Tag Archives: california sea lion

Seawatch Part 2

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Since the fog was staying away, Daniel Donnecke and I decided to have another go at a seawatch today, Daniel at Beechey Head and me at Race Rocks.  From my perspective, this one worked out much better, but we still were not seeing many of the same birds.  The exception, though, was a large group of (mostly) California Gulls that lifted off shortly after our start time of 6:30.  Like  yesterday, there were hundreds of gulls feeding just off Race Rocks. Although there was still krill in the area, there were also small fish that you could occasionally see glinting in their bills.  I was also watching a large barge of logs being towed towards Puget Sound.

It wasn’t clear what put them up, or whether there was just a signal that it was time to go.  Some headed to a bait ball to the east while several hundred headed east towards Beechy Head where Daniel saw them coming in.

Ecological Notes:

1 Elephant Seal

80 Harbour Seal

California Sea Lion

Steller’s Sea Lion

Several bird firsts for me for the week.

11 Canada Goose

7 Black Oystercatcher (including one juvenile)

Baby Black Oystercatcher

Still under its parent’s watchful eye

1 Killdeer

45 Black Turnstone

55 Common Murre

80 Pigeon Guillemot – many carrying gunnels

2 Marbled Murrelet

1 Cassin’s Auklet

14 Rhinoceros Auklet

500 California Gull (probably a gross underestimation)

400 Glaucous-winged Gull (not an increase, but a more accurate count today)

1 Herring Gull

4 Heerman’s Gull

1000 more unidentified gull feeding on krill and small fish.

1 Bald Eagle – perched on middle islands. First raptor of the week for me

1 Song Sparrow

1 Brown-headed Cowbird – First passerine I saw during my stay.

Facility Work: cleaned windows and solar panels.

Vessel Traffic: lots of traffic in the shipping lanes including large barge of logs

Barge of logs

Steady stream of ecotourism vehicles starting mid-morning, but fewer than yesterday. 10+

Weather – Current: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Elephant Seal Bubbles

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This was my first full day at Race Rocks and it started with a fog check at 5 am. One of the volunteers from nearby Rocky Point Bird Observatory was interested in doing a simultaneous comparative seawatch from Beechey Head and Race Rocks to determine if the birds leaving Beechey also passed Race, and if so, how long it took.  The weather was clear, and the challenge was on!  But there was a glitch.  Nothing was passing Race Rocks, as there was a sea full of krill and to the west. I climbed the tower to do my watch, and found about 600 California Gulls already in the reserve picking at the krill near the water’s surface. The few alcids that made it here during the one hour watch (from 6:30-7:30) quickly set down rather than flying through. Most (if not all) of the birds Daniel counted at Beechey Head were not counted here.  We’ll try again.

Regurgitated krill

On a more entertaining note, the Elephant Seal went for a stroll today, all the way to the dock. I looked out the window at about 12:30, and there he wasn’t.  I ran out to see if he was really gone. Whew! Not yet!

He was working his way to the dock.

And eventually got to the water’s edge where he proceeded to stick his face in the water and blow bubbles. How exciting!! If you’d like to see some videos of this event, click here. (By the way, I am using a 600mm lens and keeping my distance!)

I was thrilled!  I thought it meant that he was on his way and could start eating again. Several wildlife watching vessels came by and were delighted to see him.  But apparently, this is a daily sojourn for him. Sure enough, as Greg Dickinson predicted, he returned to his resting spot after his trip to the beach!  Looks like he’s not done yet.

Ecological Notes:

1 Humpback Whale

Distant Humpback

1 Elephant Seal

6+ California Sea Lion

15+ Steller Sea Lion

80+ Harbour Seal

1 Feral Pigeon (Rock Pigeon) flew over while I was washing windows

1 Anna’s Hummingbird

2 Killdeer

6 Black Oystercatcher

It’s difficult to hide with a bright orange bill.

25 Black Turnstone

5 Least Sandpiper

18 Common Murre

80 Pigeon Guillemot

4 Rhinoceros Auklet

600 California Gull (feeding on krill at first light)

200 Glaucous-winged Gull

1 Heermann’s Gull

3 Pelagic Cormorant

4 Double-crested Cormorant

Facility Work: Washed all the windows and solar panels

Vessel Traffic: Eco-tourism boats all day, sometimes as many as 3 in the reserve at once. Estimate about 20 vessels. Only saw one private fishing boat in the reserve.

 Weather – Current: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Animal Census-July 28, 2021

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Weather: west wind 15 knots, fog cleared by 8 a.m. visibility good

Tide .8 m at 12 noon

Elephant Seal 1 male, 1 female
Orcas 4
Seals 68 (13 pups?) on south and south seal rocks
Sea Lions both Stellar and California 60 on middle and west rocks
Gulls

While I was counting these gulls there were 2 “feeding flocks” just off the island with about 1000 gulls so there may have been fewer gulls on the islands than usual
660 on rocks below generator shed western and glaucous winged gulllls
110 on island “nesting” mostly glaucous winged gulls but several western/hybrid gullls nesting as well
estimate of between 80 and 150 chicks

Cormorants 14
Pigeon Guillemots 56
Surfbirds 8
Black turnstones 58
Black Oystercatcher 18? they are hard to count as they move around so much 1 new chick!

Bald Eagle 1

Western sand piper 4

can you identify this bird? red knot ?

Desalinator and Ramp

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Ecological Notes:

  • 1 Male Elephant seal, and 1 young Female Elephant seal on the island
  • Transient Orca passed the entrance to Pedder Bay and Bentinck Island. 4 or 5 humpbacks seen well south of the reserve as well.
  • The young Steller Sealion, joined 4 Adult Steller Sealions and 1 California Sealion out on Middle Rock today. This could be the start of the early returns to the reserve.

“nah ….. you didn’t need to pump right now!”

Visitors:

  • The Waterfront Coordinator brought 2 contractors out today, 1 for completing the service on the Desalinator, and 1 to do some installs on the jetty.

Facility Work:

  • The Desalinator is up and running! We produced 800L of fresh water today as it was given a long run to test all the connections and fittings.

    Desalinator Concentrate Discharge

  • New ramp and ladder were installed on the jetty.

DND events:

  • 2 blasts early in the morning.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 4 Ecotourism vessels sightseeing.

Other Event:

  • CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier vessel tending the V15 Marker.

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds, 30-35 knots all day. Choppy seas, .5 to 1 meter height. Clear skies with slight haze forming in the evening.

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Sea Otter Viewing

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Ecological Notes:

  • 7 Elephant Seals on the grass, including 2 “pups” from this season
  • Spotting from the rear deck of the house, I noted the single Sea Otter in the Kelp bed off the East end of the island . Took a quick picture from the deck, and then headed to the north shore, to follow along the rock edge to get a better vantage point …… took the long way around to avoid the Oyster Catcher nest posted yesterday

From the back deck 600mm

From the shoreline

  • Did you know? California Sea Lions get gray fur on the top of their head, as well as their chin when they grow old? Eventually, their backs too!

Old Gentleman

Enjoying the sun

 

Facility Work:

  • Window cleaning, wood stacking, setting up science building for guests

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds all day at 10 – 15 knots, fog in morning and evening, sunny during the day

 

** All photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Elephant Seal Galumphing

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Ecological Notes:

  • As of yesterday, it appears one Female elephant seal has left the island. This leaves what appears to be 4 adult females, 1 juvenile male, and 1 each male and female “pups” (they’re getting pretty big!)
  • Lots of swimming in the sunshine, and a lot more energy as they finish their molts. sample of  Elephant Seal Galumphing …….
  • California Sea lion, thermo-regulating by holding their flippers out of the water.

Thermo-regulating

Facility Work:

  • Not enough rainwater to pressure wash, so more firewood, repairs, paint prep and first coats (before photos, watch for follow ups)

 

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Photo tour boat, proper passes
  • 2 Private boats, center channel

Weather Events:

  • light westerly winds, increasing to 20 knots late afternoon, calm sees and full visibility

 

** All photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Surface Temperature and Salinity

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6 female Elephant Seals
  • Elephant Seal pups: Only 2 pups on land

Packing tight to preserve heat!

  • lots of nest building by the Gulls and Oyster Catchers

Checking out a good spot

Bringing the goods!

 

Black Oyster Catcher

Facility Work:

  • Continuing the fine work done by the previous Eco Guardians, more scrubbing and pressure washing

Feature event:

  • Daily Water Sampling – Taken each day and reported monthly to The Institute of Ocean Sciences

Waiting for the pier to clear ….

The peanut gallery …

All photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail!

 

Weather Events:

  • Cloud coverage, light drizzle, and Calm Seas

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

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Animal Tracking and Injuries: California sea lion with ring around neck.
Elephant seal pups:4
Visitors:3
Pearson College topped up water tank today.
Facility Work replace stairs on keepers house spray off green from house.
Vessel Traffic 5 pleasure boats Second Nature crew boat water transport 4 Eco tour boats.
Weather Events:Flat water light wind
Weather– Current: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72
Weather–Past:  http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?id=72
 

Census February 28, 2021

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The island is busy with activity.  Spring is seeing a rise in the bird population. California sea lions are back after the snow has melted. Here is the census:

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion 79
  • Harbour seal 75
  • California 62
  • Elephant seal male 2
  • Elephant seal female 1
  • Elephant seal pup 4
  • Sea otter 1

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult 2
  • Bald eagle juvenile 6
  • Turnstones 18
  • Killdeer 0
  • Gulls 84
  • Cormorants 665
  • Pigeon guillemots 54
  • Oyster catcher 6
  • Canadian geese 6
  • Harlequin 9

Snow and high winds at Race Rocks today

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Snowy Race Rocks from the lighthouse.

Weather:

Well we got the same dump of snow on February 13th that hit Victoria, arriving with some 40-50 knot outflow winds blowing the crunchy snow all over the place. Estimated about 10cm of snow, but due to the high winds it was moving around lots.

Visitors/Traffic:

No visitors in the last week besides the future Eco-Guardians coming out to do some training. The weather has been consistently >30 knots from Febryary 10th onwards.

Ecological Notes:

With the heavy winds and snowfall the California Sea Lion numbers have been reduced, we thought just for a night or two but the numbers haven’t returned as the snow melts and winds die down. We had 1 California on the jetty looking very sick and emaciated; and one on the South side of the lighthouse with a neckband bleeding pretty heavily.

California Sea Lion with a nasty looking neck-band.

The Stellers have come back once the snowfall stopped, but weren’t around during the peak snowfall days.

On February 13th we spotted 4 Southern Resident Orca’s cruising their way around the South side of the lighthouse. Talking with local experts it sounds like it was members of J-pod due to local hydrophone recordings.

Elephant Seal update:

On February 11th another pup was weaned and his mom left. This is our 4th pup to be weaned this season, with one still nursing.

Snuggles got buried into his own little snow bank.

Our last female on the island, Jolene provided a wall to protect her pup from the blasting snowflakes.

Our oldest pup Cheermeister got bit on the head the night of February 7th, and retreated to the front door of the Eco-Guardian house. We thought his bite marks didn’t look that bad despite the amount of blood, but the wound never seemed to clot and may have been much deeper than it initially looked. Cheermeister died the morning of February 11th, and further inspection showed he had 2 deep bites from one of the adult male elephant seals; we assume Jafar the non-Beachmaster hanging out on the island.

Cheermeister post head wound.

The head wound turned out to be fatal. Pretty crazy to see how much damage they can handle, but the wrong bite in the wrong spot can be enough to kill them.

The photos of the seals make them look all cute and cuddly, but they’re actually all over 150kg (330lbs). If it weren’t for the slippery snow he would have been much harder to move.

It’s an interesting thing getting to live in such close proximity to wild animals. You don’t want to interfere in their lives, and sometimes that means watching things that make your stomach churn. Other times things happen and you don’t really know why, and are just left wondering. We are very grateful for our time on Race Rocks, getting to watch these pups be born, grow, and explore the island. Each birth is a celebration of the resiliency of these animals, making their comeback from near extinction.

I love seeing these fat pups slipping around in the snow!

Jellybean and Sebastian have officially ‘podded up’ and are exploring the island together. Too much cuteness.

To offset the sadness of Cheery’s death, here’s a Elephant Seal pup’s tail. They’re possibly the most adorable part of the seal.

February Sunsets lighting up the sky!