Tag Archives: california sea lion

What’s your number?

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It was a day without fog at Race Rocks and as the westerlies continue, some serious clouds can be seen piling up on far horizons. The barometer rose all day, which bodes well for tomorrow but there may be a few needed showers.

It was a busy day on the water with 26 whale watching boats visiting the reserve. From the expressions on the tourists’ faces, they seemed to enjoy watching the sea lions. All the skippers were respectful except for two travelling together who did not heed the go-slow zone.

There were so many recreational fishing boats that I could only keep track of the ones who were in contravention of the DFO Rockfish Conservation Area closure which runs around the reserve at a 40m depth. Many of those fishing inside the boundary were in rental boats but some of the other speed boats were doing what they do best…speeding. The Pedder Bay Marina is really good about talking to folks who rent from them and informing them about the conservation area.

I looked for tagged and branded sea lions again today and can report another nine California Sea Lions and four Stellers’ Sea Lions bringing the total number of branded individuals sighted up to 29. Eventually we will know a bit more about their stories from those numbers they carry. There are also two Stellers with neck rings cutting into their flesh and one with a flasher hanging out of its’ mouth. There are individual Harbour Seals, as well as both species of sea lions with major wounds. Speaking of wounds, there were two new, (to me), very small Elephant Seals on the ramp today, probably young of the year, judging from the size.

A few Pigeon Guillemots are still carrying into fish into the large boulder area by the jetty. The chicks must leave for sea at night as I haven’t seen any on the water and most are probably fledged by now. Each day, there are more Pelagic and Double Crested Cormorants roosting on the southwest side of the island.

The desalinator worked for a couple of hours during the sunshine today, making fresh water thanks to the solar panels.

Month end inventory was conducted today with measurements taken of all the fuel, fresh water, and equipment run times recorded.

My other task was to try and stake out a small territory on the jetty so that I can come and go and do the sampling. The elephant seals are no problem, they just sleep as you pass, or open one eye. Keeping the more belligerent California sea lions off the jetty seems to be a losing battle and has made getting out to the end of the jetty to sample seawater, extra challenging.

Angry birds

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Clear skies. Moderate to strong West wind. Force 5.
The barometer has levelled out around 1007.0 hPa. The forecast is for the moderate to strong West winds to continue.
Big tides and currents these past few days: Low tide is 0.3m and high tide is 2.3m today, and the current is running -6.1kn and +5.6kn.

17 tour boats
6 recreational boats
3 boats fishing on the edge of the reserve

There could be two Cackling geese on the island, or it might just be two small, scruffy Canada Geese, it’s pretty hard to tell. I saw a Canada goose attack a Gull today and break the Gulls wing. I also saw a Gull chase a Canada Goose away from its nest. Lots of antagonistic birds with all this nesting. Judging by the disaster that I have to wash off the solar panels every day, the Gulls are capitalizing on these low tides and catching lots of small fish. I find entire fish skeletons and lots of scales among all the poop on the solar panels. The Elephant seals spent most of the day in the water by the jetty. There are 5 super fat and healthy-looking California Sea lions hanging out on/making a mess of the jetty. I saw the river otter sneak up from the water by the crane and hang out under the crane deck. I think it has a hole/home somewhere under the walkway between the crane deck and the tank shed. I have only ever seen a single otter, but I wonder if it is two and I just never see them together.

I will go as far to say that two recreational fishing boats almost wrecked on the South seal rocks today, but they probably don’t even know how close they came to doom. Two rental boats from Pedder Bay marina came ripping East to West between Great Race and the South seal rocks (which is about a 30m gap). It was pretty close to max flood with the water moving at about 5kn. By sheer luck, they both made it past the rock slab of the South Seal rocks, but I heard one of the boats bottom out on a rock turning around the South-West corner of great race. Thankfully that made him turn away from Great Race because he was headed straight for a very shallow, very sold rock that sits just below the surface. I reported it to the Pedder Bay Marina since they have asked that we contact them when their rental boats are in the reserve. Boating tip from Race Rocks: if there is a patch of ocean that looks like a river, with standing waves and whirlpools, go around it not through it.

-started spring cleaning the Keeper’s house
-pulled nails and tacks from walls, puttied, and did some paint touch ups in the Keeper’s house
-painted upstairs door frames in Keeper’s house

Animal Census

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Clear skies, variable light to no wind. Force 0.
Barometer is falling. Forecast is for light to moderate Easterlies.

9 tour boats
2 recreational fishing boats passed through

Animal Census
Steller Sea lion: 24
California Sea lion: 8
Elephant Seal:30
Harbour Seal: 111
Eagle: 3
Canada Goose: 39 adults, 8 goslings
Gull: 180
Oyster Catcher: 10
White Fronted Goose: 1
Pigeon Guillemots: 34

This is the highest number of Elephant seals we have ever counted in the reserve. This morning there were 2 juvenile eagles, and one adult. I have found 3 Oyster Catcher nests: one by the Keeper’s House, one on the bluff West of the jetty, and one on the rocks by the energy building. The Cackling goose is gone. I took the boat past the West bluffs yesterday on my way home and there is no sign of Pigeon Guillemot nesting yet.

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Sea Lion Notes from Race Rocks

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ER Warden’s Report by G. Fletcher.

On December 28, 2013  I was out at Race Rocks doing the Christmas Bird Count. While there I made several observations concerning the Northern and California Sea lions. There are only a few California sea lions left after the heavy influx of the fall. The number of Northerns on the South island is still fairly high ( over 100)

sealionhouse On the  November 28 log there were still 479 Stellars and 555 Californias. This image taken in the fall, shows how much they came up near the houses where there wasn’t an electric fence to repel them:

The vegetation of the areas on both sides of the island were heavily impacted by the sea lions this fall.  In the following images those areas that are now brown are  normally green.

sealionhauloutarea

North East of Ecoguardian’s residence

2013-12-28sealionsoilm

South of the Marine Education House

I observed from the tower an unusual behaviour shown in the image below. It is not unusual in that the California Sea Lions are rafting. What is unusual is that Northern sea lions flank them on both sides without having their fins raised out of the water.

2013-12-28raftsealionm

Be sure to click for a large image of sea lion rafting

 

Photos from the past of couple weeks

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visitors

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Light winds. Clear skies.
Two Eagles this morning.
The Canada Geese have all left the reserve.
There are two elephant seals on the boat ramp.
 

Jamieson and Jer are out for the night
-Worked on SOPs
-Replaced boat ratchet winch
-Put the rest of the paving stones on the boat dolly

 

Sea Lions

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Sea lions on West Rock

Sea lions on West Rock

The sea lions have been switching their haul-outs lately.  Some days there have been almost no sea lions visible on the rocks.  Recently i have been seeing them on West rock (above) which is not usual in my observations.

fishboat

Most fishing boats pass by on the outside of the reserve but this one took the scenic route.  Sea lions in the background on middle rock and one of the male elephant seals on the top of the rock.

CaliforniaLion

California sea lion

There is one California sea lion that I have been seeing occasionally, it seems to keep to itself.

 

The Latest News

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As observed with the Horned Larks last week, the southward migration of birds has begun. I was lucky enough to spot this Long-billed Dowitcher searching for food in the tufts of grass.

An unusual Long-billed Dowitcher in early winter plumage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another visitor the the reserve was a small pod of transient orca who created a scare surrounding some sea lions in the kelp bed. The orca thought otherwise of hunting the big carnivores in the tangle of the kelp bed and moved off toward William Head.

If you look close you can see a second small gray fin of a baby or juvenile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sea Lions continue to dominate the environment. I had let them have their way and they surrounded the house and covered the yard. Eventually it became too much and I employed the electric fence to reclaim some territory.

The front yard became a popular haul-out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expressive vibrissae – Californian

Random Encounters

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A number of infrequent avian visitors have been popping by for a visit, or more likely a rest on their northward migrations. Two days ago a Greater White-fronted goose (Anser albifrons) spent the night, and the next night a Black Brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) had replaced it. The black brand stayed two days and fed vigorously the whole time. I just discovered how rare these birds are with only 115,000 in the world.

I have noticed several pairs of Wandering Tattlers (Tringa incana) in the least few days

And another favourite the Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)

Finally, the California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus) have begun to arrive.

Plane disruption

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I managed to snap a picture of the plane as it headed W and then into Beecher Bay and it appears to be the same plane reported on Oct. 18. This time the plane dive bombed the island directly over the Main Keeper’s house and was only a couple hundred feet above sea level.Several California sea lions and the majority of the seabirds were disrupted and took flight or to the water.11:29:05