It’s the last day of 2024 and we are finishing it with a bang!
This morning I spotted an imposter among the sea lions near the jetty…a northern fur seal!
You may be wondering why thats significant, and its because this is the first northern fur seal documented on Race Rocks in 44 years! Northern fur seals are a pelagic species, meaning they live offshore and are not seen near the coast.
Occasionally they have been sighted in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the young or sick ones have stranded along the coast in previous years. However, a healthy adult male hauled out in front of the house here? Very rare! So rare that it hasn’t been seen since 1980 which I still haven’t quite wrapped my head around.
He’s been in and out of the water throughout the day, lots of grooming (they have a fur coat similar to that of a sea otter), and even nipped at a few California sea lions. I’m looking forward to seeing if he sticks around!
Speaking of sea otters, Ollie is also back! After spending the past few months near William Head, I saw him on the South side of the island early this morning. I’m hoping to see more of him before I leave.
It appears not all of the humpbacks have gotten the memo that they should be somewhere warm, cozy, and tropical by now. I saw about 7 in total today which was a very nice surprise.
As for the rest of the animals around here its been status quo. Still no elephant seals but I’m not giving up hope yet. Doing my best to manifest one (or ten) arriving before I leave.
Happy New Year!!
This link will take you to all the recent Race Rocks logs with images and references to Birds. The links below are for the individual species from the Race Rocks Logs and other photographers.
