Tag Archives: branded

Saturday Census, Storm Brewing

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Weather Today: 

  • Sky intermittently foggy, clear (dark clouds blowing in from W)
  • Visibility 10-15 NM
  • Wind 25-35 Knots NW
  • Sea state: white caps, 2-3 foot chop

No visitors today. A few eco-tourism boats , 1 pleasure craft, and a large group of kayakers in the mid afternoon passed through the reserve.

Yesterday we glanced a humpback whale outside the reserve in the early morning. We have seen far fewer whales inside of the reserve as compared to last year’s fall (none!).

Census: 

  • 1 Elephant seal (GE103)
  • 16 Canada geese
  • 127 Glaucous-winged gulls
  • 633 California gulls
  • 3 Savannah sparrows
  • 2 Black turnstones
  • 1 Black oystercatcher (spotted amongst a group of gulls!)
  • 49 Brandt’s cormorants
  • 1 Sea otter
  • 19 Harbour seals
  • 511 California sea lions
  • 128 Stellar Sea lions

August 29

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Wind: W 1-26 knots
Sea State: calm in morning, rippled  in afternoon
Visibility: 10-15 NM
Sky: clear
Temperature: 13-16 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 411.60 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Many eco tourism boats passed through the ecological reserve, observing the sea lions and harbour seals.

Here are some sights from around the island today:

August 18 -More Sea Lions

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Wind: W 15-29 knots
Sea State: up to 0.5m chop
Visibility: 10-15 NM
Sky: clear in morning, partly cloudy beginning in early afternoon
Temperature: 14-19 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.58 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The groups of steller and california sea lions around the main island and on Middle Rocks have all increased in number. There were two noteworthy sea lions today. In the afternoon, I noticed a lone steller sea lion near the end of the jetty. It had a white and red flasher (fishing lure) hooked to its mouth. Unfortunately, this is a sight that is occasionally seen here. Just last week there was another steller sea lion with a pink and yellow flasher. That sea lion (branded O-19) has not been spotted since. The flashers could have had a fish hooked on the end, which was eaten by the sea lion, or the lure could have appeared to the sea lion to be a fish. The sea lion this afternoon, left the jetty when a large boat went by. A few minutes later, it appeared on Middle Rock where a group of about thirty sea lions were hauled out. I will keep an eye on this sea lion. If it stays around for a few days, it could be a candidate for a rescue from the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre.

When I spotted the sea lion with the flasher haul out on Middle Rock, I noticed a steller sea lion branded 975R. The R means it was branded at Rogue Reef, in Oregon. This animal has been seen here before. See Ecoguardian Anne Stewart’s post from April 6, 2015. The steller was branded as a pup in 2011.

There were about twenty-five eco tour boats that passed through the Ecological Reserve today, some of them repeats. They appeared to be viewing the hauled out sea lions, harbour seals and the floating in the kelp sea otter.

See the photos below for sights and happenings from today:

August 16 – Returning Sea Lions

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Wind: from NE in morning, SE in afternoon, W in evening – between 2 to16 knots
Sea State: calm in morning and rippled in afternoon
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: clear
Temperature: 16-25 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.54 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

While I have only provided the conditions for today, I did step onto the Rock just after noon yesterday. It’s great to be back, having spent the whole winter and the first few weeks of spring here. I will be here for the next two and a half weeks, 100 days shorter than my last stint.

I feel very fortunate to be a part of the amazing team of Pearson students, alumni, staff, volunteers, donors and researchers who keep this Ecological Reserve going.

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening reacquainting myself with this wonderful place, practicing how to avoid disturbing the young gulls, who blend in well with the rocks as they like to hide beside the paths and in plants.

This weekend, there have been a lot of boats (pleasure craft and eco tour boats) taking advantage of the nice weather. The only visitor to the island, other than me, was Greg, who drove me out here from Pearson and brought back Mara and Kai.

In the previous log post, on August 13, a branded sea lion with an attached flasher (fishing lure) was mentioned. The steller sea lion is branded O-19. Bryan Wright, the Marine Mammal Biometrician/Project Leader at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, gave us an update on the history of the stellar sea lion:

He was captured and branded by us (ODFW, along with WDFW) at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River on February 2, 2012.  We don’t know his exact age but he was probably 5-7 years old at the time of capture, making him 12-15 now.  He then wasn’t seen again until July 21, 2016, at Tatoosh Island off the tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.  He was then next seen back at Bonneville Dam from August-November, 2019.

Bryan also passed along an interesting article that was just published called “California Sea Lion (Zalophus Californianus) Monitoring In The Lower Columbia River, 1997–2018” (Brown et al 2020). Click here to read the abstract of the article.

See below from photos from the past two days.

Census and a Beautiful Day

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Weather: 

  • Visibility 0-10 NM (some intermittent morning/evening fog)
  • Sky clear
  • wind 25-30 knots W
  • Sea state: rippled, whitecaps
  • A steep decline in humidity today helped dry out the island after a bit of rainfall

Neat Fact: The body temperature of seals is very similar to our own! Endothermic like us, they maintain an internal temperature of 36.5-37.5 degrees Celsius.

Marine Traffic/Visitors: 

  • Greg visited today to top up island supplies before the college vessel goes for regular maintenance
  • Not many boats today- around 5 eco-tourism vessels.

Ecological Observations:

  • Elephant seal V173 was not here today. We wonder if she was just stopping for a rest or if she will be back soon.
  • There have been very large groups gulls and also black turnstones migrating through, intermingled with a few surfbirds. There were so many today that we took a photo from the lighthouse in order to count them!
  • The pigeon guillemots seem to be nesting in full force. We have spotted many carrying fish into crevices on the west side of the island near camera five and also the rock walls on the east side.
  • The seagull takeover has seemingly started to ease and moving around the island is becoming easier day by day. The chicks are beginning to be able to escape the attacks of the rival adult gulls by flapping their wings and flying/hopping away.
  • On a slightly…mushier note (stop reading if you get queasy!): Yesterday we removed the gull that was eviscerated on our back porch. We let it sit for a few days to see if an otter would come back for it or if the gulls might take a nibble (neither occurred). We were surprised by the amount of maggots that had grown in only a couple of days, presumably due to the warm and humid weather recently.
  • The sea lion population is increasing every day and they are started to climb onto the main rock. It’s almost time to put up the electric fence or we will have unwelcome house guests!
  • The geese have suddenly left this week (all but 4). Interestingly, earlier in the week we saw a flock of 17.

Census: 

  • 4 Canada geese
  • 985 Seagulls (does not include chicks)
  • 84 Harbour seals
  • 1 Male elephant seal
  • 25 Stellar sea lions
  • 19 California sea lions
  • 88 Pigeon guillemots
  • 2 Bald eagles
  • 1 Humpback whale (in the straight)
  • 1 Brandt’s cormorant
  • 12 Black oystercatchers
  • 143 Black Turnstones
  • 1 Sandpiper ((?) will update with confirmed id!)

 

 

 

Windy Windy Spring Weather

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Weather:

  • Visibility 8-10 NM
  • Sky overcast
  • Wind 35-40 knots W
  • Sea state: large swells and chop, breaking at 1m

Visitors/Marine Traffic:

  • No marine traffic today as it has been very windy
  • Greg and a technician came on Wednesday
  • Garry and a visitor came yesterday evening

Ecological: 

  • there is one elephant seal now. She spends most of her time near the fuel shed, or on the jetty near “Boris” the sea lion (with the propeller injury on his head).
  • The seagulls have been fighting quite a bit now that their population is becoming denser and space is limited. The male seagulls fight more often, and their female mates are usually nearby observing.

Sunny Days, Census

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Weather:

  • Visibility 10+ NM
  • Sky Clear, partly cloudy throughout the day
  • Wind 15-20 knots NW
  • Sea State white caps, waves up to .5 m

Visitors/Boats:

  • No visitors to the island
  • Two kayakers in the reserve yesterday- very respectful of the wildlife, well done folks!
  • One pleasure craft yesterday that drifted around the reserve for quite a while (at least an hour)
  • A few “drifting through” pleasure crafts/off shift whale watching boats sprinkled over the past two days
  • We spotted the HMCS Regina heading into Pedder Bay

Ecological:

  • We found another goose nest yesterday underneath the back steps of the main residence containing 8 eggs. We noticed that the nest near the desalination structure has been looted by seagulls and abandoned.
  • The seagulls continue to arrive and establish their nesting spots. There are roughly 50% more gulls this week.
  • Two juvenile gulls spent yesterday in the reserve. We didn’t observe them catching or eating anything.

Census:

  • 92 Harbour Seals
  • 87 Sea lions
  • 11 elephant seals
  • 8 pelagic cormorants
  • 1 double crested cormorant
  • 1 bald eagle (adult)
  • 14 Canada geese
  • 140 seagulls
  • 3 black turnstones
  • 2 black oystercatchers
  • 1 black brant goose
  • The HMCS Regina
  • A cormorant taking flight
  • A young seal waits for mom to return (1/6)
  • 2/6
  • 3/6
  • 4/6
  • 5/6
  • 6/6
  • An oyster catcher searching for snacks at low tide
  • A branded sea lion
  • The elephant seals have been soaking up the sunshine
  • A young eagle
  • Two kayakers making their way through race passage from Pedder Bay
  • Seals resting on a sunny day

Three Weaner Elephant Seal Pups

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Wind: yesterday 2-15 knots from E to N, today 3-10 knots from S to N to E
Sea State: yesterday and today rippled
Visibility: yesterday and today 15 NM
Sky: yesterday and today clear
Temperature: yesterday 5-7 °C, today 5-8 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 414.73 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The past two days have been sunny, which means the animals and scenery are very photogenic.

There was lots of activity with the elephant seal harem today. Overnight, the third mother left the island, after nursing her pup for 24 days. Her pup is now a weaner, no longer getting milk from her mother. The three mothers whose pups survived all stayed for 24 days. The last female, who’s pup died 17 days ago, left late this morning. After the male mated with her, she was either trying to get away from him or was chased down the path and out into the water by the boat ramp. The alpha male left for about an hour, perhaps to get some food. He’s been on the island the longest of any of the elephant seals. He hasn’t eaten or left the island since before the first pup was born on December 29. That’s almost as long as I’ve been here without leaving, except I eat three meals a day. The female elephant seals will most likely return to Race Rocks exactly eleven months after they left, to give birth to another pup. Stay tuned to the Log next December and January for more pupping season drama.

Now that there are no adult female elephant seals left on Race Rocks, the alpha male’s role has changed from mating with the females, to protecting the three pups that remain. The alpha male is most likely father to all of them, as he was the alpha male last year as well.

Three beta male elephant seals are still on the island. One left for about 24 hours and returned this afternoon. When he slid up the ramp onto the island, he appeared to look around to see if any females were around. Then, he headed for the oldest pup and put his mouth around it. He didn’t appear to be trying to hurt it because no blood was drawn. The pup was screaming. The alpha male came over and scared away the beta male. For the afternoon and evening, the three pups were lying in the grass about 10 m away from each other. It will be interesting to see if the pups interact with each other, as they have in previous years.

Some other interesting sights were a sea otter, two black brant geese, and a very bright Venus visible in the western sky for a few hours after sunset for each of the past three nights.

There were no visitors to the island in the past two days. Four pleasure boats and three tour boats were seen in the ecological reserve.

See below for photos from the past two days:

First Weekly Census of the Decade

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Wind: 5-21 knots N-NE
Sea State: up to 3 m waves
Visibility: 10 NM
Sky: overcast with rain
Temperature:5-11 C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.64 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The weekly census was done today, because the rain yesterday created poor visibility. This morning, it was overcast but not raining, so there was a good birds-eye view from the top of the lighthouse. Some species that were not last week are a whimbrel, snow bunting and another female elephant seal. The new seal looks pregnant, so there might be another pup very soon. She has moved into a spot on the grass between the desalinator building and the flagpole. That’s a great place for me to watch from the house, which is just 20m away. Last year, the three pups were born between January 4 and January 20.

I heard back from a sea lion researcher about the branded sea lions that were seen on Race Rocks a two days ago. Bryan, from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, let me know about some of the places where the sea lions have been:
California X282: branded at Astoria (Oregon) on Feb 25, 2016 and resighted in Oregon and at San Miguel Island, CA in 2016-2017.
California X392: branded at Astoria on March 8, 2016 and resighted in Oregon and at San Miguel Island in 2016.
California X501: branded at Astoria on May 24, 2016 and resighted in Oregon fall of 2016.
California 1-59: braded at Bonneville Dam (near Portland, Oregon on the Columbia River)on May 19, 2015 and resighted at Astoria and Bonneville through 2017.

The only boats seen in the ecological reserve were two eco tour boats and two kayakers.

January 3 census results:

6 elephant seals (2 females, 3 males, 1 pup)
223 steller sea lions
291 california sea lions
30 harbour seals
21 bald eagles (13 adults and 8 juveniles)
1 raven
103 brandt’s cormorants
16 double-crested cormorants
17 pelagic cormorants
264 gulls (most of them appeared to be thayer’s gulls)
36 black oystercatchers
18 harlequin ducks
1 whimbrel
15 surfbirds
28 black turnstones
1 snow bunting

Blowing a Hooley

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Wind: Yesterday 5-35 knots N to W; Today 25-35 knots W with gust of 44 knots
Sea State: up to 2.5 m waves
Visibility: 5-10 NM
Sky: overcast with clear patches today
Temperature: 7-12 C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.20 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The forecasted gale warning materialized right on time on Tuesday evening. Overnight and throughout today, the westerly winds were between 25 to 35 knots with gusts as strong as 44 knots. There are lots of whistles and creaks in the 1960’s house. The storm also showed a few leaks in the various outbuildings. The strong winds brought clear skies and slightly warmer temperatures. For most of the day, rainbows were visible to the north, between Rocky Point and Victoria.

Yesterday, even though it was stormy, several hours were spent working outside on various maintenance and month end tasks around the island, which was made easier due to the animals and birds being less spread out as they hunkered down out of the wind.

Today, four branded sea lions were recorded and reported to researchers, who study sea lion ranges and lifespans.

The island’s population of elephant seals is currently at seven. One recently came back from a solo retreat on the West Rocks. The four non dominant males appear to be keeping their distance from each other at cardinal points of the island. The alpha male is hanging out in the middle of the island with the mother and pup. This morning, two of the beta males had fresh wounds on their backs, suggesting a possible disagreement with each other overnight. The elephant seal pup is continuing to nurse. Pups gain a whopping 4.5 kg per day from their 35 kg birth weight. Between all those pounds the pup is packing on and the rain, no wonder its coat is looking less wrinkled.