All 3 Adult Female Elephant seals have left the island, occasionally showing up late at night, bellowing from the high points of the island for a couple hours, then returning to the ocean. I wonder if they are calling out looking for males?
The 3 Elephant Seal pups have formed their own little pack and have been spending time”wrestling” and exploring the small standing fresh water pond. They also have been exploring the mud flats to the north of the house, looking out towards the water. In past years, they have followed adults down to the water via the boat ramp, but haven’t seemed to explore that way yet.
Meeting at the scratching branch
“This is our Ocean!” (not really, it’s just a mud puddle)
“The real ocean is out there….. but how do we get to it?”
Big Male Steller Sea Lions have pretty much taken over the prime area of rock by the crane shed. The largest each take their own rock, and are surround by smaller ones that look to me like females. Remembering that in December, I photographed 4 different females nursing young here at Race Rocks.
Female Steller nursing a pup!
A couple California Sea Lions in this one, but normally just big males Stellers and smaller Stellers (females?)
There are fewer California sea lions around, but there are reports of many hauled out at Trial Island, which has not been seen for many years.
Visitors:
Quick visit from Pearson staff with family members
Due to weather, just a quick touch and go from the waterfront coordinator for deliveries
Facility Work:
Swapped tires and rims off a hand truck to the pressure washer trolley while repairing the ones off the trolley
Gradual pressure washing of paths and grime on buildings
DND events:
Ongoing Detonations
Noted Vessel Traffic:
Limited Eco-Tourism in some of the weather breaks
Feature Event:
none
Weather Events:
Previous week was a full range of cold wind, light snow, and rain squalls
Saturday , February 25:
Sky: Overcast with Sunny Breaks
Wind: E to NE – 5 – 12 kts
Sea: 1 meter waves most of the day
Temperature Low -1oC, High 4oC
Sunday, February 26:
Sky: Full mix of sun, cloud, and overcast as the system moves through rapidly, including mixes of sleet and hail
Wind: W 35-40kts, dropping over the day to 1o kts
Sea: 1 meter waves in the morning, flattening as the day progressed
Temperature Low 1oC, High 6oC
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
1 Juvenile Male Elephant Seal (yearling?). He is determined to be with the others, but they keep chasing him away. He does a big loop around the flagpole mound and returns
Still finding gull remains from the Eagle hunts, but have also seen the eagles swoop diving on the Turnstones as well
Have seen all 3 types of Cormorants this last week – Pelagic, Double Crested, and Brandt’s
Most gulls present are Iceland (formerly Thayer’s)
Thanks to Ann Nightingale for helping me to learn to ID more birds!
Visitors:
Cedric brought 2 groups of 6 students with their Teacher over to see and learn about the Elephant Seals and pup
Weather Events:
Primarily N/NE winds for the last week, overcast with lots of snow
Tuesday January 10:
Sky: Slight haze, light haze, mostly sunny in the morning
For the past couple months, there have been a daily morning “crew” of eagles actively hunting gulls on the main island. Normally there are between 8 and 12, mostly immature, but a couple of adults too. There have been less lately as they have pretty much taken/scared away most of the gulls. I was finding up to 2 or 3 carcasses a day in the central area.
Facility Work:
Replaced motherboard on the desalinator unit.
Quick-fixed some of the siding that was peeling off the buildings.
Far from good, but good from afar!
Before
After
Due to king tides, predominately high N/NE winds, and sheer amount of logs and debris in the water, made the long overdue decision to just pack up the pier electric fencing until spring. It’s easier to just move the Sealions off often when the tide is higher.
Weather Events:
Thursday January 5
Sky: mix of cloud and clear skies in the morning. turning to overcast mid day. Visibility 20 – 25 kms, low clouds obscuring the Olympic Peninsula
Wind E 25 to 35 knots veering to SE 30 to 40 late in the afternoon …. gusts to 50knts ”” drop tp calm late in the evening
Sea: up to 2 meter waves on top of swells from the southeast. You DO NOT want to be taking a boat from here to Victoria in that!
Temperature Low 8 oC, High 13 oC
Friday January 6:
Overcast with a mix of sunny periods, clear skies after dark
Wind SE 5-10 knots in the day, then increasing to SE 25 to 35 knots early evening.
Sea: Flat calm in the morning (wind with tide),
Temperature Low 6oC, High 10oC
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
The Beachmaster (Bernard) has left the island, most likely for one more big feed before molting
2 Adult females, both starting their molt
2 new (to me) animals here, either very large pups, or small yearlings …. waiting to see if they do a normal molt.
The only remaining pup that was born here has completed it’s first baby fur molt, and has been tentatively exploring the area by the pier, when encouraged by another new pup I don’t recognize
Tentative first tries
Meeting a new buddy
Moved into the water while he had support
3 known Canada geese nests now, one was right by the door to the house. The gulls robbed all the eggs though, so I dismantled that nest so that they would build somewhere else.
Protective, even from a distance
Photo taken later, and cropped
Gulls and Black Oyster Catchers are pretty much all paired up now, although I have not seen any nests yet as it’s still a bit early in the season
Visitors:
4 contractors stayed for 2 days to work on the solar power system
3 guests of the Ecoguardian over 2 different time slots
College instructors and their guests came for a brief visit and overview of the reserve
Facility Work:
Replacement of damaged solar panels
added a new array or 4 panels
redid most of the wiring involved
New mounts and panels
The four added panels
There was an immediate improvement to the system, resulting in a reduction of generator fuel use by about 1/3. This will only improve as the days get longer and brighter.
Visiting guests aided the ecoguardian in some tasks better accomplished by have some else there for safety and/or lifting. (including log and firewood prep and other wastewood and equipment moving and stacking.) they also helped with pressure washing.
Safer to cut down on the rocky shore with someone here with me
Pressure washing the walks and decks
Helping with wood
DND events:
3 or 4 days of the regular blasting, with safety vessels and Marine Mammal Observers present.
Noted Vessel Traffic:
Ecotourism vessels are gearing up for the season and visit on a regular basis, often reporting the location of the sea otter and injured or entangled animals to the ecoguardian.
2 jet skis in today … a little loud running against the current, but they kept proper speeds
Noted Infractions:
Only one private fishing vessel in the reserve noted.
Feature Event:
Spring is in full swing. Flowers are blooming, the pineapple weed is growing and of course the birds are all in courting behavior.
Pineapple Weed
Weather Events:
very typical mix of spring weather …..wind from all directions on any given day, mix of sun, clouds and rain squalls.
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Wind: yesterday W-S 0-32 knots, today W-SE 2-17 knots Sea State: both days calm Visibility: yesterday 10-15 NM, today 15 NM Sky: yesterday partly cloudy then clear from mid morning, today clear Temperature: yesterday 8-14 °C, today 7-14 °C Atmospheric CO2: 416.33 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)
The lawn in front of the house got busier this morning with nine elephant seals, two more than yesterday. A tenth seal, the pup, was near the jetty. The two new arrivals have green tags on their tail flippers. One is a male tagged C887. The other is a juvenile tagged G512 on the right flipper and E779 on the right. I will update the information on age and past sightings when I hear back from the researchers. The green tags signify the elephant seals were tagged at Año Nuevo, south of San Francisco.
[UPDATED April 13: I heard back from Dr. Patrick Robinson, the researcher from Año Nuevo Reserve. The elephant seal with green tags E779 and G512 was tagged as a pup in February 2019, where he was born at Año Nuevo. This is the first time the male juvenile has been spotted outside of Año Nuevo, where he was last seen as a weaner in March, 2019. The elephant seal with the green tag C887 is a juvenile male that was born at Año Nuevo in February 2017. He has been seen at Race Rocks in the month of December in 2017, 2018 and 2019.]
There was one boat seen in the ecological reserve on each of the past two days, a pleasure boat yesterday and a sailboat today.
Census results observed this afternoon at low tide: 10 elephant seals (1 female pup, 1 female juvenile, 1 juvenile, 2 sub adult males, 5 female adults) 16 steller sea lions 91 california sea lions 1 sea otter 72 harbour seals 5 bald eagles (2 juveniles, 3 adults) 16 Canada geese 1 black brant goose 99 gulls (mostly thayer’s) 17 pelagic cormorants 4 brandt’s cormorants 5 double-crested cormorants 6 black oystercatchers 24 pigeon guillemots 7 harlequin ducks 2 surfbirds 5 black turnstones
Two eagles on Turbine Rock and a colourful sailboat passing through Race Passage.
Newly arrived juvenile elephant seal tagged G512 and E779
Green tags G512 and E779 on the juvenile elephant seal.
Newly arrived sub adult male elephant seal tagged C887
Green tag C887 on the sub adult male elephant seal
Black brant goose
Four elephant seals waiting for the water to come to them
Newly arrived juvenile seal exploring the boardwalk
A view from the top of the lighthouse this afternoon of the clear water of the east bay. A group of sea lions can be seen on the rocks.
Wind: yesterday 3-28 knots from W, today 0-8 knots from W to NE
Sea State: yesterday and today rippled
Visibility: yesterday and today 5-10 NM
Sky: yesterday partly cloudy and rain, today overcast
Temperature: yesterday 6-9 °C, today 6-8 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 415.40 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)
The past two days were relatively quiet. There were fewer barking sea lions on the rocks, as most floated nearby. A determined beta male elephant seal made several short visits to the island, practicing his bellowing, before being scared away by the alpha male. The pups are still keeping to themselves and not vocalizing as much. Calm days like today make me miss the whistling of the wind and its ability to dissipate the smell of sea lion poop.
I prepared some equipment for upcoming work to be done on the cistern as well as the energy system.
There were four tour boats in the ecological reserve. Greg was the only visitor on the island, when he came by briefly this afternoon to drop off fuel and food.
I was working on a water pump hose in the tank shed yesterday, when I saw this guy slide by.
This morning, the beta male elephant seal retreated into the water after being chased away by the alpha male.
