I don’t think my time here has ever flown quite this fast!
Between visitors, rescue work, whales, and beautiful weather, the past month has gone by in the blink of an eye. It has been incredible and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to be able to work out here.
I know I’ll be back, but until then – here are a few of my favourite moments from October.
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
I said there would be more disentanglement photos and information to come, and today is that day.
The following post contains photos of a severely entangled and wounded sea lion so this is your warning to skip this post if you don’t want to see it…but I hope you stay because it has a happy ending.
On Sunday, Oct 20th I spotted a California sea lion with one of the worst entanglements I’ve ever seen. With tears running down my face as I photographed it, I immediately reported it to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society (VAMMR).
As I’ve mentioned before, sea lion disentanglements are tricky. You need the weather and tide to be calm, you need all teams to be available on the same day, and you need the entangled animal to stay put until that happens. Sometimes it takes weeks or even longer for this to happen.
This particular animal didn’t have weeks to wait. The monofilament gillnet was wound so tightly around his rostrum (muzzle) that he couldn’t eat. It was wrapped inside and around his mouth and embedded deeply in his neck. His poor body condition showed that he had been suffering from this entanglement for quite some time.
Within 48 hours of my initial sighting, a plan was in place. A team from VAMMR came out with two teams from DFO, as well as myself and Greg to help this sea lion. The weather was sunny and the ocean was glassy. Perfect conditions and in record timing. Best of all, our entangled lion was still on his rock.
Disentanglements can often be quick – a snip of a packing strap or fishing line, pull it off, tag it, and off they swim – but not this one. The rescue took 75 minutes from sedation to release. Once he was darted with a sedative he entered the water, requiring the teams to remove the entanglement from the boat – making it even harder. The netting was so tight that typical tools couldn’t be used and surgical scissors were required to cut it off.
I’ve worked in the marine mammal rescue field for over 6 years and this response truly left me at a loss for words. It was devastating, harrowing, and relieving all in one. Watching that sea lion swim off and haul out on a nearby rock was incredible and left everyone involved feeling like they were on cloud nine.
Since rescue, I’ve seen the sea lion almost every day on the south side of the main island and I’ve been able to watch him as he recovers. Each day he has been brighter and moved a little more, and yesterday was the first day in a week that I have not seen him. My hope is that he’s gone off to hunt now that he’s feeling better.
I only have a few days left out here so I am crossing my fingers I get to see him one more time.
I am overjoyed with how this response came together and played out. The collaboration between VAMMR, DFO, Pearson College, and BC parks was unmatched and it was such a massive undertaking for this rescue to happen so quickly and it was truly life saving.
As for today…lots of outside tasks done today (none of which beats a disentanglement so I won’t bore you).
Facility Work:
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** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
*WARNING* Today’s blog post contains photos of a severely entangled sea lion with deep wounds.
Well, if my warning wasn’t an indicator – today has not been the most fun day of animal spotting.
I came across a California sea lion this morning with by far the worst entanglement I’ve ever seen. What appears to be monofilament fishing net has wrapped itself so tight that its caused deep wounds on the back of his neck, as well as the rest of the way around. On top of that, the netting is so tightly wrapped around his muzzle that he doesn’t appear to be able to open his mouth.
Given that my full time job is in marine mammal rescue, seeing entangled animals is not new to me, I see them so often that I sometimes feel immune to how awful it is.
Today I am not immune, I am horrified.
All of the right organizations and people have been contacted and I know that every single one of those people will do everything they can to help him. I just hope he stays put until then.
There is a second entangled sea lion here as well, a Steller with a packing strap around its neck which is bad but thankfully not as severe as the Cali.
Moving on to today’s census….with the weather being so bad this weekend, I’m not surprised the numbers are down from last week!
Mammals:
Steller sea lions: 392
California sea lions: 652
Harbour seals: 41
Tons of humpbacks this week and a few transient orca stopped by the jetty yesterday in the midst of the storm!
Birds:
Gulls: 215
Cormorants: 170
Turnstones: 25
Canadian geese: 23
Oyster catchers: 2
Golden-crowned kinglet: 3
If you’ve made it this far, here is a picture of a cute little bird: See the taxonomy page at https://racerocks.ca/regulus-satrapa-golden-crowned-kinglet/
Golden-crowned kinglet. Regulus satrapa
Vessels:
Weather:
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Today felt like summer! 20 degrees, sunny, and windless, just beautiful!
The sea lions really did a number on the fence over night, a few broke right through and I had to shoo 3 of them back from various areas. There was one particular sea lion that couldn’t figure out how to get back across the fence so I lowered an entire section for him and in true Cali fashion he panicked and ran through an entirely different section and tore it all down. The fence was unplugged of course, but I swear when a sea lion’s fight or flight reflex kicks in the rest of their brain shuts off and they just flail.
Flight over fight is often their choice
There were whales for miles in every direction, so easy to see when the ocean is as glassy as it was today. T049C Neilson cruised through the reserve today, he is a 26 year old transient killer whale who typically travels alone. He also has a love for playing with buoys and crab traps – often resulting in panicked calls to DFO from people thinking he’s entangled. Not the safest hobby to take up when you’re a whale.
Overall today was rather casual, lots of time outside in the sun and an afternoon spent fixing the fence….again!
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** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
It’s census day!
This is my first time doing the census since June when we only had about 20 sea lions so this count required some focus.
Mammals:
California sea lions: 731
Steller sea lions: 422
Harbour seals: 72
Elephant seals: 2
Cetaceans: more humpback whales than I could keep track of! At least 30+
Birds:
Gulls: 579
Cormorants: 195
Canadian geese: 16
Turnstones: 12
Whimbrel: 1
Savannah sparrow: 1
Today was beautiful out, a perfect sunny Sunday!
Vessels:
Weather:
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Today felt like fall. I woke up to pouring rain and otherwise quiet morning. It seems as though the sea lions would rather be in the ocean than lay in the rain because about half of them were gone this morning.
The most vibrant rainbow I’ve ever seen!
The fence required minimal repairs which meant I could spend longer inside with my coffee. I did find one intruder – a California sea lion on the wrong side of the fence who thankfully meandered back over with a little encouragement. The contractors arrived by 8:30 to continue work on the student building, lucky for them most of their work was inside today.
The rain stopped briefly so I was able to tackle my to do list before it started up again. By mid afternoon the sun was out but the wind picked up rather fiercely.
The weather didn’t stop the humpbacks from breaching just outside the reserve, as usual there seemed to be one in every direction. I spent my evening watching them from the kitchen window as I did some baking and started a fire – truly the perfect evening!
The whales in question
The baking in question
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** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Well, it’s been a few months…but I’m back!
I arrived early this afternoon, ready to tuck into another month of living it up on the rocks. The autumn shift from 25ish sea lions to over 1000 is overwhelming, as is the smell. That being said, I love it and I honestly wish there was 1000 more (ask me if I feel the same way at the end of the month).
Sea lions galore!
Another animal that has increased in number since I left is the humpbacks. I cannot look out to the horizon and not at least 10 of them, it is breathtaking.
As I reacclimatized and walked around the island I watched as large California sea lion barrelled his way through the electric fence, stripping the wood right off the post. He then became stuck on the inside of the fence looking very confused about his situation before he tumbled back over. Thus began my first task of this trip and what I anticipate to be a task I re do multiple times a day – repairing the fence.
In other animals news, I came across 2 entangled sea lions. They are both already known to DFO and the Marine Mammal Rescue teams. I believe the Cali is actually scarring from an old entanglement whereas the Steller is still very much active. I’ll be updating the teams to let them know he is still hanging around the area.
Steller sea lion with an active entanglement
California sea lion with entanglement scarring
I also came across a gull looking a little worse for wear with a fishing lure stuck in his beak. It was still very active so not an easy one to try and help. Poor guy!
Ouch!
Well, thats about it for me today, plenty more tomorrow I’m sure!
Wildlife notes:
On Wednesday’s Census, there were 155 sea lions on Great Race Rocks. Today there are 296. They aren’t just grouping near the Jetty but on a variety of beaches, stretches of the shore line, around the fog horn and even the helicopter pad which seems quite the hike from the shore. The turnstones and surfbirds have been forced up higher on East Beach as the sea lions move in. East Beach has been a great place to observe new bird species. I wonder if the new birds will still visit this area with the sea lions there. They are calling for rain tonight and tomorrow. I look forward to this and hope it will reduce the aroma in the air.
Sea lions starting to collect on East Beach.
Sea lions on the Helicopter Pad.
The two Birthday birds photographed yesterday are now only one. Either they are still vulnerable at this age or the one has fledged. I am hoping for the latter and wish this young bird well on its journey.
There were whales in the area about a mile to the south as evidence by the collection of ecotourism vessels.
A collection of ecotourism boats presumed to be whale watching
Facility work:
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Weather:
Clear skies in the morning, partial clouds early afternoon, rain clouds in early evening. Gentle SE breeze until early afternoon, fresh SW in the early evening. Daytime temperatures: low 14, high 19.
The Race Rocks 14′ Boston Whaler boat has not been used in a while. After the elephant seals cleared the ramp for their post swim afternoon nap, I lowered the boat to the water with the electric winch. Once I made sure the motor was running properly, I took the boat out for a quick 20 minute ride, including idling to take photos and look in the binoculars. I had back up by VHF radio and cellphone in case anything went awry. Pearson’s boat Second Nature was in the area, taking alumni on tours around the Ecological Reserve. The station boat is running well. I look forward to more around the rocks tours over the coming weeks. I do need to troubleshoot the GPS/SONAR unit before I go out next. Oddly, it was working fine in the boathouse. Race Rocks would be boring if everything worked all the time.
The sea lion population continues to climb with 60 on Middle Rock and 13 on Great Race by the jetty. That is a big difference to yesterday afternoon when there were no barks or belches coming from the main island, just the occasional elephant seal bellow or sleep apnea snort.
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** All wildlife photos are taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
I will contact NOAA and DFO to report the resighting of the California sea lion with the tag 13-2. The orange tags mean the sea lion was rehabilitated. The tag on the left flipper means the sea lion is a male. I will update the log when I hear back about his history. The rest of the California and Steller sea lions are currently hauled out on Middle Rocks. Perhaps this guy needs a break from the frat party.
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** All wildlife photos are taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **