Misery and Slash are still co-habitating on the Island these days, although Slash is definitely filling the alpha male role. It ”s quite interesting, as Misery is very aware that he is not the dominant one and may often be observed scooting down a path or taking the long way into the water in order to avoid a confrontation with Slash. More and more seagull nests are hatching every day. This week I ‘ve been noticing two or three per day. The ones that hatched first are now getting quite big! There are still oystercatcher babies over by the jetty, and they too are getting large. Along the baby line, I ”ve been noticing a number of baby harbour seals around the rocks. We ”re in prime pupping season for them now.’, ‘adam’, ’22:13:15 ,
Tag Archives: chick
Black Oystercatcher nests
-110, ‘2010-06-21’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘As we officially kick off summer, I thought I ”d give a bit of an update on life on the island right now. The black oystercatcher chicks have hatched in the nest up beside the jetty and down off the tank room! While outside doing some cleanup yesterday morning, I spotted at least one chick, and I suspect there may be more, as there were three eggs in total. This hatching brings some relief, as all of us were quite worried about this nest. Mother oystercatcher had not been spending as much time on her nest as she should have, what with the high traffic transiting the area. However, last week I cordoned off the area with large ropes and she settled down a lot, just in time for the hatching. I also set up camera 3 beside the nest; it can be viewed at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/video3.htm. I apologize in advance for the moisture on the lens; we ”ve had some high winds and rain over the last day and it has become a bit dirty. At this point though, I ”m a bit apprehensive to get close and clean it, as it ”s really only a foot away from the nest. There are at least two other nests on the island with chicks; one in the surge channel facing the southeast, and one in the channel facing the southwest. In other news, Bertha has decided to make a reappearance on the island after a few days off in the water somewhere. She is hauled up in her favourite spot behind the tank room. Her bad eye is looking worse than ever, and is dripping quite a lot of serum. #4252 is up beside the base of the lighthouse, on the side adjacent to the desalinator bunker, and seems to be enjoying the shelter of the long grasses. Misery is up around the science house somewhere. From the house this morning, I also noticed a possibly fourth, middle-aged, female elephant seal making her way up from the boat ramp -it may have been Bertha though, it ”s hard to tell). Yesterday, three harlequin ducks were spotted in the southeast surge channel, sitting contentedly on rocks. There appeared to be two males and one female. I took some pictures yesterday, but am not sure if they turned out because of the distance. Check on my Flickr site later: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamharding/. Most seagulls have now settled down into their nests, with a few still mating. Nest numbers seem to be down from this time last year. Enjoy the solstice!’, ‘adam’, ’07:57:59 ,
Elephant seal intrigue
Black Oystercatchers are the species of the day with the first chicks sighted in the nest to the E of the Main Keeper’s house. Camera 1 will just be able to make them out if they stay put. Another nest was discovered directly behind tank #1 that is a “limited-time only” infrastructure feature on the island. 3 nests with eggs:3,2,3 (now 2+chicks,2,3), 2 brooding pairs with undiscovered nests, and 2 pairs with overlapping feeding territories but no suspected nest sites.
Elephant Seal: 3
An eventful day for the elephant seals. More sunlight and less wind than we’ve been used to this spring brought all three Elephant Seals on Great Race down to the water… but not before Misery had a go at mounting Bertha. She escaped up the “steep” path to the grass on top of the foundation left from the original keeper’s house. Bertha then slipped past the sleeping Misery and lay on the ramp right at the water line in the shade but not in the water. Misery woke and detected the deception and came barreling down the path and boat ramp. Bertha took off through the water like a startled harbour seal, moving closer to the hauled-out California sea lions. She did not come back on land until dark. After all his effort, Misery followed just until he was in the water and took to splashing water back across his body which both trickled and steamed off his late winter coat. Once refreshed, he moved further into the water, floating and steaming in the warm sunshine. Seeing/smelling Bertha in deeper waters, he followed her only to have her swim even further away. El seal tagged#4252 was already in the water and Misery soon sensed her and tried to pin her against the rocks in the shallow sea lion haul-out, but she snapped at him and also swam to deeper waters. Just before sunset, Misery returned to land, trumpeting in the shallows. Looking at records (and noting how much girth Misery has put on lately), the habitat use of our two adult bull elephant seals is very different. Misery: showed up for the ‘season’ first in October, was back before Slash showed up for the pupping season, stayed longer through the breeding season, and is now here moulting (as he did this time last year). His moult is delayed 1-2 weeks compared to last year. That all said, Misery has grown significantly this season after spending much of the last 6 months here at Race Rocks, while our dominant bull spends much greater times away before returning with added mass.
More solar panels installed
Orcas were spotted along the boundary of the reserve at several points throughout the day today.Our little friend the injured elephant seal has not been seen for several days now. However, the other young seal, possibly a male, was hauled up on the jetty last night.The number of sea lions continues to grow, as does the reach of their haul outs. A particularly stubborn and rather aggressive fellow was inhabiting the jetty this afternoon.Seagull chicks are beginning to lift off. Unfortunately, many are being found to have met their demise at the hands of the river otter which seems to frequent the island regularly these days.Two contractors from Home Energy Solutions in Victoria were here today to install new solar panels. Adam, 22:41:06.
Seagull chicks starting to lift off ground
The baby elephant seal is present outside the concrete pad again today. Its back is covered in small wounds and every move it takes seems to be an effort. It spent all day sleeping beside the jetty. Wondering if it is sick or in poor health..The number of sea lions (both stellar and California) is growing daily. Most are hauled out on the NE corner of Gr. Race and on Middle Rock. Some are also on the southern rocks as well. A flock of four Canada Geese was present on the island for a few hours this morning. Seagull chicks are still growing, with many spreading their wings and starting to lift off from the ground. Carcasses in various stages of decomposition have been found scattered across the island this week, with two new ones beside the cistern spotted yesterday. Slash has not been seen for a week now. A number of infractions from recreational boats occurred today, including viewing animals from less than 100 metres, fishing and traveling at speeds greater than 7 kts. Recreational boaters are reminded that violation of the Marine Mammal Regulations (rev. 2006) may constitute a fine up to $100 000. Adam, 21:25:22
California Sea lions return
The seagull chicks are growing. I haven’t seen any new chicks in the last week or two, which leads me to believe that everyone has now hatched. None of the young have started to fly yet (as far as I have seen), but many of the chicks appear now to at least realise that the protrusions from their bodies may someday put them in the air. It is quite entertaining to watch the chicks hop up and down and flap their wings before falling on their heads! I haven’t seen our family of young geese now for a week or so. I suspect that they have outgrown the island and moved off. This week though we did have two stopovers from geese flocks. The first flock consisted of seven individuals while the second had twelve. Each flock landed for a few hours then left.Slash, as always, is still lazing around in the sun on the island. We did have Beatrice return a few weeks ago, but she only stayed for a day or two. I haven’t seen any more elephant seals these days. Four or five California sea lions have returned to the reserve. Several are currently hauled out on Middle Rock, and several more are hauled out on the northeast corner of Great Race Rock. Unfortunately, they appear to be quite the attraction for whale watching tourists.Many pigeon guillemots are still present across the island, as well as a number of black oystercatchers that can often be seen out on the jetty at night when I do the water sampling.Life underwater is also flourishing, as expected. Yesterday I did two dives off the north side of the island and saw the normal plethora of creatures. Many of my fellow divers also spotted a wolf eel lurking in the upper reef. I unfortunately, missed it.Pam has also reported seeing an otter skulking around too. I’ve been on and off the island in the last week quite a bit, so I guess I must have missed it. -Adam- ’21:27:09′,
Oystercatcher chicks
‘The painters today spotted twelve orcas including babies swimming through the reserve. A possibly dead elephant seal was noticed washed up in the intertidal -but still partially submerged) this morning. Black oystercatchers have chicks! In the S surge channel beneath the science house, two chicks were noticed with a parent. They are still very small. The three baby geese are growing still. Every day they are growing stronger and venturing further and further from their parents. There is an old goose on the SE side of the keeper”s house that is looking very frail -this has been going on for a while now). I would expect that it is on its last legs.’, ‘Adam’, ’12:29:50 ,
Hatching Glaucous-winged gulls
The gulls are hatching now at Race Rocks. G.Fletcher photo
Whimbrel visit and Baby Gulls
Gulls are hatching and interesting behaviour is captured on the remote cam by Pam Birley from England: See her other photos of these birds taken today on her Flickr site
A whimbrel visits the island, and is displace by the gulls which are very territorial this time of year.
Today two male elephant seals were photographed by Pam Birley on the remote camera:
See several pictures on her Flickr site
Also images of newly hatched glaucous-winged gull chicks hatched.