Tag Archives: california sea lion

Shift Changeover

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Wind: 0-20 knots NE
Sea State: 0.5 m chop
Visibility: 15+ NM
Sky: overcast clearing to sun in the late morning
Temperature: 8 C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.73 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Yesterday, Laas’ shift ended after being on Race Rocks for the past two and half months and a big chunk of the past two and a half years. I came out to the island at noon on Second Nature with Guy, Corey, two students, a family visiting the college and a friend of Laas. It was great to share in the excitement of all on the boat. I also appreciated their help carrying my many bins of food. I always get excited when the boat rounds the corner out of Pedder Bay and the lighthouse comes into view. The cacuphony of seal lion barks and belches was overwhelming when the boat pulled up to the jetty. Thanks for the great welcome home, my pinniped pals. I had a run through of the energy systems with Laas, Guy and Corey, as the equipment has changed completely since I was here almost five years ago. It’s great to be back on the Rock. Thank you Laas for leaving the place so tidy. Best of luck on your new adventures.

After the group left, I climbed the 99 steps inside the lighthouse to get a bird’s-eye view of the island. I spend the rest of the day reacquainting myself with the place and unpacking. I welcomed the slow down, as I settled into the island that I will call home for the season, watching the changes as the days become longer. I will be here for all of winter and depart soon after the vernal equinox.

Today, I continued to check out more places and do the regular tasks like monitor the energy levels, wash the solar panels, turn the composting toilet and sample the salinity and temperature of the water at high tide. On one trip up the lighthouse, I counted 336 sea lions on the rocks. There are also six elephant seals on the main island: three large males spaced apart from each other, one pregnant looking female in the centre of the island and two juvenile males.

Approaching Race Rocks

Waving goodbye

Lighthouse and elephant seals

Climbing to the top of the lighthouse

A bird’s-eye view

Solar Panels charging the batteries on a sunny day

Elephant seals

Sunset from halfway up the lighthouse

Sunset over the Olympic Peninsula

 

sick California sea lion

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Yesterday I spotted this sea lion when I was clearing the jetty

Today he looks worse. He is lethargic and thin. He does not ambulate normally. I did contact the marine mammal vet but I am not hopeful there is anything to be done. I am wondering about the diagnosis. Is there such a thing as a fractured baculum? I noticed online that genital cancer is a diagnosis in marine mammals.

There are over 1000 sea lions here and most look amazingly robust. it is expected that there will be disease and I noticed on this blog that many pictures of ill animals are posted. As this is my first time coming to stay here I was overwhelmed by the many many posts of sick, injured and neck banded sea lions. It is heart breaking but now that I am here and wrestling daily with the feisty beasts I am relieved that the posts, although necessary, certainly do not represent the majority! That is why I have added a sunset picture!

 

 

 

 

 

A Quiet Week

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Weather: 

  • Sky blue, a few clouds
  • Visibility 15+ miles (less fog lately)
  • Wind 20-30 knots W
  • Water choppy, waves to .5 m, whitecaps

Boats/Visitors:

  • No visitors to the island since Greg delivered water on Monday. We were happy to have a few guests of the college also stop in for a visit at the same time.
  • Lately there have been quite a few eco-tourism vessels (20+ each day). The noise from the vessels is continuous and can be felt as a low vibration even inside the house. We have seen the odd private pleasure craft as well but they are typically smaller and move more slowly.

Ecological: 

  • The seagulls are growing more and more! The chicks have started to flap their wings into the wind, and wading into the water near the jetty. The adults seem to be attacking the young less frequently as they get bigger, but we still spot the odd deceased chick. Today we saw an adult gull swallow an unlucky chick whole.
  • The oyster catcher chicks have begun flying! They are able to cross the short distance between the jetty and the nearby rocks.
  • There are only two moulting male elephant seals on the island now. They look like they will likely leave soon, as their peeling of skin and fur is nearly done.
  • Earlier this week we saw orcas in the reserve, making twice in the past week and a half.
  • There have been a handful of seal pups and their moms resting in the shallower intertidal on the SE side of the island (also many seals on rosedale rock)
  • There has been a slow increase in sea lions hauling out onto west and middle rock. They occasionally stop on the jetty at a higher tide, or the rocks nearby.

 

Marine Mammals of Race Rocks

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A slide show by Ron Bellamy of Sooke August 2018

Seagull chicks growing and adult seagulls less aggressive

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-35 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: 1-2m waves, white caps
  • Some fog this morning to the south

Birds

  • The early seagull chicks have grown a lot, and are currently 2/3 the size of the adults.
  • Today was the first day the seagulls seemed to be (relatively) less aggressive – not sure if it was because of the strong wind or the fact that the chicks can now move themselves to safety.

Marine mammals

  • The californian sea lion that was earlier seen near the guest house, has returned there.
  • Saw a female elephant seal on the island after a while. That makes 3 males and 1 female on the island
  • I think there are more than 2 harbour seal pups near the island, although I haven’t been able to confirm yet. Attached is a picture.

Census and an odd sea lion

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Partly cloudy/overcast
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Quite a few ecotour boats in the area today, especially in Race Passage

Bird Notes

  • The first set of seagull chicks are growing fast – one of the first things to develop are long legs. I spotted some of them flapping their wings in imitation of the adults, but they are still a long way from flying.

Mammal Notes

  • A lone sea lion made it all the way up on the main island until the guest residence! It would get aggressive if I got even slightly close to it. I first thought it might be injured, but I saw no scars or bleeding anywhere.

Census

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 3
    • Female = 0
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 1
    • Steller = 0
  • Seagulls = 350 adults, ~70 babies (hard to estimate)
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 60
  • Eagles = 4
  • Oystercatchers = 8 adults, 4 babies (haven’t spotted any new chicks since last week)
  • Harbour Seals = 50
  • Geese = 3

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: clear, 15 miles throughout the day
  • Wind: ranging from 9-22 knots throughout the day
  • Sky: overcast for most of the day
  • Water: calm, a bit choppy at times

Boats/Visitors

  • Didn’t notice much boat traffic today aside from the usual busy commercial freighters
  • No visitors today

Ecological

  • More failed mating attempts by the young male elephant seals with the one female on the island.

Census

  • Cormorants – 90
  • Gulls – 275
  • Elephant Seals – 6  (3 adolescent males, 1 adult male, 1 adult female and 1 pup)
  • California Sea Lions – 120
  • Stellar Seal Lions – 93
  • Black Turnstones – 10
  • Canada Geese – 4
  • Bald Eagles – 7

    Three males surround the single female currently on the island