. Heavy algae growth over the last 2 weeks so we’re started pressure washing the algae to keep things from getting too slipper.

DND events:

Canada’s Navy has started doing tester laps outside of Esquimalt.

Feature Event:

Mikey has learned to avoid the Beachmaster when he’s on the prowl, and decided to explore off the beaten path to avoid any conflict. We suspected he would fall off the ‘mountain’ climbed today, but displayed some remarkable manoeuvrability for a chubby little seal.

Mikey mountain-climbing.

A hallmark of the maturing pup is the wear-pattern on their chins. The chin is a key instrument for Elephant Seal locomotion: where they re-arrange their belly by lifting it up with their chin. The chin can also work to level the seals bulk up onto rocks, steps, and rough terrain.

Mikey starting to show his all-important chin patch.

Weather Events:

January means the start of some epic sunsets.

The last couple of days the temperature has dropped down to 4°C with light N winds around 10-15knots. This is log weather.

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php